The Commentariat -- March 28, 2020

The New York Times' live updates on coronavirus developments Saturday are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. Access to both is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ The Guardian's live updates are here. "Donald Trump was up early on Saturday, tweeting complaints about 'the Lamestream media'. Various stories have got the president's goat, including one which said he has consulted New York Yankees star, drugs cheat and partner of Jennifer Lopez Alex Rodriguez about how to tackle the crisis. ABC News put that one down to 'multiple sources'. The president said: 'When you see, "five sources say", don't believe the story...'... Trump does have official business to attend to on Saturday, traveling to Norfolk, Virginia to deliver remarks as the USNS Comfort hospital ship sets sail for New York harbour."

"I Have an Article II Where I Have the Right to Do Whatever I Want." Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "When President Trump signed the $2 trillion economic stabilization package on Friday to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, he undercut a crucial safeguard that Democrats insisted upon as a condition of agreeing to include a $500 billion corporate bailout fund. In a signing statement released hours after Mr. Trump signed the bill in a televised ceremony in the Oval Office, the president suggested he had the power to decide what information a newly created inspector general intended to monitor the fund could share with Congress.... Mr. Trump suggested that ... he can gag the special inspector general for pandemic recovery, known by the acronym S.I.G.P.R., and keep information from Congress.... Mr. Trump has a history of trying to keep damaging information acquired by an inspector general from reaching Congress.... The signing statement also challenged several other provisions in the bill, including one requiring consultation with Congress about who should be the staff leaders of a newly formed executive branch committee charged with conducting oversight of the government's response to the pandemic." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump invited no Democrats to the signing ceremony, which is just as well, inasmuch as all the invited GOP fellas (and one woman) huddled together behind Trump while media huddled together in front of him.

Paul Kane, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House of Representatives voted Friday to approve a massive $2 trillion stimulus bill that policy makers hope will blunt the economic destruction of the coronavirus pandemic, sending the legislation to President Trump for enactment. The legislation passed in dramatic fashion, approved on an overwhelming voice vote by lawmakers who'd been forced to return to Washington by a GOP colleague who had insisted on a quorum being present. Some lawmakers came from New York and other places where residents are supposed to be sheltering at home. The procedural move by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) drew bipartisan fury...." Mrs. McC: The part about how the vote went down is quite interesting. This was just Massie's way of compromising the health of other members of Congress, their families, their staff & others they may have come in contact with. The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's story, by Heather Caygle & Sarah Ferris, is here. "In a series of tweets late Friday morning, [Rep. Thomas] Massie confirmed plans to demand a recorded vote, meaning members would physically have to come to the chamber to have their vote recorded. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tried to talk Massie out of it on the House floor, to no avail.... In a plan devised by [House Majority Leader Steny] Hoyer the night before, lawmakers were brought into the chamber, including in the public galleries above the floor to allow them to distance themselves for safety. By having a quorum of members in the chamber -- at least 216 lawmakers, including in the public galleries -- they could block Massie's request for a recorded vote and pass the proposal by voice vote.... Massie was quickly overruled and the bill passed without members having to take a recorded vote. But lawmakers in both parties were still irate that they had to be present at all, endangering themselves and the dozens of congressional and Capitol support staff on hand, all because of Massie's singular objection." ~~~

~~~ From the New York Times live updates of coronavirus developments for Friday: "President Trump on Friday attacked Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, for threatening to hold up passage of a $2 trillion stimulus package scheduled for a House vote at noon. Calling Mr. Massie, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, a 'third rate Grandstander,' Mr. Trump defended the economic stabilization bill passed unanimously in the Senate on Wednesday, and said Mr. Massie should be booted from the Republican Party. House leaders will try at noon to pass the measure by voice vote, but they could fail if Mr. Massie follows through on his threats to object. That would mean a majority of the chamber would have to cast votes in person." (Also linked yesterday.)

"'Think of it, 22 days ago we had the greatest economy in the world,' Mr. Trump said at a news conference. 'Everything was going beautifully. The stock market hit an all-time high again for the over 150th time during my presidency.' He singled out the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, and the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, for his prime time scorn. Mr. Inslee, he said, was 'a failed presidential candidate' who was 'constantly tripping and complaining.' Ms. Whitmer 'has no idea what's going on,' he said. [More on this linked below.]

"More than 100,000 people in the United States have now been infected with the coronavirus, according to a New York Times database, a grim milestone that comes on the same day the national death toll surpassed 1,500."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump, of course, was wrong when he said, that 22 days ago, "Everything was going beautifully." By that time, briefers had told him again & again that the country was in or about to be in the midst of a devastating pandemic. Update: Speaker Pelosi made the same observation when she appeared on Rachel Maddow's show. The remark is just one more indicator -- as if we needed more -- that Trump is completely incapable of performing his job.

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "Faced with a torrent of criticism from cities and states that have been pleading for help to deal with the most critically ill coronavirus victims, President Trump announced on Friday that the federal government would buy thousands of ventilators from a variety of makers, though it appeared doubtful they could be produced in time to help hospitals that are now overwhelmed. His announcement came shortly after authorizing the government to 'use any and all authority available under the Defense Production Act,' a Korean War-era authority allowing the federal government to commandeer General Motors' factories and supply chains, to produce ventilators. It was the latest example of Mr. Trump's mixed messages about how to ramp up production to meet a national crisis. Just 24 hours before, he had dismissed the complaints of mayors and governors who said that they were getting little of the equipment they needed.... Most of [the ventilators] will have to come from finding existing units, industry executives say, because production lines are already stretched to the limit." This is an update of the story linked below. Mrs. McC: I hope you're able to read it, as it shows how completely irresponsible Trump is & how incompetent his administration is. ~~~

~~~ Michael Wayland & Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "... Donald Trump has ordered General Motors to make ventilators under the Defense Production Act hours after criticizing the company for not acting quickly enough to produce the devices amid the coronavirus pandemic. The ... statute can force certain American companies to produce materials that are in short supply in the face of the growing outbreak. The order comes hours after GM announced plans to build critical-care ventilators with Ventec Life Systems at one of the automaker's component plants in Indiana. The order does not change General Motors' previously announced plans or schedule to produce the ventilators, according to GM spokesman Jim Cain." Mrs. McC: IOW, an "order" signifying nothing. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Update: As Sanger & others write in the story linked above, "Company executives seemed stunned by the president's effort to command them to carry through with an effort they had initiated." ~~~

~~~ David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump lashed out at General Motors on Friday, blaming it for overpromising on its ability to make new ventilators for critically ill coronavirus patients and threatening to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel the company to do so. In a series of tweets, the president emphasized the urgent need for the ventilators, an abrupt change of tone from the night before, when he told Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, that states were inflating their needs.... With the Federal Emergency Management Agency still evaluating a $1.5 billion proposal from those companies, Mr. Trump declared that General Motors 'MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!!' He added, 'FORD, GET GOING ON ventilators FAST!!!!!!' Within an hour, General Motors and Ventec announced that they would begin producing ventilators at the Kokomo plant, and that the machines would be 'scheduled to ship as soon as next month.' But the statement offered no estimates of numbers and ... or whether the Trump administration would be buying and distributing the machines." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lara Seligman of Politico: "... Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday giving the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security the authority to activate the ready reserve components of the armed forces to support the nationwide response to the coronavirus. The executive order provides DoD and DHS -- which oversees the Coast Guard -- emergency authority to order to active duty as many as 1 million members of the ready reserves. However, it is not an order to do so."

Boss Trump: "I Want Them to Be Appreciative." Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "After days of desperate pleas from the nation's governors..., Donald Trump took a round of steps Friday to expand the federal government's role in helping produce critically needed supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic even as he warned the leaders of hard-hit states not to cross him. 'I want them to be appreciative,' Trump said after the White House announced that he would be using the powers granted to him under the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to try to compel auto giant General Motors to produce ventilators. Yet Trump -- who hours earlier had suggested the need for the devices was being overblown -- rejected any criticism of the federal government's response to a ballooning public health crisis that a month ago he predicted would be over by now. 'We have done a hell of a job,' Trump said, as he sent an ominous message to state and local leaders who have been urging the federal government to do more to help them save lives.... 'We've had a big problem with the young, a woman governor from, you know who I'm talking about, from Michigan. You know..., we don't like to see the complaints.'" ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As if we could not have guessed, it's clear that Trump sees the presidency as the world's top patronage position. This applies not just to doling out jobs & favors, but also to performing the basic & essential functions of government. If this means loss of life, he doesn't care. ~~~

~~~ If Your Governor Does Not Praise Trump, He Will Kill You. Chad Livengood of Crain's Detroit Business: "Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [D-Michigan] suggested Friday that a growing rift with the White House is affecting shipments of medical supplies to Michigan amid exponential growth in confirmed coronavirus cases. 'When the federal government told us that we needed to go it ourselves, we started procuring every item we could get our hands on,' Whitmer said Friday.... 'What I've gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan. It's really concerning.'... On Monday, Whitmer said one unnamed hospital received a shipment last weekend from the federal government of 747 N95 protective masks, 204 gowns, 40,467 gloves and 64 face shields.... 'With the exception of the gloves, that allotment of PPE didn't cover one shift'Whitmer said Thursday.... Whitmer didn't say who has told vendors to stop sending medical supplies to the state, but strongly implied the order came from ... Donald Trump's administration. In a Friday afternoon appearance on CNN, Whitmer did not back away from her earlier claim." ~~~

~~~ Kelly Mena of CNN: "Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in an interview Friday that her state is not getting the health and safety equipment needed to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus because contractors are sending their products to the federal government first.... '... we've entered into a number of contracts, and as we get closer to the date when shipments are supposed to come in, they are getting canceled -- getting delayed, ... Whitmer, a Democrat ... told [CNN anchor Wolf] Blitzer. Whitmer said her state was notified that shipments of protective equipment such as face masks are going "first to the federal government" ahead of the states.... Whitmer's comments came after she said in a local radio interview earlier on Friday that the federal government has been told not to send medical supplies to Michigan....

"Trump publicly criticized Whitmer in a phone call Thursday with Fox News for her "lack of response" to Covid-19. 'The governor of Michigan, she's not stepping up. I don't know if she knows what's going on but all she does is sit there and blame the federal government. She doesn't get it done and we send her a lot,' Trump said in the Thursday night interview. Trump repeated his criticisms of Whitmer on Friday during the daily coronavirus press briefing. He repeatedly referred to Whitmer as 'the woman in Michigan' and said he wants the governors in the US to appreciate the work he and other federal officials are putting into fighting the outbreak. At one point, Trump said he has told Vice President Mike Pence not to call Whitmer and other governors who have been critical of the federal government. 'He calls all the governors -- I'm a different person. I say, "Mike, don't call the governor of Washington, you're wasting your time with him. Don't call the woman in Michigan,'" Trump said, stating that he felt Whitmer and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, another Democrat, will criticize him no matter what. 'You know what I say? If they don't treat you right, don't call. He's a different type of person. He'll call, quietly, anyway.'" ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If, like me, you have wondered if mike pence -- with his many limitations -- would be a better president* than Trump, there's this from CNN's Jim Acosta: "Pence on Easter reopening...: 'The president expressed really an aspirational goal as we continue to follow the data.'" Given pence's refusal to invoke the 25th Amendment, Jeanne & Akhilleus have some alternative ideas at the top of today's commentary on how to rid us of this useless president.

Brett Murphy & Letitia Stein of USA Today: "... America's chance to contain the coronavirus crisis came and went in the seven weeks since U.S. health officials botched the testing rollout and then misled scientists in state laboratories about this critical early failure. Federal regulators failed to recognize the spiraling disaster and were slow to relax the rules that prevented labs and major hospitals from advancing a backup.... The nation's public health pillars -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration -- shirked their responsibility to protect Americans in an emergency like this new coronavirus, USA TODAY found in interviews with dozens of scientists, public health experts and community leaders, as well as email communications between laboratories and hospitals across the country.... CDC leaders not only bungled their role in developing the first coronavirus test permitted in the country, they also misrepresented the efficacy of early solutions to state health authorities." (Also linked yesterday.)

<Trumpsters Take on Fauci. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: “A cadre of right-wing news sites pulled from the fringes in recent years through repeated mention by President Trump is now taking aim at Anthony S. Fauci, the ­nation's top infectious diseases expert.... [Trump] has found support from a chorus of conservative commentators who have cheered his promise to get the U.S. economy going again as well as his decision to tout possible coronavirus treatments not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 'The president was right, and frankly Fauci was wrong,' [pre-eminent medical expert] Lou Dobbs said Monday on his show on the Fox Business Network, referring to the use of experimental medicine.... The smear campaign taking root online, and laying the groundwork for Trump to cast aside the experts on his own coronavirus task force, relies centrally on the idea that there is no expertise that rises above partisanship, and that everyone has an agenda." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Katherine Stewart in a New York Times op-ed: "Donald Trump rose to power with the determined assistance of a movement that denies science, bashes government and prioritized loyalty over professional expertise. In the current crisis, we are all reaping what that movement has sown. At least since the 19th century, when the proslavery theologian Robert Lewis Dabney attacked the physical sciences as 'theories of unbelief,' hostility to science has characterized the more extreme forms of religious nationalism in the United States.... This denial of science and critical thinking among religious ultraconservatives now haunts the American response to the coronavirus crisis.... Religious nationalism has brought to American politics the conviction that our political differences are a battle between absolute evil and absolute good.... One of the first casualties of fact-free hyper-partisanship is competence in government." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Robert Costa & Phil Rucker of the Washington Post: "'Our country wasn't built to be shut down,' the president said at a news conference last Monday, opening five straight days of public declarations raising the specter of easing social-distancing guidelines and other restrictions by mid-April -- a timeline that most experts studying the pandemic say is dangerously premature.... The president is not technically the decider, however. The battle to reopen the country pits Trump against multiple governors, Democratic and Republican alike, who are scrambling to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus in their communities and marshal medical supplies for their hospitals. They will have the final say on when restaurants, stores and other gathering places in their states can reopen.... Trump has fostered a transactional dynamic -- in which he insinuates that loyalty and praise could be helpful for states seeking federal help.... Trump's highly charged approach has prompted some governors to band together and discuss their own timelines for closures and other issues, with bipartisan and strong but under-the-radar partnerships driving many decisions."

Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "The lesson of this plague isn't that America should stop cooperating with China. It's that America must rebuild the public-health cooperation that the Trump administration helped destroy. U.S.-Chinese collaboration against infectious disease isn't a globalist fantasy. It has proved immensely effective in the past. And one of its greatest champions was George W. Bush.... [The Bush administration's] efforts saved American as well as Chinese lives.... By Barack Obama's second term, the United States and China were expanding this public-health cooperation to the rest of the world.... On Obama's final trip to China in 2016, the two governments agreed to jointly finance a headquarters for the African Union's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention so that the continent could better fight infectious diseases itself. The Trump administration is now trying to prevent that headquarters from being built. That's just one example of the wrecking ball it has taken to public-health cooperation with Beijing." Mrs. McC: Surprise! Trump's stupid "America First" policy kills Americans in a global pandemic.

As They Lay Dying. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "Roadside mannequins are inviting residents of Moss Point Miss., to resume shopping at a local clothing store, restaurants are returning their dine-in services, and churches are re-opening their doors for services ... after Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued an executive order Tuesday that overruled local measures meant to stop the virus' spread.... Despite the order's clear wording, Reeves' office has seesawed back and forth on what exactly it does. On Wednesday night, the governor's office claimed to other media that a Jackson Free Press report on the order, discussed on the Rachel Maddow Show, was incorrect in reporting that it supersedes local orders. By Thursday afternoon, though, Reeves himself confirmed the reporting at a press conference and then issued a follow-up supplement to the executive order confirming that it does indeed supersede local orders that interfere with the 'essential' businesses or services in his original executive order." (Also linked yesterday.)

Arek Sarkissian of Politico: "Florida will set up road checkpoints along the Panhandle border to direct motorists who have been to Louisiana to quarantine, escalating efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis to keep visitors from coronavirus 'hot spots' from spreading the disease in his state. The Florida Highway Patrol will install checkpoints on roadways crossing the Alabama state line. Visitors from Louisiana will be told to isolate for 14 days and will be required to tell troopers where they plan to stay. That information will be relayed to local authorities.... The road checkpoints won't apply to commercial traffic, DeSantis said.... Roughly half of people in Florida who tested positive for the virus are in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, prompting DeSantis to crack down on people traveling to those areas from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Jack Evans of the Tampa Bay Times: "More than 900 Florida healthcare workers have signed an open letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis in which they urge the governor to take stronger action to slow the spread of coronavirus on several fronts, including issuing an immediate statewide shelter-in-place order." Mrs. McC: DeSantis has declined to order this and other requested initiatives.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "'Y'all, we are not Louisiana, we are not New York state, we are not California,' [Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R)] said on Thursday, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. "Right now is not the time to order people to shelter in place.'... Shelter-in-place orders are meant to address is the spread of the virus. And on that metric, things in Alabama don't compare ... well.... Alabama's [rate of increase in coronavirus cases] is rising faster than California's. Over the past seven days, the number of confirmed cases in California has increased by an average of 22 percent each day. The number of cases in Louisiana has grown by an average of 29 percent. In New York, the rate has averaged 33 percent -- slightly higher than the 32 percent average increase in Alabama."

BBC: "Mexican protesters have shut a US southern border crossing amid fears that untested American travellers will spread coronavirus. Residents in Sonora, south of the US state of Arizona, have promised to block traffic into Mexico for a second day after closing a checkpoint for hours on Wednesday. They wore face masks and held signs telling Americans to 'stay at home'." --s

Trudeau Opposes War with U.S. Politico: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian officials have made it clear to the United States that it would be a mistake to position troops near the border. 'We certainly hope that they're not going to go through with that,' he said this morning during his daily briefing outside his home at Rideau Cottage, speaking a day after news broke that the U.S. was considering the move.... The Wall Street Journal reported [Thursday] night that they'd been told by a U.S. official that the plans for troops changed after hearing vigorous objections from Canadian officials."

Louise Aronson in the Atlantic: "There are many logistical and political reasons why America's response has been weaker compared with other countries'. But as a doctor, I've encountered evidence that suggests ageism is playing a role too, in part because ageism has always shaped the kind of medical care that older Americans receive.... Public responses to the coronavirus pandemic on social media have laid bare the not-so-subtle interplay between medical culture and American culture at large. Reactions to the virus's spread in the U.S. range from blatantly ageist (the nicknaming of COVID-19 as 'the Boomer remover' among some young people) to genuinely helpful and empathetic (some grocery stores reserving certain hours for elderly customers).

The Commentariat -- March 27, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Paul Kane, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House of Representatives voted Friday to approve a massive $2 trillion stimulus bill that policy makers hope will blunt the economic destruction of the coronavirus pandemic, sending the legislation to President Trump for enactment. The legislation passed in dramatic fashion, approved on an overwhelming voice vote by lawmakers who'd been forced to return to Washington by a GOP colleague who had insisted on a quorum being present. Some lawmakers came from New York and other places where residents are supposed to be sheltering at home. The procedural move by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) drew bipartisan fury...." The Hill's story is here. Mrs. McC: This was Massie's way of compromising the health of other members of Congress, their families & others they may have come in contact with.

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump lashed out at General Motors on Friday, blaming it for overpromising on its ability to make new ventilators for critically ill coronavirus patients and threatening to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel the company to do so. In a series of tweets, the president emphasized the urgent need for the ventilators, an abrupt change of tone from the night before, when he told Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, that states were inflating their needs.... With the Federal Emergency Management Agency still evaluating a $1.5 billion proposal from those companies, Mr. Trump declared that General Motors 'MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!!' He added, 'FORD, GET GOING ON ventilators, FAST!!!!!!' Within an hour, General Motors and Ventec announced that they would begin producing ventilators at the Kokomo plant, and that the machines would be 'scheduled to ship as soon as next month.' But the statement offered no estimates of numbers and ... or whether the Trump administration would be buying and distributing the machines."

Mrs. McC: Specs fixed.

From the New York Times live updates of coronavirus developments Friday: "President Trump on Friday attacked Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, for threatening to hold up passage of a $2 trillion stimulus package scheduled for a House vote at noon. Calling Mr. Massie, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, a 'third rate Grandstander,' Mr. Trump defended the economic stabilization bill passed unanimously in the Senate on Wednesday, and said Mr. Massie should be booted from the Republican Party. House leaders will try at noon to pass the measure by voice vote, but they could fail if Mr. Massie follows through on his threats to object. That would mean a majority of the chamber would have to cast votes in person."

Brett Murphy & Letitia Stein of USA Today: "... America's chance to contain the coronavirus crisis came and went in the seven weeks since U.S. health officials botched the testing rollout and then misled scientists in state laboratories about this critical early failure. Federal regulators failed to recognize the spiraling disaster and were slow to relax the rules that prevented labs and major hospitals from advancing a backup.... The nation's public health pillars -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration -- shirked their responsibility to protect Americans in an emergency like this new coronavirus, USA TODAY found in interviews with dozens of scientists public health experts and community leaders, as well as email communications between laboratories and hospitals across the country.... CDC leaders not only bungled their role in developing the first coronavirus test permitted in the country, they also misrepresented the efficacy of early solutions to state health authorities."

As They Lay Dying. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "Roadside mannequin are inviting residents of Moss Point, Miss., to resume shopping at a local clothing store, restaurants are returning their dine-in services, and churches are re-opening their doors for services ... after Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued an executive order Tuesday that overruled local measures meant to stop the virus' spread.... Despite the order's clear wording, Reeves' office has seesawed back and forth on what exactly it does. On Wednesday night, the governor's office claimed to other media that a Jackson Free Press report on the order, discussed on the Rachel Maddow Show, was incorrect in reporting that it supersedes local orders. By Thursday afternoon, though, Reeves himself confirmed the reporting at a press conference and then issued a follow-up supplement to the executive order confirming that it does indeed supersede local orders that interfere with the 'essential' businesses."

Trumpsters Take on Fauci. Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "A cadre of right-wing news sites pulled from the fringes in recent years through repeated mention by President Trump is now taking aim at Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases ­expert.... [Trump] has found support from a chorus of conservative commentators who have cheered his promise to get the U.S. economy going again as well as his decision to tout possible coronavirus treatments not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 'The president was right, and frankly Fauci was wrong,' [pre-eminent medical expert] Lou Dobbs said Monday on his show on the Fox Business Network, referring to the use of experimental medicine.... The smear campaign taking root online, and laying the groundwork for Trump to cast aside the experts on his own coronavirus task force, relies centrally on the idea that there is no expertise that rises above partisanship, and that everyone has an agenda."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I stepped on my specs. All typos till I get them repaired due to astigmatism. Past typos due to carelessness.

New York Times live updates of coronavirus developments for Friday are here. "Congress was set to take up a $2 trillion economic stabilization plan designed to save jobs and bail out companies that will also fundamentally transform the relationship between the government and private industry. In a sign of the times, the House is expected to approve the measure on Friday by voice vote, rather than having hundreds of lawmakers travel from their homes and violate restrictions on mass gatherings.

"Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus and is suffering mild symptoms, the British government said on Friday. He is the first leader of a major Western country known to have contracted the virus." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post live updates for Friday are here.

New York Times live updates of coronavirus developments for Thursday are here. "In the United States, at least 81,321 people are known to have been infected with the coronavirus, including more than 1,000 deaths -- more cases than China, Italy or any other country has seen, according to data gathered by The New York Times.... The United States ... is a sprawling, cacophonous democracy, where states set their own policies and President Trump has sent mixed messages about the scale of the danger and how to fight it, ensuring there was no coherent, unified response to a grave public health threat. [Full story by Don McNeil of the NYT here.]

“President Trump said on Thursday that the Navy hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort will disembark on Saturday from Norfolk, Va., and arrive at Manhattan's Pier 90 on Monday, three weeks earlier than expected. The ship should bolster the capacity of New York's hospitals, which are straining with patients suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Mr. Trump said that he would personally see off the ship. 'I'm going to go out and kiss it goodbye,' he said -- a photo opportunity that would mark his first departure from the White House in weeks." Access to the updates is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~ Washington Post live updates are here. Access is free. (Also linked yesterday.)

Abigail Hauslohner, et al., of the Washington Post: "... just two months after America's first confirmed case..., the coronavirus has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States, a toll that is increasing at an alarming rate.... Experts fear the worst is still to come, pointing to a rapid acceleration of cases in communities across the country. The Washington Post is tracking every known U.S. death, analyzing data from health agencies and gathering details from family and friends of the victims." The story is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday.)

You're going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression. -- Donald Trump, making up stuff Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "Though the question of the overall impact of recessions on mortality remains unsettled, experts disputed Mr. Trump's claim that an economic downturn would be more deadly than a pandemic. (The White House did not respond when asked for the source of the president's conjecture.)... For the general population, studies have found that death rates from other causes were either unchanged or actually decreased [during economic downturns].... In comparison, projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that deaths from the coronavirus in the United States could range from 200,000 to 1.7 million.... [Also,] if efforts to mitigate the coronavirus abate and cases and deaths spiral out of control, the economy would also be affected by self-imposed lockdowns."

Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "Tensions between President Trump and governors from states hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic are rising at a time when the White House is pushing to loosen restrictions on social distancing.... The president's upbeat assessment ... has distressed the leaders in states where the virus is spreading exponentially.... On Thursday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) pleaded with Trump during a conference call with the governors to take more dramatic federal action to secure medical supplies for his state.... After Trump told the group that his administration was ready to be the 'backup' for states in crisis, Inslee interjected: 'We don't need a backup. We need a Tom Brady.'... Trump responded defensively, two ... people said, and told Inslee that he and the federal government have already done much for Washington and other states in recent days, ticking off several initiatives.... At a White House news briefing, Trump called reports of tension on his call with the governors 'fake news,' insisting that Brady's name was raised 'in a positive way.'... 'I would say one person -- a little, tiny bit of a raising of a voice, a wise guy a little bit,' Trump said, without identifying the governor. 'But he's usually a big wise guy -- not so much anymore. We saw to it he wouldn't be anymore.'" ~~~

~~~ Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "... Donald Trump told America's governors in a letter on Thursday that his administration will soon set new social distancing guidelines as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. Trump said in the letter that new coronavirus testing capabilities would allow his administration to identify 'high-risk, medium risk and low-risk' counties. And these new guidelines will assist governors and other officials to decide on 'maintaining, increasing or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place.' The president said by doing 'robust surveillance testing,' officials will be able to 'monitor the spread of the virus throughout the country.'" Mrs. McC: Oh, I'm sure the testing with be just as "robust" as it has been until now. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) A reproduction of Trump's letter, via NPR, is here.

... you don't make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline. -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, on CNN Wednesday night ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Kristof & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "We created an interactive model [included on the linked page] with epidemiologists to show why quickly returning to normal could be a historic mistake that would lead to an explosion of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.... A skeptic will note that these measures don't seem to prevent a surge in infections so much as delay them (in some cases so that the impact is pushed beyond the period that this model tracks). There's something to that: We may see a resurgence whenever we let up, at least until we have a vaccine or herd immunity. Yet social distancing still is beneficial in two ways. First, we can use the time to buttress hospitals and test treatments. Second, interventions can flatten the curve and spread infections over a longer period of time, so that the health care system does not become overwhelmed." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose if someone showed the chart above to President Me-Me-Me, it would make no difference, as he doesn't give a fig how many people he kills in the name of Trump.

Elena Renken of NPR: "Over a thousand people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, and over a third of those deaths have taken place in New York. Nearly half the confirmed cases in the United States are in New York. The state has become a coronavirus hot spot -- anyone leaving New York City is being asked to self-quarantine for two weeks.... Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House coronavirus task force, says other states need to prepare to take on outbreaks of this scale."

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House had been preparing to reveal on Wednesday a joint venture between General Motors and Ventec Life Systems that would allow for the production of as many as 80,000 desperately needed ventilators to respond to an escalating pandemic when word suddenly came down that the announcement was off. The decision to cancel the announcement, government officials say, came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it needed more time to assess whether the estimated cost was prohibitive. That price tag was more than $1 billion, with several hundred million dollars to be paid upfront to General Motors to retool a car parts plant in Kokomo, Ind., where the ventilators would be made with Ventec's technology.... And they contend that an initial promise that the joint venture could turn out 20,000 ventilators in short order had shrunk to 7,500, with even that number in doubt.... 'Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST! @fema,' [Donald Trump falsely] wrote [last Sunday]." ~~~

~~~ So Then. Allyson Chiu & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "President Trump cast doubt Thursday on New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's assertion that his state, which has become the epicenter for the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, will need 30,000 ventilators to properly care for the influx of patients anticipated to flood hospitals in coming weeks. 'I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they're going to be,' Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a phone interview. 'I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they'll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they're saying, "Can we order 30,000 ventilators?"'" Mrs. McC: Yeah, two sounds good.

A Fake Excuse Falls Apart. Richard Harris of NPR: "When asked why the United States didn't import coronavirus tests when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran into difficulty developing its own, government officials have frequently questioned the quality of the foreign-made alternatives. But NPR has learned that the key study they point to was retracted just days after it was published online in early March. Top officials in the Trump administration have alluded to this study, including Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinates the White House coronavirus task force. 'It doesn't help to put out a test where 50% or 47% are false positives,' she said at a White House briefing on March 17, explaining why health officials didn't accept tests from other countries. Food and Drug Commissioner Stephen Hahn cited the figure as well during an interview on Morning Edition on Friday.... 'Scientists shouldn't be depending on the results of as scientific paper when the authors are saying through the retraction that they do not have confidence in the results,' says Dr. Steven Goodman, professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford."

Mrs. McCrabbie: NiskyGuy wrote in yesterday's Comments, "... I heard MA governor Charlie Baker (R rational) ... [say] MA had a contract for PPE, had cut a check, when the vendor called to say that FEMA had outbid the state, and the supplies were going to the Feds. How the fuck does that line up with trump's 'The states should be getting the stuff on their own' ??!!??!!??!" I looked in vain to find a print version of the story, which Rachel Maddow also featured on her show. However, I found this week-old report: ~~~

~~~ "Trump Chuckled." Eliza Relman of Business Insider (March 20): "During a conference call with governors on Thursday [a week ago], Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told Trump his state was denied three major orders of equipment because the federal government had outbid him.... 'We took very seriously the push ... that we should not just rely on the stockpile, that we should go out there and buy stuff and put in orders and try to create pressure on manufacturers and distributors, and I gotta tell you that on three big orders, we lost to the feds.' Baker, a moderate Republican, added, 'I've got a feeling that if someone has the chance to sell to you and to sell to me, I am going to lose on every one of those.' Trump chuckled at that and then said the federal government probably offered the manufacturers a better price.... Later on the call, after the New Mexico government made a similar complaint, Trump said he would tell FEMA to ensure state orders aren't turned down over a conflict with his administration."

SEIU-UHW: "The Service Employees International Union -- United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) has located 39 million critically needed N95 masks and is connecting states, counties, health systems and individual hospitals to the supplier so they can purchase them in quantity. The 3M™ N95 masks (model 1860) are cleared for use as surgical masks and are approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

** Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a sweeping suspension of its enforcement of environmental laws Thursday, telling companies they would not need to meet environmental standards during the coronavirus outbreak. The temporary policy, for which EPA has set no end date, would allow any number of industries to skirt environmental laws, with the agency saying it will not 'seek penalties for noncompliance with routine monitoring and reporting obligations.'... The memo says companies should try to minimize 'the effects and duration of any noncompliance' with environmental laws, and should also keep records of their own noncompliance, along with identifying how the coronavirus was a factor." --s

Mark Miller of the New York Times: "Medicare already covers its enrollees for much of what they might need if they contract the [corona]virus and become seriously ill -- and it has expanded some services and loosened some rules in response to the crisis. Here's a look at what enrollees can expect from Medicare, some problems to look out for and some additional changes that advocates think still need to be made." Mrs. McC: Not sure if this is a freebie; if not, MSN has reprinted the story here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jesse Drucker of the New York Times: "The federal government's planned $2 trillion economic rescue package ... includes a potential bonanza for America's richest real estate investors.... [Donald] Trump and [Jared] Kushner, as well as other wealthy real estate developers, have the potential to score big tax savings.... Senate Republicans inserted an easy-to-overlook provision on page 203 of the 880-page bill that would permit wealthy investors to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market. The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion.... A draft congressional analysis this week found that the change is the second-biggest tax giveaway in the $2 trillion stimulus package.... Among the possible beneficiaries of the change are real estate investors in President Trump's inner circle."

Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "For the third time in three days, people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were pepper-sprayed on Wednesday as the coronavirus pandemic raises tensions within immigration jails. All of the pepper-spraying incidents have occurred at detention centers run by the private prison giant GEO Group.... A draft of a court declaration from Mariel Villarreal, an immigration attorney at Pangea Legal Services..., states that the pepper-spraying occurred as women received a presentation about the coronavirus [Wednesday] morning. '[My client] stated that the women's questions were going unanswered and their concerns were being ignored by the officers.'" Thanks to Hattie for the link.

Blair Miller of ABC Denver 7: "Six Republican state lawmakers from Douglas County [Colorado] -- including the House and Senate minority leaders and a senator who has COVID-19 and is quarantined at his second home in California -- called for county commissioners to terminate the county's relationship with the Tri-County Health Department after it issued a stay-at-home order Wednesday morning.... The lawmakers said they felt the order was 'heavy-handed' and should not have come from the health department, though it has the authority to issue such an order." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Lucas Sullivan of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch: "Pharmacists across Ohio this week provided details to The Dispatch of questionable prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, or chloroquine, that have poured in from doctors in the past week. The prescriptions were filed as soon as an hour after ... Donald Trump promoted them last Thursday as a possible treatment for coronavirus.... The Dispatch interviewed 12 pharmacists from across the state who work in major hospitals, chain stores and independent stores. Each said in the past week that they had received six to eight questionable prescriptions from dermatologists, OB/GYNs, dentists and allergists. The state has now moved to restrict prescribing so only patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 can receive the drug." (Also linked yesterday.)

A.J. Vicens of Mother Jones: A large company owned by Kushner Companies is pressing tenants to pay their full rents on time by "credit or debit card ... for a fee, or by e-check without additional charge." The emails to renters also said the company would close gyms & provide fewer maintenance services during the coronavirus crisis. Thanks to Hattie for the link.

Claudio Cancelli & Luca Foresti of Corriere Della Sera [Italy], via TPM: "Nembro, in the province of Bergamo, is the municipality most affected by Covid-19 in relation to the population.... The number of deaths officially attributed to Covid-19 is 31.... In this case, the number of abnormal deaths compared to the averagethat Nembro recorded in the period of time in consideration is equal to 4 times those officially attributed to Covid-19.... The numbers of Nembro also suggest that we must take those official deaths and multiply them by at least 4 to have the real impact of Covid-19 in Italy, at this moment." [Emphasis added] --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I have heard & read anecdotal evidence that the same undercount is occurring in the U.S.

Karen McVeigh of the Guardian: "The fight to ban plastic bags, many of which end up polluting oceans and rivers, has taken a step backward as conservative US think-tanks exploit the fear of Covid-19, campaigners have said. Articles warning that reusable cloth bags are worse than plastic ones for spreading coronavirus have been linked to major rightwing nonprofits such as the Manhattan Institute, and contain misinformation aimed at defeating or repealing plastic bag bans, said Greenpeace USA.... Last week a number of US states and cities nevertheless took the decision to roll back plastic bag bans, citing the coronavirus." --s

Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "One of the first deaths in Virginia from coronavirus was a 66-year-old Christian 'musical evangelist' who fell ill while on a trip to New Orleans with his wife. As the Friendly Atheist's Bo Gardiner points out, Landon Spradlin had previously shared opinions that the pandemic was the result of 'mass hysteria' from the media. On March 13, Spradlin shared a misleading meme that compared coronavirus deaths to swine flu deaths and suggested the media is using the pandemic to hurt Trump."

Bradley Bowman, et al. of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies: "As the Coronavirus crisis escalated earlier this month in the United States, Moscow repeatedly sent Tu-142 long-range reconnaissance aircraft to probe America's homeland defenses. The incursions into the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) air defense identification zone (ADIZ) demonstrated Moscow's continued aggressive policy toward the United States and underscored the need to maintain U.S. military readiness, even in the midst of an historic pandemic. This month, Moscow tested U.S. and Canadian homeland aerospace threat detection and reaction three times over a one-week period." --s

The Commentariat -- March 26, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "... Donald Trump told America's governors in a letter on Thursday that his administration will soon set new social distancing guidelines as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. Trump said in the letter that new coronavirus testing capabilities would allow his administration to identify 'high-risk, medium risk and low-risk' counties. And these new guidelines will assist governors and other officials to decide on 'maintaining, increasing or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place.' The president said by doing 'robust surveillance testing,' officials will be able to 'monitor the spread of the virus throughout the country.'" Mrs. McC: Oh, I'm sure the testing with be just as "robust" as it has been until now. Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I just had a moment like this. ~~~

     ~~~ I hope stepping on my glasses won't ultimately kill me.

... you don't make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline. -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, on CNN Wednesday night ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Kristof & Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "We created an interactive model [included on the linked page] with epidemiologists to show why quickly returning to normal could be a historic mistake that would lead to an explosion of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.... A skeptic will note that these measures don't seem to prevent a surge in infections so much as delay them (in some cases so that the impact is pushed beyond the period that this model tracks). There's something to that: We may see a resurgence whenever we let up, at least until we have a vaccine or herd immunity. Yet social distancing still is beneficial in two ways. First, we can use the time to buttress hospitals and test treatments. Second, interventions can flatten the curve and spread infections over a longer period of time, so that the health care system does not become overwhelmed." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose if someone showed the chart above to President Me-Me-Me, it would make no difference, as he doesn't give a fig how many people he kills in the name of Trump.

Abigail Hauslohner>, et al., of the Washington Post: "... just two months after America's first confirmed case..., the coronavirus has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States, a toll that is increasing at an alarming rate.... Experts fear the worst is still to come, pointing to a rapid acceleration of cases in communities across the country. The Washington Post is tracking every known U.S. death, analyzing data from health agencies and gathering details from family and friends of the victims." The story is free to nonsubscribers.

Mark Miller of the New York Times: "Medicare already covers its enrollees for much of what they might need if they contract the [corona]virus and become seriously ill -- and it has expanded some services and loosened some rules in response to the crisis. Here's a look at what enrollees can expect from Medicare, some problems to look out for and some additional changes that advocates think still need to be made." Mrs. McC: Not sure if this is a freebie; if not, MSN has reprinted the story here.

Blair Miller of ABC Denver 7: "Six Republican state lawmakers from Douglas County [Colorado] -- including the House and Senate minority leaders and a senator who has COVID-19 and is quarantined at his second home in California -- called for county commissioners to terminate the county's relationship with the Tri-County Health Department after it issued a stay-at-home order Wednesday morning.... The lawmakers said they felt the order was 'heavy-handed' and should not have come from the health department, though it has the authority to issue such an order." --s

Lucas Sullivan of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch: "Pharmacists across Ohio this week provided details to The Dispatch of questionable prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine, or chloroquine, that have poured in from doctors in the past week. The prescriptions were filed as soon as an hour after ... Donald Trump promoted them last Thursday as a possible treatment for coronavirus.... The Dispatch interviewed 12 pharmacists from across the state who work in major hospitals, chain stores and independent stores. Each said in the past week that they had received six to eight questionable prescriptions from dermatologists, OB/GYNs, dentists and allergists. The state has now moved to restrict prescribing so only patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 can receive the drug."

Claudio Cancelli & Luca Foresti of Corriere Della Sera [Italy], via TPM: "Nembro, in the province of Bergamo, is the municipality most affected by Covid-19 in relation to the population.... The number of deaths officially attributed to Covid-19 is 31.... In this case, the number of abnormal deaths compared to the average that Nembro recorded in the period of time in consideration is equal to 4 times those officially attributed to Covid-19.... The numbers of Nembro also suggest that we must take those official deaths and multiply them by at least 4 to have the real impact of Covid-19 in Italy, at this moment." [Emphasis added] --s

~~~~~~~~~~

Politico: "Unemployment claims rose more than 1000 percent last week to 3.3 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic and government measures to limit its devastation brought huge swaths of the U.S. economy to a halt. It was the largest number, by far, of unemployment claims ever recorded for a single week since the government began collecting this data in 1967, and analysts predict more eye-popping numbers in the coming weeks as layoffs and bankruptcies continue through a crisis that economists are starting to compare to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 3.3 million figure was seasonally adjusted. The raw numerical increase, 2.9 million claims, also shattered records. The previous record increase, in 1982, was about 700,000 claims." ~~~

~~~ Heather Long & Alyssa Fowers of the Washington Post: "The nation's unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in February, a half-century low, but that has likely risen already to 5.5 percent, according to calculations by Martha Gimbel, a labor economist at Schmidt Futures.... The true number of unemployed so far from the coronavirus is likely much higher than 3.3 million because a lot of workers are not allowed to apply for this particular benefit. Self-employed workers, gig workers, students, people who did not live in the state last year or workers fewer than six months last year are typically not eligible to apply for unemployment insurance in most states.... 'We may well be in a recession,' said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in his first appearance on morning television. 'The first order of business is to get the virus under control and then resume economic activity.'"

Today's New York Times live updates for coronavirus developments are here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: AND I'm not certain the figures released today include every state. James Walker of Newsweek (March 24): "Ohio has faced 'unprecedented' demand for unemployment benefits this week -- but will not be releasing jobless claim numbers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, under a request from the Department of Labor."

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Facing one of the worst economic downturns in American history, one that is unsparing in its trauma, the Senate late Wednesday unanimously approved a $2 trillion emergency relief bill that attempts to arrest the financial havoc caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers acted with unusual speed and cooperation to produce the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history. The sprawling legislation, which passed 96 to 0, would send checks to more than 150 million American households, set up enormous loan programs for businesses large and small, pump billions of dollars into unemployment insurance programs, greatly boost spending on hospitals, and much more.... [House] Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) announced a [House] vote to approve it Friday morning. President Trump said he intends to sign it immediately." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is the biggest "deal" of Trump's (or any) presidency, and Donald Trump had nothing to do with it. He left all the negotiating to Steve Mnuchin and others. Mnuchin -- a former shady banker, hedge-fund manager & movie mogul -- is certainly experienced at making deals. Still, its fairly amazing -- and good for Americans -- that Trump ceded his vaunted but fake deal-making skills to the Treasury Secretary. The White House aides who manipulated Trump into butting out did the country at least one good deed. (Supposedly Trump eschewed the task because he couldn't stand to be in a room with mean ole Nancy Pelosi; I suspect there's more to it than that.) ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "For a few hours on Wednesday, it seemed the Senate still could not muster the will to start pumping trillions of desperately needed dollars into the American economy. Four Republican senators -- Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Rick Scott of Florida -- announced they had found a flaw in the economic stimulus legislation so grave that they would be forced to delay its passage. The proposed unemployment benefits, they said, were much too generous. Yes, that's right: They worried the federal government was in danger of doing too much to help low-income workers whose jobs are being sacrificed to save lives." The editorial goes on to relate how mean-spirited Lindsey, et al., are & to describe some of the flaws in the bill. ~~~

~~~ Eric Lipton & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Tucked into the largest bailout in United States history ... are a range of provisions that stand to benefit specific industries and interest groups.... While some industries and companies are benefiting from provisions tailored for them, others appear certain to get a piece of the pie through more general components of the bill.... Democrats proudly announced that they had won agreement on language to block President Trump, other government officials and their families from receiving assistance from a $500 billion fund to be administered by the Treasury Department. But it turns out that the provision might not preclude funds from going to companies owned by the family of ... Jared Kushner, while Mr. Trump's companies would not be barred from benefiting from other elements of the bill intended to help broad swaths of American business.... The deal specifically sets aside $17 billion for 'businesses critical to maintaining national security' -- a category seen as intended at least partly for Boeing, the troubled aircraft manufacturer and Pentagon contractor, whose name appears nowhere in the bill." ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. The Never-Trump Provision. John Wagner & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Businesses controlled by President Trump and his children would be prohibited from receiving loans or investments from Treasury Department programs included in a $2 trillion stimulus plan agreed to early Wednesday by White House and Senate leaders in response to the coronavirus crisis. The provision, which was touted by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) in an early-morning letter to colleagues, would also apply to Vice President Pence, members of Congress and heads of federal departments, as well as their children, spouses and in-laws. During a television interview Wednesday morning, Schumer stressed that the provision applies not only to Trump but to 'any major figure in government.'... On Sunday, Trump was asked whether his business would abstain from any federal bailout. He did not give a clear answer. 'Everything's changing, just so you understand; it's all changing,' he said. 'But I have no idea.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 13% in two days as the White House and congressional leaders said they had agreed to a massive stimulus bill to combat the economic slowdown from the coronavirus pandemic. The 30-stock average climbed more than 2%, or 495.64 points, to 21,200.55 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was up by 1.1% and closed at 2,475.56. Wednesday marked the first time since February the Dow and S&P 500 closed higher in back-to-back sessions. Boeing shares rallied 24% to lead the Dow higher. A 9.2% gain in Nike also boosted the Dow. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.5%, however, to 7,384.30 as Facebook, Amazon Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet all closed lower. Stocks came off their highs in the final minutes of trading after Sen. Bernie Sanders said he was prepared to 'put a hold on this bill until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund.' At its session high, the Dow was up more than 6% while the S&P 500 gained as much as 5.1%."

The New York Times' live updates for Wednesday for coronavirus developments are here. “... in New York City..., the 1.8-million-square-foot Jacob K. Javits Convention Center -- which was scheduled to hold an expo for exotic flowers this week -- looked more like a front-line military depot as workers rushed to transform the complex to handle an imminent surge of patients. Governor Cuomo said that with cases doubling every three days in New York City alone, as many as 140,000 people might need urgent care in the next few weeks.... And the state was still in dire need of critical equipment.... When asked how he came up with April 12 as a target date [to ease social-distancing restrictions], Mr. Trump did not cite any scientific evidence. 'I just thought it was a beautiful time,' he said[.]" ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. "The president embellished on a tweet he'd sent shortly before the daily White House news conference in which he alleged the media wanted to tank the economy to aid in his defeat come November. Like a political rally, he railed against the 'fake news' that want to see him fail even though the White House has done 'one hell of a job,' he said.... Trump dismissed the idea of widespread testing to save more lives. [Mrs. McC: This is bunk. Widespread testing is a prerequisite to analyzing the feasibility of "reopening the country," which Trump proposes to do.]... He went on to say that many states don't need that kind of robust testing and could reopen now because they are having little spread, indicating that he could call for lifting social restrictions geographically. [Mrs. McC: This is bunk, too.] (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Training a camera on a live event, and just letting it play out, is technology, not journalism; journalism requires editing and context. -- Veteran journalist Ted Koppel, to the New York Times ~~~

~~~ Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Since reviving the daily White House briefing -- a practice abandoned last year by an administration that bristles at outside scrutiny -- Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of 'The Bachelor.'... And the audience is expanding even as Mr. Trump has repeatedly delivered information that doctors and public health officials have called ill informed, misleading or downright wrong.... How to report on Mr. Trump's fabrications has long been a source of concern among journalists and press critics.... Now, the president's critics say, lives are at risk." ~~~

~~~ "Handle the President Like You Handle the Virus." Lloyd Grove & Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "... top MSNBC anchors have already argued publicly that their own network should not air the president's pandemic musings in full. Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough tweeted during Trump's briefing on Monday that there was 'no public benefit to this briefing,' and the cable news networks should 'cut away.' MSNBC host Rachel Maddow ... also repeatedly called for news networks to stop carrying Trump's statements live, saying that the president's daily comments contribute to the spread of misinformation.... Privately, several staffers at CNN and MSNBC have acknowledged that airing Trump's pressers live and in full likely amplifies the spread of misinformation about the disease and its potential cure.... Acknowledging that Trump is frequently a source of misstatement, [an] NBC News insider added: 'I think the best way to handle the president in the briefing is that you handle the president like you handle the virus. He has to be contained and quarantined and his falsehoods have to be scrubbed so that they don't rub off on you.'"

"Trump to New York: Drop Dead." Jennifer Senior of the New York Times: "President Trump is treating each of our 50 states as individual contestants on 'The Apprentice' -- pitting them against one another for scarce resources, daring them to duke it out -- rather than mobilizing a unified national response to a pandemic.... Untold thousands will likely die absent federal intervention. And it needs to happen this instant -- not just for the good of [New York City], but for the nation. The president needs to set a precedent in his hometown.... The governor has already said that the state is 30,000 ventilators short. The only way to acquire the volume we need -- delivered at the speed we need -- is through federal intervention, which means sending us the bulk of the ventilators from the strategic national stockpile, which has roughly 20,000, and deploying the Defense Production Act to force private manufacturers to make more. But that's not what the president is doing. He refuses to use the Defense Production Act, fearing it'll put an undue burden on business, and he's keeping his federal stash under tight lock and key.... [New York has] 10 times the number of cases as Washington and eight times that of California." New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he would ship the ventilators to other areas as needs move elsewhere. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Trump Plays Politics with Blue-State Lives. Asawin Suebsaeng, et al., of the Daily Beast: "The latest evidence of the delicate, sometimes impossible line that [Democratic] governors have been forced to walk [to mollify Donald Trump] came Tuesday, when the president took swipes at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a televised town-hall-style program on Fox News. 'I watched Gov. Cuomo [today] and he was very nice,' the president said of the man steering the state hardest hit by the virus. Cuomo had moments earlier, conducted a press conference in which he scoffed at how insufficient the administration's help in procuring ventilators had been. 'He had a choice... He refused to order 15,000 ventilators,' Trump said, referencing a recent column by Betsy McCaughey, a hardened Trump supporter and longtime health-care policy crusader on the right. 'It says that he didn't buy the ventilators in 2015 for a pandemic, established death panels and lotteries instead.'.... 'It's a two-way street,' Trump said of having the feds help states with a coronavirus response policy. 'They have to treat us well, too.'... Trump's comment resonated not only for how callous it seemed but also for how manufactured the evidence was that he was citing.... President Trump 'obviously didn't read the document he's citing -- this was a five-year-old advisory task-force report, which never recommended the state procure ventilators -- it merely referenced that New York wouldn't be equipped with enough ventilators for a 1918 flu pandemic,' said Dani Lever, director of communications for Cuomo." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A big part of Trump's problem with New York, of course, is that Gov. Cuomo is getting high marks & a lot of publicity for his daring, proactive response to the coronavirus, even as Trump is justifiably excoriated in stories appearing in nearly all major media outlets. For instance ~~~

~~~ Jesse McKinley & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: New York Gov. Andrew "Cuomo was once considered a bit player on the national stage, an abrasive presence who made his share of enemies among his Democratic Party peers. He was too much of a pragmatist for his party's progressive wing, too self-focused for party leaders and too brusque for nearly everyone. But now, he is emerging as the party's most prominent voice in a time of crisis. His briefings -- articulate, consistent and often tinged with empathy -- have become must-see television. On Tuesday, his address was carried live on all four networks in New York and a raft of cable news stations, including CNN, MSNBC and even Fox News.... Mr. Cuomo's handling of the crisis has fostered a nationwide following.... Mr. Cuomo's daily addresses have stood in stark contrast to the sometimes contradictory pronouncements coming from Washington. Mr. Cuomo's briefings have been filled with facts, directives and sobering trends...." (Also linked yesterday.)

My mother's not expendable. We're not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable. And we're not going to put a dollar figure on human life. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), responding to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's (R) suggestion that old folks sacrifice their lives for the economy ~~~

~~~ Media Matters: "Fox's Brit Hume says it's an 'entirely reasonable viewpoint' to expect that grandparents would be willing to die to protect the economy[.]" Mrs. McC: Hume is 76 years old. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "Republicans who once decried the Affordable Care Act as a harbinger of 'death panels' are now toying with cutting out the middleman and sentencing the country's oldest to death without bothering with any panels at all.... The poster boy of such stupidity is currently Dan Patrick, Texas' Republican lieutenant governor, who told Tucker Carlson on Monday night that he and America's other grandparents would be willing to risk their own lives if it meant America getting 'back to work' before the pandemic was contained adequately.... Patrick ... seems incapable of understanding that we can't conclude anything about the virus without widespread testing, which remains unavailable.... The problem with Trump and Patrick and [Jerry] Falwell [Jr. -- story linked below --] and all those who continue to believe that young Americans or Christian Americans or Americans in red states are somehow not susceptible to the same risks as the rest of us isn't just that it continues the sordid trend of pitting people against others that has been so politically disastrous for the nation. It also stands as a substitute for actually doing the many, many things that need doing right now, things that needed doing weeks ago, when they could have saved more lives." (Also linked yesterday.)

Close your eyes. You'll think you're listening to RealDonaldTrump. Thanks to PD Pepe for the lead: ~~~

Nathan McDermott & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "... Donald Trump has in recent days criticized how China handled the coronavirus outbreak, saying Thursday that the 'world is paying a very big price for what they did.' But as the virus spread rapidly across China in the month of February, Trump repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping's response to the crisis, saying he's handled it 'really well' and that he was doing 'a very good job with a very, very tough situation.' CNN KFile review of Trump's public statements identified at least 12 occasions in which the President praised or projected confidence about China's response to coronavirus."

"All the Best People" Ain't So Funny Now. Jennifer Steinhauer & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Empty slots and high turnover have left parts of the federal government unprepared and ill equipped for what may be the largest public health crisis in a century, said numerous former and current federal officials and disaster experts. Some 80 percent of the senior positions in the White House below the cabinet level have turned over during President Trump's administration, with about 500 people having departed since the inauguration.... Of the 75 senior positions at the Department of Homeland Security, 20 are either vacant or filled by acting officials, including Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary who recently was unable to tell a Senate committee how many respirators and protective face masks were available in the United States.... Equally notable may have been the resignation last year of Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who was an early advocate for broad coronavirus testing and stronger mitigation policies. He was succeeded by Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, a noted oncologist, who has struggled during Senate hearings to explain some of his positions.... Between Mr. Trump's history of firing people and the choice by many career officials and political appointees to leave, he now finds himself with a government riddled with vacancies, acting department chiefs and, in some cases, leaders whose professional backgrounds do not easily match up to the task of managing a pandemic."

Noah Weiland & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The White House is preparing to use software provided by the technology giant Oracle to promote unproven coronavirus treatments, including a pair of malaria drugs publicized by President Trump, potentially before the government approves their use for the outbreak, according to five senior administration officials and others familiar with the plans.... Mr. Trump has tried to reassure Americans that what he has called a 'game changer' treatment is imminent, but his language has alarmed senior health officials and public health experts, who say that the Oracle program would amount to a sprawling, crowdsourced clinical trial without the usual controls of the F.D.A.... [Two] drugs are still being studied by the F.D.A. for their effectiveness in treating the virus.... Jared Kushner, as well as agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the F.D.A., are involved in the Oracle efforts, according to two senior administration officials.... On Tuesday afternoon, Dr. [Anthony] Fauci met with Drs. Deborah L. Birx, the White House's coronavirus coordinator, Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Stephen M. Hahn, the F.D.A. commissioner, to go over their concerns with the Oracle project and review new Chinese data that indicated the drugs have no meaningful effect.... [A week ago,] to the surprise of top officials at the F.D.A., Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that he would be holding a news conference 'to discuss very important news from the F.D.A. concerning the Chinese Virus!' Pleading with the White House, officials at the F.D.A. were able to hold it off..., forcing Mr. Trump to take his message to the next day's coronavirus task force news briefing, where he told reporters that chloroquine would be distributed to 'large groups of people' even before the government had concluded studying its safety and effectiveness." (Also linked yesterday.)

When we went to war, we didn't say, any company out there want to build a battleship? Who wants to build a battleship? -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on Trump's refusal to implement the Defense Production Act ~~~

~~~ Jeanne Whelen, et al., of the Washington Post: "A mad scramble for masks, gowns and ventilators is pitting states against each other and driving up prices. Some hard-hit parts of the country are receiving fresh supplies of N95 masks, but others are still out of stock. Hospitals are requesting donations of masks and gloves from construction companies, nail salons and tattoo parlors, and considering using ventilators designed for large animals because they cannot find the kind made for people. The market for medical supplies has descended into chaos, according to state officials and health-care leaders. They are begging the federal government to use a wartime law to bring order and ensure the United States has the gear it needs to battle the coronavirus. So far, the Trump administration has declined." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times on "how the world's richest country ran out of 75-cent face masks:... The answer ... involves a very American set of capitalist pathologies -- the rise and inevitable lure of low-cost overseas manufacturing, and a strategic failure, at the national level and in the health care industry, to consider seriously the cascading vulnerabilities that flowed from the incentives to reduce costs.... Few in the protective equipment industry are surprised by the shortages, because they've been predicted for years.... This month, Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services, testified that there are only about 40 million masks in the stockpile -- around 1 percent of the projected national need.... Like much of the rest of the apparel and consumer products business, face mask manufacturing has since shifted nearly entirely overseas [and mainly to China]... Hospitals began to run out of masks for the same reason that supermarkets ran out of toilet paper -- because their 'just-in-time' supply chains, which call for holding as little inventory as possible to meet demand, are built to optimize efficiency, not resiliency." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The most shocking thing to me still is the Trump administration's failure to start ramping up production of PPE in mid-January when intelligence agencies were telling Trump, pence & Cabinet officials that the virus was coming. Even if Trump wanted to keep the coronavirus a secret for political reasons, there's no excuse for not immediately arranging for & ordering vast quantities of these supplies to meet at least a large portion of the impending demand. In January, they knew disaster was coming, and they refused to address it. It's as if the Pentagon saw North Korean ICBMs in the air & decided not to launch anti-ballistic missiles because Trump said the ICBMs were fake since Little Kim was a friend of his. So then I read this: ~~~

~~~ Dan Diamond & Nahal Toosi of Politico: "... according to a previously unrevealed White House playbook, the government should've begun a federal-wide effort to procure that personal protective equipment at least two months ago. 'Is there sufficient personal protective equipment for healthcare workers who are providing medical care?' the playbook instructs its readers, as one early decision that officials should address when facing a potential pandemic.... Other recommendations include that the government move swiftly to fully detect potential outbreaks, secure supplemental funding and consider invoking the Defense Production Act -- all steps in which the Trump administration lagged behind the timeline laid out in the playbook.... The playbook also stresses the significant responsibility facing the White House to contain risks of potential pandemics, a stark contrast with the Trump administration's delays in deploying an all-of-government response and ... Donald Trump's recent signals that he might roll back public health recommendations.... It is not clear if the administration's failure to follow the NSC playbook was the result of an oversight or a deliberate decision to follow a different course." The story includes a copy of the playbook.

Let's Not Forget Mike Pompeo Is a Dick. John Hudson & Souad Mekhennet of the Washington Post: "Foreign ministers representing seven major industrialized nations failed to agree on a joint statement Wednesday after the Trump administration insisted on referring to the coronavirus outbreak as the 'Wuhan virus,' three officials from G-7 countries told The Washington Post. Other nations in the group of world powers rejected the term because they viewed it as needlessly divisive at a time when international cooperation is required to slow the global pandemic and deal with the scarcity of medical supplies, officials said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has brushed off criticism of his use of the term, saying it's important to point out that the virus came from the Chinese city of Wuhan and that China's government had a special responsibility to warn the world about its dangers." The Raw Story has a summary report here.

Elisha Fieldstadt of NBC News: "Health experts say it's no surprise that New Orleans is the center of the coronavirus crisis in hard-hit Louisiana after over a million people flocked to the city to celebrate Carnival for more than a month, culminating in Mardi Gras at the end of February. Gov. John Bel Edwards [D] requested a Major Disaster Declaration for the state Tuesday as the number of cases rose to 1,388 in 43 of Louisiana's 64 parishes, according to the state's Health Department. At least 46 people have died.... But New Orleans, with 567 of the state's cases -- 20 that led to death -- is by far the center of the pandemic in the state." (Also linked yesterday.)

Of Course They Are. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Mississippi, Ohio and Texas are including abortions among nonessential surgical procedures that must be deferred or canceled as coronavirus cases flood the health care system." Mrs. McC: I wonder what would happen if you postponed an abortion for months.

Mississippi Governor Is Still at It. Nick Judin of the Jackson Free Press: "Gov. Tate Reeves signed an executive order early [Wednesday] evening superseding a patchwork of local bans on public gatherings in Mississippi and other heightened restrictions that several municipalities across the state have ordered or considered in the wake of COVID-19's spread inside Mississippi. The state reached 320 official cases today, up 300 percent since 80 known cases on Friday. The order seems to declare that most types of businesses in Mississippi are 'essential' and thus exempt from social-distancing requirements suggested in the order.... Notably, Reeves' executive order supersedes any orders by local mayors or other governing body in Mississippi that conflict with the businesses and organizations he deems exempt as 'essential' businesses.... The order exempts several broad categories of businesses including department stores, as well as 'offices' and any factories or manufacturing operations."

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A man suspected of planning to attack a Missouri hospital was killed during a shootout with F.B.I. agents, the authorities said on Wednesday. The deadly encounter took place on Tuesday afternoon in suburban Belton, Mo., after agents on a tactical team tried to arrest the man as part of a domestic terrorism investigation. It was not clear whether the man was killed by F.B.I. agents or died by suicide.... According to officials, Mr. Wilson had expressed racist and anti-government sentiments. He had been under F.B.I. scrutiny since September, and the authorities said that at one point he had considered attacking multiple targets, including a school with a large number of black students, as well as a mosque and a synagogue.... Last week, Belton's mayor issued a stay-at-home order for its residents. Authorities said Mr. Wilson said he felt compelled to act because of the mayor's order and intended to use a car bomb to cause mass casualties at the hospital." ~~~

~~~ Ben Makuch of Vice: "A domestic terrorism suspect in Belton, Missouri who allegedly planned to carbomb a hospital struggling with the coronavirus pandemic died while the FBI was trying to arrest him Tuesday.... The news comes at a time when counterterrorism experts have warned neo-Nazi extremists adhering to 'accelerationism' -- a hyper violent doctrine among the far-right seeking to hasten the collapse of society through terrorist acts -- have discussed using the global coronavirus pandemic to spur the disintegration of vulnerable governments dealing with the crisis.... The FBI said that Wilson was trying to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis."

<Journalism Saves Lives. Sharon Lerner of the Intercept: "After a public outcry..., Gilead Sciences on Wednesday announced that it has submitted a request to the Food and Drug Administration to rescind the exclusive marketing rights it had secured for remdesivir, an antiviral drug that shows promise in treating Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. As The Intercept reported on Monday, the FDA had awarded Gilead seven years of exclusive marketing rights to the drug through the Orphan Drug Act, even though the statute was designed to induce pharmaceutical companies to make treatments for rare diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States."

Tejal Rao of the New York Times: "The victory garden movement began during World War I and called on Americans to grow food in whatever spaces they could -- rooftops, fire escapes, empty lots, backyards. It maintained that there was nothing more valuable than self-sufficiency, than working a little land, no matter how small, and harvesting your own eggplant and tomatoes.... When victory gardens came back to prominence during World War II..., so many people took the movement to heart that, at one point, it's estimated that home, school and community gardeners produced close to 40 percent of the country's fresh vegetables, from about 20 million gardens.... That idea resonates as trips to the grocery store become fraught with fears of coronavirus exposure, and shoppers worry that industrial agriculture could fail them during a pandemic."

"John Fogerty performs Creedence Clearwater Revival classics in the latest installment of Rolling Stone's 'In My Room,' a new series in which musicians perform from their homes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic." ~~~

Worse Than Trump. Terrence McCoy & Heloísa Traiano of the Washington Post: "He said self-isolation was 'mass confinement.' He called the novel coronavirus a 'little cold.' He asked, if only people older than 60 are at risk, 'why close the schools?' This was Jair Bolsonaro, leader of Latin America's largest country, calling on Brazilians to return to jobs, public spaces and commerce amid the coronavirus pandemic, contradicting not only his own health officials, but also the global consensus on how to see countries through the pandemic without a crippling loss of life.... Alone before the camera, attacking the media, undermining political opponents, indulging talking points he's used since the crisis began even as the disturbing reality overtook his sanguine predictions.... 'It will pass shortly,' he predicted Tuesday. He called on businesses and schools to reopen. 'Our lives have to continue; jobs should be maintained.'... It's much the same argument that President Trump, whom Bolsonaro has often sought to emulate, is making in the United States. Rather than calming panic and confusion, Bolsonaro's pronouncements appear to be only fueling them.... The minister of health has warned the health system will collapse by the end of April."

Raphael Minder & Elian Peltier of the New York Times: "Across Western Europe..., the coronavirus ... has left some hospitals on the brink of collapse.... Out of Spain's 40,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, 5,400 -- nearly 14 percent — are medical professionals, the health ministry said on Tuesday.... In Brescia province, the center of Italy's outbreak, 10 to 15 percent of doctors and nurses have been infected and put out of commission, according to a doctor there.... And infected workers and their hospitals are increasingly being recognized as vectors for the spread of the virus." Mrs. McC: MEANWHILE, the Trump administration has failed to supply U.S. hospitals with protective equipment, criminally-negligent Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to trigger the Defense Production Act, keeps lying about supplies & deflecting responsibility to the states & suggests he'll soon order an end to social distancing recommendations, while the majority of the American people say he's doing a good job. (Also linked yesterday.)

<Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Prince Charles..., the heir to the British throne, has contracted the coronavirus, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday, adding that he had been suffering from mild symptoms since last weekend." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jesse Eisenger & James Bandler of ProPublica: "For almost two years [beginning in 2016, federal prosecutors had] investigat[ed] the opioid dispensing practices of Walmart, the largest company in the world. They had amassed what they viewed as highly damning evidence only to face a major obstacle: top Trump appointees at the Department of Justice.... The prosecutors' push to persuade [then-deputy attorney general, Rod] Rosenstein to revive the criminal case had failed.... [W]hen the prosecutors sought to indict a mid-level Walmart manager, the Trump officials blocked that, too.... That left potential civil claims. After the meeting with Rosenstein, Brian Benczkowski, the head of the criminal division, had told [prosecutors], 'You have a whopper of a civil case,' according to four people familiar with the investigation. But the civil case, too, was stymied by Trump appointees in the DOJ who continued to side with Walmart.... In its dealings with the DOJ, Walmart ... relied on Jones Day, an influential law firm that has salted officials throughout the Trump administration." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Jillian Ambrose of the Guardian: "The world's wind power capacity grew by almost a fifth in 2019 after a year of record growth for offshore windfarms and a boom in onshore projects in the US and China. The Global Wind Energy Council found that wind power capacity grew by 60.4 gigawatts, or 19%, compared with 2018, in one of the strongest years on record for the global wind power industry." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Graham Readfearn & Adam Morton of the Guardian: "The Great Barrier Reef has experienced a third mass coral bleaching event in five years, according to the scientist carrying out aerial surveys over hundreds of individual reefs.... It follows the worst outbreaks of mass bleaching on record killing about half the shallow water corals on the world's biggest reef system in 2016 and 2017." --s (Also linked yesterday.)