​This week we are continuing our trek, but we are past the halfway point.  Hopefully, that is also true with regard to the presidency of Donald J. Trump.  Not only has COVID caused an end to the ever-growing streak of economic growth, but it also has seemingly disrupted Donald Trump’s ability to be impervious to any measures of accountability.  Iran has issued a warrant for his arrest regarding the drone attack months back that killed Iranian General Soleimani, something that we talked about in a show dedicated to that incident when it happened.  Trump’s niece has published a book about Trump and her publishing company won the right to distribute it.  John Bolton has also finally published his book after several attempts to have it blocked by the White House.  His war on social media has also been taken up a notch as multiple platforms have taken down his post or issued corrections and fact-checking messages, meanwhile he has tried to repeal protections for social media and has threatened to take them down.  He has also stated that he is using his power to slow the rate of testing in America amid a growing surge of new COVID cases following states reopening and protest continuing. 

​The single-day record for new cases was broken twice by America last week with estimates that it’s going to continue to rise.  The protest themselves have turned a corner and have seemingly finished shedding their racial beginnings to now be the new version of the Occupy Movement, LGBT Rights, and Police Reform in general.  Not that I have a problem with any of those things, but it does mean that Black People are once again placed on the back burner.  All in all, it’s been a busy week, but let’s continue to get into our show in the 2 trillion dollar stimulus package.  

Due to life, we were not able to release the show we wanted to this week.  So we hope you enjoy this replay show covering the documentary Reversing Roe, this show first aired September 2018.

​We are on and into Labor Provisions this week.  But before we get into that, protests are continuing however the focus seems to be shifting from racial equality to something akin to the occupy movements of the early 2010s.  New threats loom as the benefits from this very COVID Package begin to end and states start opening up.  Not only has there been a spike in COVID cases but there is also concern that evictions are about to be on the rise for many in low-income areas as the freeze on evictions ends.  Politics continues to get even more swampy as America continues to just overall not even be interested in pretending to care about some of the various serious issues that need to be taken care of.  But on a positive note, this show is almost at 150,000 for the year so make sure you are sharing and talking about how awesome the show is.  For those of you that want to get me something for Father’s Day, you can go to amazon and by my book, “The Chasm” as it's a non-fiction book looking at Black Men and Women and how they have experienced America.  But let's get into it ...  

​As the protest continues, I’m hoping everyone does their best to be safe while making their voices heard.  Regardless of how you feel about the movement, this particular movement is having a bigger impact than any of the other movements in the past few decades.  That is because lots of reports are starting to show the second wave of COVID that might end up causing the swell that overwhelms the American Medical System.  The numbers were already creeping back up with states opening up prematurely as we now know, but these protests have potentially taken transmission to another level in a situation where people have simply not been protecting themselves.  To be clear I am not speaking against the protesters, I believe you can protest and be safe at the same time.  As has already been mentioned, the numbers were starting to rise before the protest began. But that’s why it’s important that in this episode we get back to the Cares Act with it’s $2 Trillion price tag.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen we are getting into part 2 of the Education Provisions.  

​The death of one person is seldom noticed by the world, more than 150K people die each and every day.  More than 7,000 of those deaths occur in America on any given day.  100s are killed each day due to gun violence.  Even when it comes to the Black People losing their lives at the hands of cops we are looking at a number that some claim to be as high as 2 or 3 times per day.  While the exact numbers can be disputed, what can’t be disputed is that Black People are far more likely to be killed at the hands of the police than White People in any circumstance and 99% of the time those police officers face no charges. As I said earlier, the death of one person is seldom noticed by the world, and that is still the case, but the trail of deaths in addition to the actions and rhetoric of high ranking American officials have caused the rest of the world to take notice of a glaring contradiction in America.  A video of a Black Human being brutally and mercilessly murdered by a police officer that was ignoring his pleas has seemingly caught the attention of the entire world, and the protests have been ongoing and relentless.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen Patrick is going to share his thoughts and send his message of support to the protesters on the front lines.  

​Things keep on going, the CDC declared that covid can’t survive as well on surfaces as they once thought.  Trump continues giving bad advice and doing everything he can to downplay how bad things are in America and his role in making them that way.  Vaccines are well into human trials.  The cold war between China and the US continues to heat up (or get colder).  Hong Kong has retaking a bit of time in the global news cycle.  And Lessons from the screen continues its trek through HR 748 aka 2 Trillion Damn Dollars.

​This week we are going to continue our push. As the governments around the world are starting to see cases rise again after reopening, states here in America are also executing a phased reopening but thus far it’s too early to tell if it was a good idea or a bad idea.  Reports continue to surface about the politics influencing (or attempting to anyway) the science as healthcare officials all over the nation are making statements about political pressure to report lower numbers.  The political war between China and the US is still going as propaganda and rhetoric pick up.  There is also talk of a second round of stimulus payments as the house passed a program that would give households $1500 per person up to $6000.  With all that said, on this episode we are going to continue moving forward going into part 3 and 4 or title 3 finishing up Subtitle A.   

​Part 6 in the series on the stimulus package, we are going to be going through Part 2 of Title 3 in HR 748 the CARES act.  This section covers access to Health Care for COVID-19 Patients.  As the list of symptoms continue to get longer, the virus continues to mutate, and previously safe places experience a resurgence in viral cases, this section is more important than ever.  It is important to note that the virus is now having an increased effect on children causing immune overdrive conditions that can and have resulted in death. 

​As we start into the 3rd title and the 5th show in this series, we also take note of the many things that are currently going on.  Kim Jong Un has returned to the public after being missing and many suspecting he may be sick or dead.  China and America continue their cold war in another display of the cyclical battle between the emergent power and the old power.  Covid-19 continues its rapid spread across the globe even as many countries and states begin to re-open or talk about reopening.  Disadvantaged communities in America also continue to show an over-representation in the numbers of the infected and dead.  People are attacking and killing each other over minor disputes as tensions continue to be high.  

One thing that I will get into with all that’s going on right now is a recent conversation I had with a couple of people who I respect immensely regarding the natural occurrence of viruses.  But with all that and more happening we will move into Title 3 covering changes and support for the Health Care System as we continue to see what you can buy with 2 trillion damn dollars!

There continues to be a lot to talk about.  Covid’s effects on the brain, a second wave, Trump’s continued crazy medical advice and the effects of his daily briefs are all on the list.  Along with the renewed interest in Joe Biden’s assault allegation, the disappearance of North Korea’s Leader, the continuing spread of Covid-19, and the spreading protest of the government lock down.  But we still have a job to do, and that job remains getting through the most expensive piece of legislation in American History, so we continue with part 4 of $2 Trillion damn dollars, what can you buy with that.

​There continues to be a lot to talk about regarding the world both involving and not involving Covid-19. The situation in Hong Kong is still an ongoing situation complicated in a lot of regards by Covid-19 (we talked about that in a previous show).  The president and his beef with the World Health Organization, politicians that don’t agree with him, state governors, and responsibility in general would all make individual shows on their own.  The narrative shifts about the source of Covid-19 and weaponized disinformation, the spread of Covid-19 (2.5M+ world wide with nearly 1M in America and nearly 200,000 deaths with 50K in America), the nursing home issues and the effects on the Black Community would  all also make for interesting shows in their own right.  We could also talk about the situation brewing in the middle east concerning the military strikes the US initiated in march or the fact that the stimulus set asides for small businesses have run out without reaching those most in need.  The debate over antimalarials has also taken interesting turns with new studies coming out showing that they more than double the chance of death.

Even with a second round of stimulus incoming and the effects of this stimulus starting to be shown through botched payments and failed systems, we have to continue to digest the most significant piece of legislation to come into law in recent memory and in terms of cost we could say one of the most significant ever.  So we are going to be continuing the second title of HR 748, the CARES Act, covering the stimulus, retirements, charitable contributions and more.

​TITLE II—ASSISTANCE FOR AMERICAN WORKERS, FAMILIES, AND BUSINESSES
Subtitle A—Unemployment Insurance Provisions

Continuing what we started last week, this week we are talking about the second title of HR 748 or the CARES Act aka 2 trillion damn dollars!     

The Beast is here!  Today we start our series looking into the largest stimulus package in American History.  For once Trump can say he signed the biggest bill into law in American History and not have the fact checkers start twitching.  As Covid-19 continues to spiral out of control here in the US, a 3rd bill has become law centered on getting the country through this intact.  We talked about the money in the last 2 laws, both of those pale in comparison to the $2 trillion dollars at work here.  But at more than 850 pages, there is a lot more going on than simply stimulating the economy.  At that is what we are going to be digging into.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen, we are going to be looking at HR 748 aka the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.    

​We are getting back into it this week.  2 weeks ago on March 18th, HR 6201 or The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was put in place.  While I know the message we released Sunday said we were going to be talking about this law and the historic stimulus package.  We decided that these bills are too important to try to cram together or rush through, and seeing as how the stimulus package is over 850 pages we decided to take our time with that.  So this episode is going to be solely focused on the First Families Act and what it does.  If we have enough time to put together a quality episode, we will see you Wednesday with the first episode of our series on the stimulus package, if not, then we will be at you on Saturday.  But be sure, this law that we are covering today is filled with things that you are going to want to know.     

Covid-19 has made everyone change the way they do things.  Unfortunately for this show, a lot of those changes have interfered with our ability to maintain our schedule.  We will still be producing a show it is just delayed at the moment because we don't want to put out a sub-par product.  We expect the show to be released Monday with another show released a few days later and another one released a few days after that as we catch up with the latest legislative activity. 

​We were going to give another in depth review of the current status of the Covid-19 and address some more myths.  But we decided that since we are going to be doing that on the Freedom Train Podcast, and since many people want to talk about something else, we decided to go in a different direction.  The Qanons have been around since 2017 as an alt-right conspiracy group that all but worships (and maybe that as well) Donald Trump.  The Qanons had a defining documentary come available in January of this year and since it’s been a minute since we’ve gone over a documentary, we decided to get at it.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen we are going to be taking a look at The Fall of the Cabal.

(Edited to correct and remove inaccuracies)

​As Covid-19 continues to spread across the globe, things have ticked up here in America as well.  As of Friday the number of cases stood at 1629 with 41 deaths.  46 states and the District of Columbia have reported cases and over 1300 of those cases are still under investigation as to how the person got infected.  State governments have taken it upon themselves to start ramping up their own healthcare toolkits in order to treat a growing crisis while the federal government up until recently was employing the I have a dream approach to the issue.  But after weeks of negative press, the federal government is finally beginning to wake up and move to support the efforts of local officials. The NBA has shut down, the NCAA has shut down, school districts and universities have closed, and caps on group sizes have been imposed across the country.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen, we are going to be looking at the 2 pieces of legislation pushed by the federal government, some myths that are popping up, and our thoughts in general as we give another update on Covid-19.

During this show we take a look at the Democratic Primary now that the number of candidates is reasonable.  The primary question of this show:

Can any of these people defeat Donald Trump?

Using the latest debate from Las Vegas, Nevada, we take a look at the overall party and how the candidates are conducting themselves during this stage of the election.  Tune in for our take and share yours by going to the Freedom Train Website and dropping a comment.  

The Coronavirus continues to surge infecting more than 35,000 people worldwide and killing 805 including 1 American in Wuhan.  President Trump is acquitted in the senate and goes on a retaliatory firing spree.  Those are the updates, but the meat of the show is the 2020 State of the Union address given by Donald Trump this past week.  Patrick Irvine leans in going over the first 50+ lies in the address.  

Today we have an update show for the Coronavirus that continues to spread at an alarming rate and the Impeachment of Donald Trump.  Both of these events are continuing to develop and both of these events are history making.  Tune in and share your thoughts!

2019 brought a lot back into focus.  It was like the throwback Thursday of the 2010s.  Beyond just bringing back ideologies, policies, and overt hostilities, it also brought back various diseases, one of which seems to make its rounds every year and roughly every 10 years in a really dangerous form.  We are talking about the coronavirus that is spreading rapidly across the globe.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen, we are going to be taking a look at the most modern form of the disease better known as SARS.  

​Iran and Ukraine are at the heart of 2 of the most significant political situations in America today regarding foreign Affairs, separate issues that have become intertwined.  Impeachment however is the most significant political situation in America today period, and Ukraine is right at the heart of that as well.  On this episode of Lessons from the Screen, we are going to be free wheeling on these topics.  You guys said you liked the free wheeling shows, so we are going to do more of them.  At our heart though, we like researching and bringing information, so we will try to blend the two together for future shows to see what kind of mix we get.  

​On January 3, 2020, just as we were getting warmed up to the new year, Trump decided he would say hello to his good friends in the Middle East by sending a drone to assassinate the Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and several other Iraqi military officials.  The strike happened as Soleimani was leaving his flight into Iraqi in order to deliver a message from Iran to Iraq regards request made.  Since the strike, Iran has completely backed out of the nuclear deal, Iraq has said they want US troops to leave their country, and militia groups all over the region have sworn revenge on the US.  Back in August of 2019 we did a show looking at the history of the United States relationship with Iran, in this show we are going to be looking at who Qasem Soleimani was, why he was assassinated, and what this means for the Middle East and the US.  

​In early 2018 President Trump in a speech announced to the world his intentions on supporting the creation of a Space Force.  While many of us shrugged it off as a joke or a lie (depending on your view of the president) he was dead serious on capitalizing on the work that had been done in the years prior.  Discussions on the establishment of a space force have been going on for decades in small circles and behind closed doors, but by 2020 a space force will be the 6th operational branch of the US Military.  In this episode of Lessons from the Screen we will be looking at the United States Space Force. 

Trying something new this week, host Patrick Irvine shares some of his thoughts on current events.  Tune in and tell us what you think.