Tag: Mike Pence

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Joe Biden Tests Negative For Coronavirus & More Updates

Former Vice President Joe Biden (photo via campaign)
The Washington Post reports former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, have tested negative for coronavirus. Some folks were concerned that, in light of Donald Trump testing positive for the virus, and the two men shared a stage without face masks on Tuesday night, that Biden might have been exposed. Let’s hear it for social distancing! Other updates regarding Trump and the coronavirus: • The Trump campaign has cancelled all previously scheduled events while the president is quarantined for the next several days. • Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who attended Trump’s Supreme Court announcement on Saturday has tested positive for the coronavirus and told the press he will self-quarantine for 10 days. • Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, also tested positive for the coronavirus and has experienced mild symptoms from Covid-19. • Vice President Mike Pence and his wife have tested negative as well. • The coronavirus has infected over 7.2 million Americans and killed over 207,000.

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Pence: During Riots Biden Sent Out Press Release While Trump Sent In National Guard

L-R Vice Presidents Mike Pence, Joe Biden
Vice President Mike Pence took a shot at his predecessor, former Vice President Joe Biden, during an interview with the Washington Examiner contrasting the actions of Biden and Donald Trump during recent riots. The Washington Examiner reports:

President Trump was the last line of defense between law-abiding people and a dangerous, left-wing mob intent on toppling statues and ripping the nation apart, according to Vice President Mike Pence.

“When rioters were setting fire to one of the oldest churches in America and defacing our national monuments, Joe Biden sent out a press release. President Trump sent in the National Guard,” Pence said Thursday in an exclusive interview aboard his campaign bus with the Washington Examiner.

“The contrast with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi is, this is a president who understands our commitment is to uphold the rule of law — law and order,” said Pence, who spoke as he completed a swing through Pennsylvania, a battleground critical to Trump’s reelection prospects.

It’s worth noting that Trump is the president of the United States and has the power to send in the National Guard. Biden is a private citizen with no such authority (at this time).

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Pence Admits He “Should Have Worn A Mask” At Mayo Clinic

Vice President Mike Pence is the one without a mask (photo via press pool video)
During a Fox News town hall event Sunday night with Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence admitted he “should have worn a mask” when he visited the Mayo Clinic earlier in the week. The Minnesota clinic requires all visitors to wear masks as a precaution against spreading the coronavirus. Health care experts criticized Pence, currently heading up the White House anti-coronavirus effort, for not following the task force’s own guidelines in wearing a mask. A member of the traveling press corps photographed Pence visiting with healthcare professionals and patients. He was the only person in the photos not wearing a face mask. Reuters reports during the town hall event, Pence said, “I didn’t think it was necessary, but I should have worn a mask at the Mayo Clinic.” Pence later said he wanted to look the healthcare personnel “in the eye” and thank them for their efforts. Fyi – face masks don’t cover the eyes. Pence’s wife told the press he didn’t know he was supposed to wear a mask at the clinic, although several people attending the visit say they were informed of the rules the day before. Pence explained Sunday night that, since he and Trump are frequently tested for COVID-19, he felt he wasn’t a risk to others. It wasn’t until his appearance Sunday night that he acknowledged the symbolic weight of leaders wearing masks at this time as the death count from COVID-19 in the U.S. has surpassed 67,000. “It’s really a statement about the American people, the way they have been willing to step forward, practice social distancing and wear masks in settings where they can’t do that,” he said. After Pence received a backlash of criticism, his team reportedly threatened to retaliate against the journalist who released the photos showing him without a mask at the clinic.

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News Round-Up: April 30, 2020

Los Angeles, CA, 1998
Some news items you might have missed: • International Day of Dance: I’m a day late but I have to pay tribute to the gift, the discipline, and the artistry afforded me by my many (many) years of dance training. It all was a gift. The pic above was taken as I warmed up for a performance of CHICAGO the Musical in Los Angeles at the Shubert Theatre in 1998. • Agence France-Presse: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the World Health Organization encourages homosexuality and masturbation among young children, his latest clash with an organization whose advice on social distancing and other anti-coronavirus measures he has repeatedly questioned. • Washington Blade: Rufus Gifford has been named deputy campaign manager for Joseph Biden, the campaign confirmed Wednesday. The former U.S. ambassador to Denmark from 2013 to 2017, Gifford was one of seven openly gay ambassadors who served under the Obama administration. Oh, and he’s a dog man and pretty easy on the eyes, which never hurts 🙂
Former US Ambassador Rufus Giffords (via Instagram)
• Media Matters: National Rifle Association board member Anthony Colandro called the novel coronavirus pandemic “bullshit” and encouraged his followers to join him at an anti-social distancing protest in New Jersey insisting the state police “can’t arrest all of us.” • Pink News: A scientist has explained why Mike Pence refused to wear a mask while visiting patients recovering from coronavirus: toxic masculinity. Peter Glick Ph.D., a social sciences professor, says Pence refusing to abide by the hospital’s guidelines comes down to “one critical reason, which is that appearing to play it safe contradicts a core principle of masculinity: show no weakness.” p.s. Pence wore a mask at a GM plant after the backlash. • Fox News: After over one million confirmed cases and over 62,000 deaths of COVID-19 in the U.S., plus 30 million Americans have lost their jobs, Donald Trump’s campaign is set to launch a seven-figure ad blitz on his “spectacular success.” Priorities USA has its own take on Trump’s efforts.

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Mike Pence Tours Mayo Clinic Without Mask Despite Recommendations

Vice President Mike Pence is the one without a mask (photo via press pool video)
The White House Coronavirus Task Force recommends wearing a face mask when out in public. And yet… From CNBC:

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday toured the Mayo Clinic without wearing a mask, despite that renowned medical facility telling him that masks are required for visitors and everyone else there to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Video from a journalist pool camera at the Mayo Clinic at one point shows that 10 people in the area around Pence, including a patient, were wearing masks and personal protective equipment.

Pence leads President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force.

The Mayo Clinic, which is located in Rochester, Minn., is requiring all patients, visitors and staff to wear a face-covering or mask to slow the spread of Covid-19.

CNBC goes on to report that the Mayo Clinic tweeted that it had, indeed, informed Pence of its mask-wearing policy. A half-hour later, the tweet was deleted. Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, told the New York Times last week Pence didn’t need a mask because, “Vice President Pence is negative for Covid-19 and is therefore not asymptomatic.” Donald Trump has also said publicly that, despite medical experts recommendations, he doesn’t feel the need to wear one. Remember when leaders led by example?

Pence is literally the only one here ignoring the Mayo Clinic mask policy. Just staggering arrogance. https://t.co/aRBvt45c7q

— shauna (@goldengateblond) April 28, 2020

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Fox News: Pence Dodges Questions On Trump Inciting Protests

Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday defended President Donald Trump for inciting protests in the middle of a pandemic. During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Pence about the demonstrations in certain states calling for the economy to reopen where people were seen violating social distancing guidelines. Instead of answering the question, Pence dodged and went on a lengthy praise of his boss. “We continue to see encouraging results, declining cases, declining hospitalizations because of what the American people have done, because of the president’s leadership,” the vice president said. “We are slowing the spread, we are hastening the day when we can put the coronavirus in the past and reopen the American economy.” As you can see – nothing about the question at hand. So, Wallace went back to his question about federal guidelines on social distancing. “But Mr. Vice President,” Wallace said. “In a number of these cases, these protesters – who are not social distancing – are saying they don’t want to wait. In many cases, they’re protesting your own guidelines to stop the spread.” Wallace also brought up Trump’s tweets on Friday that called for citizens to “Liberate Minnesota, liberate Michigan and liberate Virginia.”

“So what does the president mean because you’ve got guidelines that are calling for social distancing and staying at home?” asked the host. “Even your guidelines to reopen the country are very phased and gradual. What does the president mean when he says liberate these states?” “The American people know that no one in this country wants to reopen this country more than President Donald Trump,” said Pence again ignoring the question. “And on Thursday that president asked us to lay out guidelines for how the states can responsibly do that.” “And in the president’s tweets and public statements, I can assure you he’s going to continue to encourage governors to find ways to safely and responsibly let America go back to work,” added the vice president.

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Begala: Trump Will Dump Pence For Nikki Haley

Paul Begala (image via CNN)
Political strategist Paul Begala’s predicts Donald Trump will dump Vice President Mike Pence for the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. Speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) 2020 policy conference on Monday, Begala told the crowd “it’s a certainty” that Trump will dump Pence. “On Thursday, July 16, that’s the date the Democrat gives his or her acceptance address,” said Begala. “On that day, to interrupt that narrative, Donald Trump will call a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. He’s gonna dump Mike Pence and put Nikki Haley on the ticket to try to get those suburban moms. You watch. Guaranteed.”

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After Bungled HIV Outbreak, Pence Is The Guy To Head Up Coronavirus Efforts?

L-R Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump (public domain)
Donald Trump’s announcement that Vice President Pence would head up U.S. efforts against the spread of the coronavirus caused many to raise eyebrows given Pence’s woeful handling of one of the biggest HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history. From the Washington Post:

“He’s got a certain talent for this,” Trump said at a White House briefing about the virus, which has infected nearly five dozen people in the United States so far.

The announcement has cast light on Pence’s record as a lawmaker and his handling of a major public health crisis during his time as governor of Indiana. The worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history happened on his watch in 2015, which critics blamed on Pence’s belated response and his opposition to authorizing a needle-exchange program.

In 2011, as a member of Congress, he voted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Two years later, a Planned Parenthood clinic that had been the only HIV-testing center in Scott County, Ind., closed after public health spending cuts, HuffPost reported.

Two months passed from the start of the outbreak in 2015 before Pence declared a public state of emergency.

Pence’s solution for the HIV outbreak was to turn to prayer. It wasn’t until after 75 more people were diagnosed as HIV+ that Pence finally allowed a 30-day needle exchange program to be implemented. Pence also opposed condom distribution to combat HIV. That led, in part, to his overseeing the defunding of Planned Parenthood in Indiana. As a result, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Scott County, which housed the county’s only HIV testing center, closed in 2013. But this is the guy to spearhead the federal government’s response to a worldwide virus…? Sen. Bernie Sanders weighed in on the choice of Pence via Twitter:

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News Round-Up: January 23, 2020

(image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: When you look like Brazilian tourism expert Kiko Riaze (above), I’ll FIND something in my house that needs to be painted. Follow Riaze on Instagram here. • HuffPost: L.A. Law star Harry Hamlin said he’s proud of his role in the groundbreaking 1982 gay flick Making Love but believes the film was ahead of its time. “It was like 10 years too early and it completely ended my career. That was the last studio picture I ever did. The door shut with a resounding smash.” • The Advocate: A month after the Hallmark Channel’s dust-up with LGBTQ people over removing an ad for Zola wedding planning that featured a lesbian wedding, the company’s president and CEO, Bill Abbott, has stepped down. • Out Music: The Pet Shop Boys new album Hotspot drops tomorrow, January 24, and in advance of that release we get to step behind the velvet rope for their new single “Monkey Business.“ Set in a sexy nightclub and featuring a wild bunch of characters who eventually end up in a champagne fight, the tribe bust their best moves on a dance floor straight out of Saturday Night Fever.

• New York Times: Despite their fiery history on the debate stage, Sen. Kamala Harris of California is considering endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nominee for president. Great – then he can pick her for veep duties and they’ll win. • BroadwayWorld: In a tribute to longtime GRAMMY executive producer Ken Ehrlich, and to acknowledge the importance of music education in schools to the Recording Academy, GRAMMY Museum® and Ehrlich, artists associated with Ehrlich’s 40-year career will gather to perform “I Sing The Body Electric” from the film Fame. The performance will feature current nominees Camila Cabello, Gary Clark Jr. and John Legend joined by Debbie Allen, Joshua Bell, Common, Misty Copeland, Lang Lang, Cyndi Lauper, Ben Platt, and The War And Treaty. • People: Did Prince Charles diss Vice President Mike Pence as he made his way down an assembly line of world leaders at the World Holocaust Forum?

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Anti-Trump Conservatives: ‘It’s Time For Prez Pence – At Least It’s An Improvement’

Bill Kristol’s conservative organization Defending Democracy Together has created an ad spot supporting Vice President Mike Pence to get promoted to commander-in-chief. The spot begins with a voiceover saying, “Mike Pence doesn’t brag about sexually assaulting women; Mike Pence doesn’t pressure foreign governments to investigate his political rivals.” The spot closes with this winner: “Trump is being impeached. It’s time for President Pence, at least it’s an improvement.”

More from Mediaite:

The anti-Trump conservative group also launched a new website www.PresidentPence.com which labels Vice PresidentPence as a “bland, boring, completely typical, ordinary conservative Republican from Indiana.”

The statement continues by endorsing the impeachment of President Trump while adding that “if the Senate does its duty, they’ll make him the next president of the United States.”