Introduction →

Welcome to my newsletter, John. This is a tool I will use to keep you apprised of all the important news going on in Georgia, Washington DC, and around the country.

Of course, right now everyone’s overwhelming focus is on the COVID-19 pandemic. The sad truth is that we are behind in our response right now because President Trump didn’t take it seriously until last week. He ignored the spread across our country, sinking into denial, thinking that we would take care of the 15 cases and soon get down to zero. He failed to listen to the health care professionals or they were not forceful with their advice so as not to anger him, or both.

The biggest mistake he made was the decision to forgo using the coronavirus test kits offered by the World Health Organization (WHO), opting instead to develop one ourselves. The test we developed was faulty, and it took another 3 weeks to come on line with reliable test kits. By then, there were too many infected people to be able to identify known carriers and prevent community spread.

That brings us to now, where many, if not most of us, are social-distancing on a massive scale -- bringing gatherings of people to a halt. That means shutting down commerce and government operations. The impact on the economy and on the lives of the people is devastating, as is the impact of mass infection on the health care delivery infrastructure. We are in a crisis of unprecedented scale and seriousness with a President who to this moment insists that he has done a great job handling this crisis. The only thing that really matters to him is his own ego, which should now be clear even to his most delirious of supporters.

My friends, times will probably get worse before they get better, but we have overcome difficult times before, and we most certainly will rise to this challenge and beat adversity again! It’s also important for us to not lose sight of other crucial developments in our government, which is why I encourage all of you to read this newsletter in full to have complete awareness of everything that’s going on.

Yours,
-- Hank

Petition Update →

Last week, we circulated a petition calling on Donald Trump to put a doctor or scientist in charge of the COVID-19 response. We’ve already gotten over 13,000 signatures, and while Donald Trump hasn’t officially changed leadership of the response, his rhetoric has slowly started to reflect the wisdom of scientists, doctors, and public health experts.



Our grassroots pressure has made an impact, and we won’t stop pushing for accountability until the threat of COVID-19 has abated.

Mitch Watch →

While Mitch McConnell wanted to vacation back in Kentucky last weekend instead of passing critical legislation regarding COVID-19, he apparently has had plenty of time to try to stack the courts.

The New York Times reports that McConnell has been personally reaching out to judges appointed by past Republican Presidents to encourage them to retire while Donald Trump is still in office. There’s more than 90 justices who have been appointed by Presidents George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, or Ronald Reagan that McConnell could be trying to push out of office.



This comes only days after Mitch McConnell lectured on the importance of an independent judiciary. From denying President Obama the right to pick a Supreme Court Justice, to abolishing the filibuster to force through extreme right-wing justices, to stacking the court, and now pressing judges to resign, Moscow Mitch proves he’ll stop at nothing to rig the courts in his favor.

Democracy Updates →

Have you all heard about the primary elections being cancelled and rescheduled in Ohio? While public health is extremely important, it’s disturbing that an executive official had the power to overrule a court judge who ordered the elections to go forward. With all the problems we already have in Georgia with voter suppression, we need to be extremely vigilant going forward that executive powers don’t make additional foul play with our democracy.

Which is why it’s important to remember that Georgia’s Presidential Primary Election will now be the same day as our Congressional Primary election! Both elections will now be on May 19th, 2020.