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The Ledes

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Washington Post's liveblog of developments in the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse is here: “Divers recovered the bodies of two construction workers who died when a massive cargo ship struck and collapsed a Baltimore bridge, as investigators revealed Wednesday that hazardous material was leaking from breached containers on the stranded vessel and state and federal lawmakers rushed to begin the recovery from the disaster that crippled the Port of Baltimore. Rescue crews found the victims shortly before 10 a.m. trapped in a red pickup truck in about 25 feet of water in the Patapsco River near the mid-span of the hulking wreck of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maryland State Police Secretary Roland L. Butler Jr. said at a news conference. The conditions were treacherous for the divers, so Butler said they were suspending the search for the bodies of four other construction workers who plunged to their deaths when the container ship in distress struck the bridge shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing it to fall.

“The workers are believed to be the only victims in the disaster.... The victims recovered were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Md. Other victims identified Wednesday were Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, from Honduras, and Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, who was the father of three. The names of the remaining two victims have not been released.” ~~~

~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Washington Post: “As a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper drifted dangerously close to a major Baltimore bridge that carried more than 30,000 cars a day, the crew of the Dali issued an urgent 'mayday,' hoping to avert disaster Tuesday. First responders sprang into action, shutting down most traffic on the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge just before the 95,000 gross-ton vessel plowed into a bridge piling at about 1:30 a.m., causing multiple sections of the span to bow and snap in a harrowing scene captured on video.... Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) hailed those who carried out the quick work as 'heroes' and said they saved lives, but the scale of the destruction was catastrophic and will probably have far-reaching impacts for the economy and travel on the East Coast for months to come.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ A Washington Post liveblog of developments is here: “Six people [-- bridge construction workers --] were presumed dead Tuesday evening, authorities announced as they shifted from a search and rescue operation to a recovery effort.... The governor declared a state of emergency, and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) announced that the city has deployed its emergency operations plan. Vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore was 'suspended until further notice.'”

Public Service Announcement

The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of 2024 Oscar winners here.

Ryan Gosling performs "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards: ~~~

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

CNN: “Jon Stewart is heading back to 'The Daily Show.' The comedian, who during his 16-year run as host of the Comedy Central program established it as an entertainment and cultural force, will return to host the show each week on Mondays starting February 12, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced Wednesday. Stewart, who returns as the 2024 presidential election season heats up, will also executive produce the show and work with a rotating line-up of comedians who will helm the program the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Thursdays.”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Constant Comments

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. -- Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Mar182020

The Commentariat -- March 19, 2020

Washington Post: "Spring ... sweeps in overnight late Thursday, marking the earliest start to spring in a century.... Most years, the spring equinox falls between March 20 and 22. But for those in the United States, not this year. In fact, space.com reports that the March 19 equinox is earlier than any in the past 124 years.... The vernal equinox isn't a day; it's a precise moment that strikes at 11:49 p.m. eastern Thursday night. In that instant, the sun's most direct rays will cross the equator from the southern hemisphere into the northern hemisphere." Mrs. McCrabbie: Here in New England, large flakes of snow are falling softly but relentlessly, forming a thick blanket upon the visible world of a person sheltering in place.

~~~~~~~~~~

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Nobody in their wildest dreams would think we need tens of thousands of ventilators. -- Donald Trump, press briefing Thursday

Uh, nobody but CDC scientists, who predicted the ventilator shortage in 2015. 2015. Those CDC researchers are wild dreamers, aren't they? Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

Ignorant, Surly Prez* Gives Another Briefing. Washington Post liveblog: President Trump incorrectly said in a Thursday news briefing that chloroquine, a malaria drug, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to fight the novel coronavirus and that there were plans to 'make that drug available almost immediately.' But after Trump spoke, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn clarified that chloroquine would first need to be tested for use on the virus.... Trump had called the drug a possible 'game changer.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Ladies & Gentlemen, Fix Bandanas! Mrs. McCrabbie: Yesterday I first addressed the lagtime between the moment Trump signed the Defense Procurement Act & hospitals actually got supplies because of it. Well, it's worse than I thought:

     ~~~ Matt Perez of Forbes: "President Trump faced questions Thursday around his reticence to use the Defense Production Act to compel companies to produce healthcare items to combat the coronavirus, a day after he said he'd be invoking its powers. Trump faced criticism early Thursday from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who in a statement called on the president to use the Defense Production Act to address supply shortages, saying, 'There is not a day to lose.' Addressing his reluctance, Trump said the federal government is 'not a shipping clerk' and that 'governor's are supposed to be doing it,' later saying, 'Nobody's heard the number of masks ordered.'... When asked about gloves, respirators and other equipment outside surgical masks that are being requested by state governments, he said, 'For years they bought them and now they're coming to the federal government.'

"Asked about the production of n95 masks -- and reports that a shortage has led some healthcare workers to use bandannas -- Vice President Mike Pence said a stockpile of 35 million masks produced by 3M were now available to use after a legislation change Wednesday night, which apparently addressed a liability issue that companies could face, according to Trump.... 300 million. That's how many masks could be needed for healthcare workers versus the current stockpile of 30 million, as testified to Congress by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar at the end of February." ~~~

     ~~~ Meagan Vazquez of CNN: According to the order Trump signed, he would use the Defense Procurement Act "to obtain 'health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators.'" BUT THEN, "The President stressed later Wednesday that he would only use the powers granted under the Defense Production Act 'in a worst case scenario.'"

When Your Doctor Looks Like a Wild West Bandit. Carolyn Johnson, et al., of the Washington Post: "As the federal government scrambles to rapidly boost the nation's capacity to test for the novel coronavirus, cutting red tape and leaning on the speed and technology of the private sector, new delays are developing because of a shortage of raw materials and vital items: chemical solutions, swabs and even face masks for health-care workers. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attempted to address the mask shortage by recommending the use of bandannas, if necessary. 'In settings where face masks are not available, [health-care providers] might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort,' the CDC said, referring to the disease caused by the virus. 'Caution should be exercised when considering this option.'"

Fred Imbert & Thomas Franck of CNBC (@ ca. 10:20 am ET): "Stocks rose on Thursday, erasing steep losses from earlier in the day as sharp gains in big-tech shares led to a sharp turnaround. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 100 points, or about 0.4%, after falling as much as 721 points. The S&P 500 traded 0.6% higher. It was down more than 3% at the start of the session. The Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 2%."

~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments today are here. Access is free to nonsubscribers. Highlights: "China reported its first day with no new locally transmitted coronavirus infections, three months after the first case was detected.... But China is not out of danger. Experts have said that it will need to see at least 14 consecutive days without new infections for the outbreak to be considered over. It remains to be seen whether the virus will re-emerge once daily life restarts and travel restrictions are lifted.... In California, more than nine million people have been told not to leave their homes.... In Spain, violations of isolation orders are enforced with fines. Russia is using facial-recognition technology to track down and fine people who violate mandatory quarantines.... New York City officials, already grappling with one of the largest outbreaks in the country, expressed growing alarm that the coronavirus is spreading quickly in tightly knit Hasidic Jewish communities in Brooklyn...." ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates, also free, are here. "The virus continued to spread globally, with Italy announcing a record number of deaths on Wednesday and Spain reporting a similarly alarming death-toll spike on Thursday.... As confirmed cases [worldwide] topped 200,000, Australia and New Zealand closed their borders to everyone except citizens and residents."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate passed the House's coronavirus aid package on Wednesday, sending it to President Trump, who is expected to sign it. Senators voted 90-8 on the bill that passed the House in a middle-of-the-night Saturday vote but needed dozens of pages of corrections and changes, which cleared the chamber on Monday. The measure, which the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates will cost $104 billion, is the second package that Congress has passed amid growing concerns about the widespread coronavirus outbreak.... Senators are already working on 'phase three,' with Senate Republicans wanting to pass that next week. The bill approved Wednesday bolsters unemployment insurance and guarantees free diagnostic testing for the coronavirus. It also provides up to 10 days of paid sick leave for some workers. It caps that at companies with 500 employees and would allow for those with fewer than 50 to apply for a waiver." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Charles Pierce of Esquire: "Presented without comment: the eight senators who voted against the coronavirus relief package on Wednesday. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Jim Inhofe (R-OK); James Lankford (R-OK); Mike Lee (R-UT); Rand Paul (R-KY); Ben Sasse (R-NE); Tim Scott (R-SC), and Ron Johnson (R-WI)." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday signed into law a multibillion-dollar emergency aid package aimed at helping Americans impacted by the coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ Melanie Zanona & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Republicans suddenly find a bailout they can back.... Such a massive rescue package would seem to mean an agonizing vote for the GOP -- the last major bailout in 2008 helped launch the conservative tea party movement and many senior lawmakers still boast about their opposition to it. But Republicans say the coronavirus is an entirely different animal: the hospitality and airline industries didn't cause the global pandemic.... Republicans are mostly brushing aside long-held cost concerns in order to salvage the economy -- and perhaps Trump's reelection, as well as their own." (Also linked yesterday.)

Only in Trump's Dystopia. Asraf Khalil of the AP:"The Agriculture Department said Wednesday that it would appeal a judge's ruling that it would be 'arbitrary and capricious' to move forward during a global health crisis with food stamp changes that could force hundreds of thousands from the program. Federal Judge Beryl Howell, in a ruling late last week, stopped a set of changes that would have taken effect on April 1. On Wednesday, an Agriculture Department spokesperson responded to an Associated Press query with a terse email saying only that 'USDA disagrees with the court's reasoning and will appeal its decision.'... Estimates from the Agriculture Department set the number of people who would be removed from the program at approximately 700,000."

Fred Imbert & Yun Li of CNBC: "Stocks tumbled on Wednesday, reaching a new coronavirus crisis low as investors worried about the economic damage from the pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,338.46 points, or 6.3% to 19,898.92, marking its first close below 20,000 since February 2017. The Dow was down more than 2,300 points at the lows of the session. The S&P 500 dropped 5.2% to 2,398.10 and closed nearly 30% below a record set last month. The Nasdaq Composite slid 4.7% to 6,989.84. Virtually no market was safe from the selling wave, with crude prices having their third-worst decline on record. Stocks came off their lows in the final minutes of trading after the Senate obtained the votes to pass a coronavirus relief plan to expand paid leave.... Trading was briefly suspended after a 'circuit breaker' was tripped up." ~~~

~~~ Dippity-Doo-Dah. Victoria Guida of Politico: "The stock market's latest plunge on Wednesday did more than wipe out billions of dollars in investor equity. It also nearly obliterated ... Donald Trump's favorite measure of his economic success. The Dow Jones Industrial Average's decline below 20,000 almost completely erased all of the iconic index's previous gains since Trump's inauguration, jeopardizing a key talking point for his reelection campaign." ~~~

~~~ BUT. Thomas Franck of CNBC: "Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes jumped Wednesday evening after the European Central Bank joined the Federal Reserve in announcing a massive stimulus plan to help combat the impact the coronavirus. As of 8:29 p.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 347 points higher, implying an opening jump of 450.08 points." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live market updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Yun Li of CNBC: "The New York Stock Exchange said Wednesday it will temporarily close its historic trading floor and move fully to electronic trading after two people tested positive for coronavirus infection at screenings it had set up this week. All-electronic trading will begin on March 23 at the open, the exchange said. The facilities to be closed are the NYSE equities trading floor and NYSE American Options trading floor in New York, and NYSE Arca Options trading floor in San Francisco."

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "President Trump announced Wednesday he will invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow the administration to force American industry to ramp up production of medical supplies that are in short supply in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals and states have pleaded with the administration for more supplies to protect doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic.... Democrats in Congress, hearing about shortages of supplies from hospitals in their states and districts, have urged Trump to invoke the DPA to direct the domestic production of necessary medical equipment. 'This would ensure we have the materials we need at the ready, rather than wait for disruptions in the global supply chain to subside,' 57 House Democrats wrote in a letter to Trump last week." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ For Want of a Swab.... Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "Just as the nation's ability to test for coronavirus is expanding, hospitals and clinics say another obstacle is looming: shortages of testing swabs and protective gear for health care workers.... The main manufacturer of the swabs, Copan, is an Italian company whose manufacturing plant is in Northern Italy, a region that has itself been hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak. It says it has ramped up manufacturing to deal with the extraordinary demand for an otherwise unassuming product...." Mrs. McC: That's right: people may die because hospitals can't get what amounts to a glorified (albeit specialized) Q-tip. I suspect this would not have been a problem if John Bolton had not disbanded the pandemic team & if Trump had given the team the authority to prepare; figuring out what hospitals would need to combat the virus & making sure the hospitals had those supplies sound like jobs that group would do. ~~~

     ~~~ Marcus Weisgerber of Defense One: "The U.S. Air Force quietly flew 500,000 swabs for COVID-19 testing kits from Italy to Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday.... Gen. Dave Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, confirmed that military cargo planes were moving coronavirus testing kits, but did not give specific details during a Wednesday briefing at the Pentagon." Mrs. McC: Tennessee is not a state that has a high rate of coronavirus cases, but it does have a Republican governor & senators, and seven of its nine House members are Republicans. ~~~

~~~ Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "Hospital workers in Washington state have started to make their own face masks from supplies they've purchased at craft stores, according to a new report from Seattle's KOMO TV station. The DIY face masks are just the latest example of health workers around the world getting creative as they struggle with shortages of vital medical supplies during the covid-19 pandemic. Staff at Providence St. Joseph Health hospital volunteered and spent much of Tuesday constructing personal protective equipment (PPE), like face shields and surgical masks, from supplies bought at craft stores in the Seattle area." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: CNN interviewed a Georgia (U.S.) hospital administrator this morning who said his hospital also was sewing its own masks. In the meantime, he has been able to source masks from a Mexican company who said they had a stock of a million masks & will sell them for $7 each, masks the hospitals normally pays 58 cents apiece for. He said the hospital would probably buy some of the $7 masks. Also, apparently hospitals are finally getting their test kits, but it appears they aren't getting the results back. The administrator said his hospital had received only a few results & have a backlog of 400 tests which a lab has not analyzed yet. He says his hospital is now performing about 100 tests a day, so the backlog is only going to grow. ~~~

     ~~~ As for making the Defense Production Act operational, I'm not sure how quickly this can be done, much less how quickly & wisely it will be done. There is a lag time between (1) the moment Trump signs a piece of paper & holds it up to the cameras, and (2) the moment the first hospital gets the first ventilator manufactured by the first company ordered to ramp up production. Update. So following an answer -- and not a happy one -- to my question about the lag time:

     ~~~ ** Sarah Kliff, et al., of the New York Times: "... There are not nearly enough lifesaving ventilator machines to go around, and there is no way to solve the problem before the disease reaches full throttle.... American and European manufacturers say they can't speed up production enough to meet soaring demand, at least not anytime soon.... Some European governments are deploying wartime-mobilization tactics to get factories churning out more ventilators -- and to stop domestic companies from exporting them. The United States, by contrast, has been slow to develop a national strategy for accelerating the production of ventilators. That appears to reflect in part the federal government's sluggish reaction to the coronavirus, with President Trump and others initially playing down the threat. This week, Mr. Trump urged governors to find ways to procure new ventilators. 'Try getting it yourselves,' he said."

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "A reporter asked Trump [Tuesday] if he had [invoked the Defense Production Act]. Here was his reply: 'Well, we're able to do that if we have to. Right now, we haven't had to, but it's certainly ready. If I want it, we can do it very quickly. We've studied it very closely over two weeks ago, actually. We'll make that decision pretty quickly if we need it. We hope we don't need it. It's a big step.'... They are days away from having potentially thousands of Americans dying, and Trump still hasn't decided if he's ready to take the step to ramp up the machines that will be needed to keep them alive.... We might have clung to the wan hope that his abdication was merely a surface display of incompetence, and that below his level, the government was still functioning. The evidence before us suggests the government actually followed his lead, following the complacent signals he sent -- or, at least, has simply floundered for lack of any direction from the top. The closer you look at the inner workings of Trump's coronavirus response, the worse it gets." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect quite a few government decision-makers are exhausted from having to ping-pong between the real world -- where emergency actions have been indicated for weeks & months -- and Trump Delusion World. These people, both career & political appointees, have been tasked with doing diametrically opposed actions, and many just gave up, while others decided it was in their short-term best interest to follow the Dear Leader.

** Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "American adults of all ages -- not just those in their 70s, 80s and 90s -- are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus, according to a report on nearly 2,500 cases in the United States.... Of the 508 patients known to have been hospitalized, 38 percent were notably younger -- between 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 patients who were admitted to intensive care units were adults under 65, the C.D.C. reported.... The youngest age group, people 19 and under, accounted for less than 1 percent of the hospitalizations, and none of the I.C.U. admissions or deaths."

Megan Twohey, et al., of the New York Times: "... with testing still in short supply in areas of the country, leaving health care workers and many sick people unable to get diagnoses, some prominent personalities have obtained tests without exhibiting symptoms or having known contact with someone who has the virus, as required by some testing guidelines.... Celebrities of all kinds appear to have had a far easier time getting diagnoses." ~~~

~~~ The Phat Philosopher on the "Story of Life." Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday said he did not agree that professional athletes and wealthy individuals should get preferential access to coronavirus testing, but blamed an 'obsolete system' for the slow rollout of widespread testing. Multiple NBA teams have been tested for the virus after a few players were diagnosed with the virus, raising questions about how they were able to access the tests so quickly.... Asked if wealthier individuals should be getting faster access to tests, Trump said he did not think so. 'No, I wouldn't say so, but perhaps that's been the story of life,' he said."

I would like to begin by announcing some important developments in our war against the Chinese virus. -- Donald Trump, beginning today's press briefing with a bellicose, racist remark (more on Trump's remarks at the linked ABC News page)

I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the 'borders' from China - against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning, insulting the Chinese people, everyone aware of Trump's previous remarks, the mainstream media & the truth

It just gets worse. Trump is pressed about a White House official reportedly using the term 'Kung-flu' and if language like 'Chinese virus' puts Asian Americans at risk. 'No, not at all,' he says. 'I think they probably would agree with it a 100%. It comes from China.' -- MJ Lee of CNN, in a tweet ~~~

~~~ Kurt Bardella in an NBC News opinion piece: "CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang tweeted Tuesday that 'this morning a White House official referred to the #Coronavirus as the "Kung-Flu" to my face. Makes me wonder what they're calling it behind my back.'... On Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to sound off about COVID-19. But rather than refer to it by its scientific name, he instead insisted on labeling it the 'Chinese Virus.'" (Also linked yesterday.) See also Hattie's comment at the end of yesterday's thread.

The Washington Post's live updates for coronavirus developments on Wednesday are here. The New York Times' live updates for Wednesday are here. The pages are free to nonsubscribers. Some highlights from the Times:

The White House is asking Congress to allocate $500 billion for two separate waves of direct payments to American taxpayers in the coming weeks and another $300 billion to help small businesses continue to meet payroll, according to a Treasury Department proposal circulating on Capitol Hill and among lobbyists. The outline, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, calls for a total of $1 trillion in spending for those programs, which would also include $50 billion for secured loans for the airline industry, and another $150 billion for secured loans or loan guarantees for other parts of the economy hard hit by the unfolding financial crisis.... But the details remained far from complete.

Mr. Trump announced on Wednesday that [by mutual consent] the border with Canada was being closed to all but essential traffic.... The move on Wednesday would allow trade to continue, but would restrict flights and border crossings for things like vacations.

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "Only days into the start of the 2020 census, the Census Bureau said Wednesday that it is suspending its field operations for two weeks while it searches for ways to protect its workers from exposure to the coronavirus. The immediate impact of the suspension, beyond a delay in a scheduled count of the nation's homeless and a break in training census-takers, was not clear.... The first and biggest part of the head count -- persuading residents to fill out census forms online, by mail or over the telephone -- appears to be going well. While the first census invitations reached homes only last week, some 11 million households have completed forms online and hundreds of thousands more have responded by mail and phone." An AP story is here.

Lies, Damned Lies & Fake Statistics. The Stupidest Senator Has Some Uplifting Thoughts. Jonathan Chait: "'Right now, all people are hearing about are the deaths,' Republican Senator Ron Johnson told the New York Times last week. 'I'm sure the deaths are horrific, but the flip side of this is the vast majority of people who get coronavirus do survive.'... In a follow-up interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson attempted to clarify his thinking, and managed to express it in an even more callous and stupid way: 'I'm not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it's obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population,' he said. 'But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this. But we don't shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It's a risk we accept so we can move about....'... Around 37,000 people die every year in car crashes, which is certainly a lot. But losing 1 to 3.4 percent of people who get the coronavirus would mean millions of deaths." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Assuming a population of about 330 million & a worst-case estimate of 3.4 percent deaths, that means Covid-19 would kill 11,220,000 Americans. But thanks, Ron, for your cheery POV & for voting against coronavirus aid.

Spring Break in the Time of Coronavirus: Pretty Much the Same. If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not gonna let it stop me from partying. -- Brady Sluder, a spring breaker & nitwit nihilist from Ohio ~~~

~~~ Florida: The Great American Petri Dish. Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "A disease that is deadly to the elderly and easily spread by the young has left Florida especially vulnerable. Yet faced with the prospect of dealing a shattering blow to an $86 billion tourism industry, Gov. Ron DeSantis has moved more slowly than some other states to contain a pandemic that is spreading with alarming speed. Whole swaths of the state have yet to begin robust testing, according to State Department of Health data. And even as some of the beaches still swarmed with college revelers, the state refused to close them.... Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, was at first reluctant to mandate mass cancellations of public events or restrictions on movement. But on Tuesday, after photos on social media showed crowds of tanned young people sunning shoulder-to-shoulder on the beaches, the governor shut down bars and nightclubs for a month and ordered restaurants to cut their seating capacity by half. He refused to close beaches, though groups will have to be no larger than 10." A CBS News story is here.

Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) announced Wednesday he tested positive for the coronavirus after developing symptoms on Saturday. McAdams, 45, is the second lawmaker to test positive for COVID-19. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), 58, announced his diagnosis shortly before the Utah Democrat."

Tom Krisher of the AP: "Concerns about the spreading coronavirus forced most of North America's auto plants to close, at least temporarily. Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota said they would shut down all factories in the region, citing concerns for employees who work in close quarters building automobiles. Nissan will close U.S. factories. Hyundai shut down its Alabama plant after a worker tested positive for the virus. Detroit's three automakers said their closures would begin this week, while Honda and Toyota will start next week. Nissan will close U.S. plants starting Friday. Closings will run from a few days to over two weeks, but most automakers said they'll have to evaluate the spread of the virus before reopening.... Detroit's three automakers alone will idle about 150,000 workers. They likely will receive supplemental pay in addition to state unemployment benefits. The two checks combined will about equal what the workers normally make."


S.V. Date
of the Huffington Post: "Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the state's top legal officer, contracted with ... Donald Trump's Miami golf resort to host a crime prevention conference, despite the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against his accepting money from a state. The conference, set for late May, has been indefinitely postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic before any payments 'were made or due,' said Lauren Cassedy, a spokesperson in Moody's office. Cassedy, though, would not explain why Moody, a Republican who was elected to the statewide job in 2018 after receiving Trump's endorsement, chose to award the contract to Trump's resort in the first place. Under its terms, some $70,000 of Florida taxpayer money likely would have gone to Trump National Doral. Nonprofit groups, local governments and others attending the event that had been set for late May likely would have spent an additional $600,000.... The U.S. Constitution states in Article II: 'The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't worry. Trump is arranging to give himself a generous bailout for the illegal business he lost when Moody cancelled.

Oh, AND Happy Birthday, Kimberly. Ken Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "It was a lavish birthday party for Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. The setting was Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Fla. The guest list included dozens of Trump family members and friends. But when it came to picking up the tab, hands went out to other attendees. Among them were at least four whose families are financial supporters of the president's re-election campaign, for which Ms. Guilfoyle helps lead the fund-raising. They ended up pitching in tens of thousands of dollars, passed along to Mar-a-Lago, to help pay for what two people familiar with the planning said was a $50,000 celebration of Ms. Guilfoyle's 51st birthday.... At least one attendee [at the March 7 party] -- a Brazilian government official who stopped by the party briefly -- has tested positive for the [corona]virus, while another -- Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida -- self-quarantined, though he later announced he had tested negative for the virus." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is continuing its shake-up of the intelligence community with a potentially disruptive change of leadership at the National Counterterrorism Center, the agency that coordinates government efforts to guard the homeland. The White House announced its plan to nominate as NCTC director Christopher Miller, a former Army Special Forces officer who had overseen counterterrorism efforts in the Trump White House before moving to a similar position at the Pentagon. Miller gets solid marks from former colleagues, but the move has increased fears within the intelligence community that the administration has embarked on a politically motivated campaign against career professionals. The move came hours after I reported that Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, had begun a 'review' of the NCTC and was weighing staff cuts there and in other parts of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.... Miller, if confirmed, would take over from Russell Travers..., a widely respected career intelligence officer, was told that he could remain as Miller's deputy...."

Presidential Race

Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders signaled Wednesday that he was open to ending his presidential run after another round of landslide losses to Joe Biden, and new signs emerged of communication between the two camps as some Democrats hoped for a swift end to a bruising primary. Sanders campaign officials said the senator from Vermont planned to leave Washington and return home, where he and his wife, Jane, would talk to supporters and determine the future of his presidential run. The campaign also suspended its Facebook ads and, uncharacteristically, made no request for donations in an email to backers updating them on the situation.... The two campaigns 'have been in regular contact at a senior level' since last week to discuss how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the campaigns, [Biden deputy campaign manager Kate] Bedingfield said in a statement to The Washington Post, 'as well as to discuss both Vice President Biden's and Senator Sanders' ideas on policy responses to the virus.'" ~~~

~~~ Sydney Ember, et al., of the New York Times: "Faiz Shakir, [Bernie] Sanders's campaign manager, said the Vermont senator was considering his options after he was soundly beaten in Florida, Illinois and Arizona on Tuesday by Joseph R. Biden Jr., but also suggested a decision on how to proceed was not imminent. 'The next primary contest is at least three weeks away,' Mr. Shakir said in a statement. 'Senator Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign. In the immediate term, however, he is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.'... It is possible Mr. Sanders could stay in the race to collect delegates in order to accumulate leverage and bolster progressive power in party reform -- while running what effectively amounts to an inactive campaign as he focuses on his legislative agenda around the coronavirus." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "More than 80 career national security professionals have [broken with a tradition of neutrality and] signed an open letter of support for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, saying that President Trump 'has created an existential danger to the United States.' Most of the signatories, who include career diplomats, intelligence officers and defense policymakers, have served both Republican and Democratic administrations. They noted that their policy views cover a spectrum and as officials they 'have often been in opposition, sometimes bitterly, with each other.'But in a letter published online Wednesday, they expressed a shared belief that Trump's approach to leadership has undermined the country's role in the world."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "A day after President Trump officially racked up enough delegates to become the presumptive 2020 Republican nominee for president, former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts, his last Republican challenger, ended his campaign."

Wednesday
Mar182020

The Commentariat -- March 18, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate passed the House's coronavirus aid package on Wednesday, sending it to President Trump, who is expected to sign it. Senators voted 90-8 on the bill that passed the House in a middle-of-the-night Saturday vote but needed dozens of pages of corrections and changes, which cleared the chamber on Monday. The measure, which the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates will cost $104 billion, is the second package that Congress has passed amid growing concerns about the widespread coronavirus outbreak.... Senators are already working on 'phase three,' with Senate Republicans wanting to pass that next week. The bill approved Wednesday bolsters unemployment insurance and guarantees free diagnostic testing for the coronavirus. It also provides up to 10 days of paid sick leave for some workers. It caps that at companies with 500 employees and would allow for those with fewer than 50 to apply for a waiver."

Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "President Trump announced Wednesday he will invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow the administration to force American industry to ramp up production of medical supplies that are in short supply in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals and states have pleaded with the administration for more supplies to protect doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic.... Democrats in Congress, hearing about shortages of supplies from hospitals in their states and districts, have urged Trump to invoke the DPA to direct the domestic production of necessary medical equipment. 'This would ensure we have the materials we need at the ready, rather than wait for disruptions in the global supply chain to subside,' 57 House Democrats wrote in a letter to Trump last week." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "A reporter asked Trump [Tuesday] if he had [invoked the Defense Production Act]. Here was his reply: 'Well, we're able to do that if we have to. Right now, we haven't had to, but it's certainly ready. If I want it, we can do it very quickly. We've studied it very closely over two weeks ago, actually. We'll make that decision pretty quickly if we need it. We hope we don't need it. It's a big step.'... They are days away from having potentially thousands of Americans dying, and Trump still hasn't decided if he's ready to take the step to ramp up the machines that will be needed to keep them alive.... We might have clung to the wan hope that his abdication was merely a surface display of incompetence, and that below his level, the government was still functioning. The evidence before us suggests the government actually followed his lead, following the complacent signals he sent -- or, at least, has simply floundered for lack of any direction from the top. The closer you look at the inner workings of Trump's coronavirus response, the worse it gets." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect quite a few government decision-makers are exhausted from having to ping-pong between the real world -- where emergency actions have been indicated for weeks & months -- and Trump Delusion World. These people, both career & political appointees, have been tasked with doing diametrically opposed actions, and many just gave up, while others decided it was in their short-term best interest to follow the Dear Leader. As for making the Defense Production Act operational, I'm not sure how quickly this can be done, much less how quickly & wisely it will be done. There is a timeline between (1) the moment Trump signs a piece of paper & holds it up to the cameras, and (2) the moment the first hospital gets the first ventilator manufactured by the first company ordered to ramp up production.

I would like to begin by announcing some important developments in our war against the Chinese virus. -- Donald Trump, beginning today's press briefing with a bellicose, racist remark (more on Trump's remarks at the linked ABC News page)

I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the 'borders' from China - against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning, insulting the Chinese people, everyone aware of Trump's previous remarks, the mainstream media & the truth

It just gets worse. Trump is pressed about a White House official reportedly using the term 'Kung-flu' and if language like 'Chinese virus' puts Asian Americans at risk. 'No, not at all,' he says. 'I think they probably would agree with it a 100%. It comes from China.' -- MJ Lee of CNN, in a tweet (related opinion piece by Kurt Bardella linked below)

The New York Times' live market updates are here. "Stocks tumbled on Wednesday as the coronavirus continued its relentless spread, governments ramped up efforts to contain it and investors continued to wait for lawmakers in Washington to take action on proposals to bolster the American economy. The S&P 500 fell more than 5 percent. Major European markets were also sharply lower, following a late-day slump in Asian shares. Those significant drops represented another swing in sentiment on Wall Street. Stocks jumped on Tuesday as the White House called for urgent action to pump $1 trillion into the economy. But the calls so far haven't been met with tangible action in the Senate. [The House is on a week's hiatus.]... The renewed selling showed how fragile any gains have become as long as the virus continues to spread and the number of cases continues to grow at a staggering rate." Update: "The S&P 500 fell more than 7 percent, a drop that triggers so-called circuit breaker and results a 15-minute pause in trading."

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments today is here. It is free to nonsubscribers. Some highlights:

The White House is asking Congress to allocate $500 billion for two separate waves of direct payments to American taxpayers in the coming weeks and another $300 billion to help small businesses continue to meet payroll, according to a Treasury Department proposal circulating on Capitol Hill and among lobbyists. The outline, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, calls for a total of $1 trillion in spending for those programs, which would also include $50 billion for secured loans for the airline industry, and another $150 billion for secured loans or loan guarantees for other parts of the economy hard hit by the unfolding financial crisis.... But the details remained far from complete.

Mr. Trump announced on Wednesday that [by mutual consent] the border with Canada was being closed to all but essential traffic.... The move on Wednesday would allow trade to continue, but would restrict flights and border crossings for things like vacations.

Melanie Zanona & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Republicans suddenly find a bailout they can back.... Such a massive rescue package would seem to mean an agonizing vote for the GOP -- the last major bailout in 2008 helped launch the conservative tea party movement and many senior lawmakers still boast about their opposition to it. But Republicans say the coronavirus is an entirely different animal: the hospitality and airline industries didn't cause the global pandemic.... Republicans are mostly brushing aside long-held cost concerns in order to salvage the economy -- and perhaps Trump's reelection, as well as their own."

Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "Hospital workers in Washington state have started to make their own face masks from supplies they've purchased at craft stores, according to a new report from Seattle's KOMO TV station. The DIY face masks are just the latest example of health workers around the world getting creative as they struggle with shortages of vital medical supplies during the covid-19 pandemic. Staff at Providence St. Joseph Health hospital volunteered and spent much of Tuesday constructing personal protective equipment (PPE), like face shields and surgical masks, from supplies bought at craft stores in the Seattle area." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: CNN interviewed a Georgia (U.S.) hospital administrator this morning who said his hospital also was sewing its own masks. In the meantime, he has been able to source masks from a Mexican company who said they had a stock of a million masks & will sell them for $7 each, masks the hospitals normally pays 58 cents apiece for. He said the hospital would probably buy some of the $7 masks. Also, apparently hospitals are finally getting their test kits, but it appears they aren't getting the results back. The administrator said his hospital had received only a few results & have a backlog of 400 tests which a lab has not analyzed yet. He says his hospital is now performing about 100 tests a day, so the backlog is only going to grow.

Kurt Bardella in an NBC News opinion piece: "CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang tweeted Tuesday that 'this morning a White House official referred to the #Coronavirus as the "Kung-Flu" to my face. Makes me wonder what they're calling it behind my back.'... On Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to sound off about COVID-19. But rather than refer to it by its scientific name, he instead insisted on labeling it the 'Chinese Virus.'"

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the state's top legal officer, contracted with ... Donald Trump's Miami golf resort to host a crime prevention conference, despite the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against his accepting money from a state. The conference, set for late May, has been indefinitely postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic before any payments 'were made or due,' said Lauren Cassedy, a spokesperson in Moody's office. Cassedy, though, would not explain why Moody, a Republican who was elected to the statewide job in 2018 after receiving Trump's endorsement, chose to award the contract to Trump's resort in the first place. Under its terms, some $70,000 of Florida taxpayer money likely would have gone to Trump National Doral. Nonprofit groups, local governments and others attending the event that had been set for late May likely would have spent an additional $600,000.... The U.S. Constitution states in Article II: 'The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't worry. Trump is arranging to give himself a generous bailout for the illegal business he lost when Moody cancelled.

Oh, AND Happy Birthday, Kimberly. Ken Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: "It was a lavish birthday party for Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. The setting was Mar-a-Lago, President Trump';s private club in Palm Beach, Fla. The guest list included dozens of Trump family members and friends. But when it came to picking up the tab, hands went out to other attendees. Among them were at least four whose families are financial supporters of the president's re-election campaign, for which Ms. Guilfoyle helps lead the fund-raising. They ended up pitching in tens of thousands of dollars, passed along to Mar-a-Lago, to help pay for what two people familiar with the planning said was a $50,000 celebration of Ms. Guilfoyle's 51st birthday.... At least one attendee [at the March 7 party] -- a Brazilian government official who stopped by the party briefly -- has tested positive for the [corona]virus, while another -- Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida -- self-quarantined, though he later announced he had tested negative for the virus."

Sydney Ember, et al., of the New York Times: "Faiz Shakir, [Bernie] Sanders's campaign manager, said the Vermont senator was considering his options after he was soundly beaten in Florida, Illinois and Arizona on Tuesday by Joseph R. Biden Jr., but also suggested a decision on how to proceed was not imminent. 'The next primary contest is at least three weeks away,' Mr. Shakir said in a statement. 'Senator Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign. In the immediate term, however, he is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.'... It is possible Mr. Sanders could stay in the race to collect delegates in order to accumulate leverage and bolster progressive power in party reform -- while running what effectively amounts to an inactive campaign as he focuses on his legislative agenda around the coronavirus."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Latest Imaginary Donald. This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. -- Donald Trump, Tuesday briefing

This is the rhetorical equivalent of standing on Fifth Avenue, smoking gun in hand, a dead body at his feet, and saying, "Of course I didn't do it." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, Mr. Trump spent much of a lengthy news conference praising his administration's response to the pandemic, saying the only mistake his administration made had been a mismanagement of relationships with the news media.... When asked why he had suddenly adopted a somber and realistic tone about the virus on Tuesday, the president denied that he had changed his mind at all. 'No, I've always viewed it as very serious,' Mr. Trump said. 'There was no difference yesterday from days before. I feel the tone is similar, but some people said it wasn't.'" ~~~

~~~ Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that the Trump administration was considering offsetting the economic burden of the coronavirus pandemic by 'immediately' cutting checks to Americans. Mnuchin, speaking at a White House press conference, did not say how much money Americans could potentially expect to receive, and indicated that the administration could seek to exclude those who are well-off from receiving payments.... Mnuchin indicated that the president's preference for a payroll tax holiday -- a six- to eight-month process -- would take too long to put money into Americans' pockets." ~~~

~~~ Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Americans could get a check for $1,000 or more in the coming weeks, as political leaders coalesce around a dramatic plan to try to prevent a worse recession and protect people from going bankrupt. The idea took off Monday when Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called for every American adult to receive a $1,000 check 'immediately' to help tide people over until other government aid can arrive. By Tuesday, there was bipartisan support for the idea, including from President Trump. The White House even suggested the amount could be over $1,000, an acknowledgment of how big the economic crisis is becoming.... The United States has done this twice before. During the Great Recession, the federal government sent about every adult a $300 to $600 check (plus $300 per child). The same thing happened in 2001, when the majority of Americans received a $300 check.... Many studies have shown that bumping up food stamps, welfare and unemployment insurance during downturns provides an even larger economic boost for the same reason: These Americans are the most cash-strapped, and they tend to spend the money quickly." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Although nothing is solidified, I heard on the news that people who have earned more than $85,000/year will not likely get checks.

Nancy Cook & Ben White of Politico: "The government's economic stimulus is ballooning into trillion-dollar territory -- the largest rescue in modern American history -- as major industries flood the Trump administration and Capitol Hill for aid while huge swaths of the economy stall from the coronavirus crisis. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Senate Republicans behind closed doors Tuesday to present options for aid to airlines, hotels, casinos and small-to-medium-sized businesses.... Mnuchin warned senators that if they didn't reach a deal quickly, unemployment could be as high as 20 percent.... Democrats are pushing their own package of provisions that don't overlap entirely with the GOP pitch. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats are >pitching a package of 'at least' $750 billion that is expected to include more emergency aid for hospitals, expanded unemployment insurance, more funds for small business, help with child care, and food assistance for seniors.... [The administration's plan] was also expected to include an idea ... Donald Trump has latched onto -- a temporary cut or suspension of the payroll tax cut ... which would benefit both companies and workers. One version of the payroll tax holiday would cost $950 billion alone through the end of the year." Emphasis added.

From the New York Times' live updates on coronavirus developments for Tuesday: "As the coronavirus pandemic ground large swaths of the economy to a halt, cost an increasing number of people their jobs and sent the markets reeling, the White House, Congress and the Federal Reserve began taking steps to get aid to people and businesses. In a briefing on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration is talking to Congress about sending cash payments to Americans over the next two weeks to cushion the economic blow from coronavirus. 'The president has instructed me we have to do this now,' he said. Mr. Mnuchin said that this Trump administration currently prefers making direct payments to Americans to get cash into their hands now rather than pushing for a payroll tax cut that would take months to reach people. He also said that President Trump instructed him to allow for the deferment of tax payments, interest free and penalty free for 90 days. People can defer up to a $1 million and corporations can defer up to $10 million in payments. The Treasury secretary said that this would inject $300 billion into the economy.... Mr. Trump said that his administration was also working to expand testing and preparing to ask Congress to infuse about $850 billion in additional stimulus to prop up the economy." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Proposes Yu-u-ge Package to Raise Deficit & Help the Rich, Corporations. Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is asking Congress to approve a massive economic stimulus package of around $850 billion to stanch the economic free fall caused by the coronavirus, four officials familiar with the planning said Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will present details to Senate Republicans later Tuesday. The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, through a payroll tax cut or other mechanism, two of the officials said, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry. White House officials also want to include more assistance for small businesses and their employees in the legislation, the officials said.... The $850 billion package would come in addition to another roughly $100 billion package that aims to provide paid sick leave for impacted workers, though the details of that legislation remain very fluid as it moves through Congress.... Democrats have said their proposals are focused more on helping workers, health care providers, schools, and senior citizens.... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) is expected to outline his $750 billion proposal and contrast it with the White House's approach. Schumer's offering would expand unemployment insurance, provide money for schools, public transportation, expand Medicaid funding, expand more investments in health care, provide loan assistance, and halt evictions and foreclosures, among other things." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: "The coming bailout is a familiar moral catastrophe. During the financial crisis, the government saved the banking industry's bacon, while asking exceedingly little of the culprits. When the government spends billions of dollars to save industries, it has enormous leverage. This is the moment when Congress can shape an economy. It should demand, for instance, that the airlines keep their workers in their jobs; it should place hard caps on executive pay and prohibit stock buybacks; it can demand that airlines take steps to reduce their Sasquatch-size carbon footprint.... If the industry wants the public's money, it will have to deal with it." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "... despite [Trump's] promises of a 'whole of government' effort, key agencies -- like the Army Corps of Engineers, other parts of the Defense Department, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs -- had not been asked to play much of a role.... 'We are starting the process,' Mr. Trump said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon, referring to New York's request to enlist the Army Corps of Engineers.... Even after Mr. Trump committed to supporting the states on Tuesday, the Army Corps of Engineers said it still had not received direction from the administration.... Hospital ships are at port. The Department of Veterans Affairs, legally designated as the backup health care system in national emergencies, awaits requests for help. The veterans department has a surplus of beds in many of its 172 hospital centers and a robust number of special rooms for patients with breathing disorders. The sprawling system of emergency doctors and nurses ready to be deployed by the Department of Health and Human Services -- known as the National Disaster Medical System -- is also still waiting for orders, other than to staff locations where passengers offloaded from cruise ships are being quarantined. And the Defense Department, home to 1.3 million active-duty troops and a civilian and military infrastructure that has made planning for national emergencies almost an art form, has yet to be deployed to its fullest capabilities." Oregon & New York City asked the feds for masks; they got delayed responses & a fraction of the number of masks they asked for -- and all of the masked ";were well past the expiration date." ~~~

~~~ Margo Sanger-Katz, et al., of the New York Times: "A new Harvard analysis shows that many parts of the United States will have far too few hospital beds if the new coronavirus continues to spread widely and if nothing is done to expand capacity. In 40 percent of markets around the country, hospitals would not be able to make enough room for all the patients who became ill with Covid-19, even if they could empty their beds of other patients. That statistic assumes that 40 percent of adults become infected with the virus over 12 months, a scenario described as 'moderate' by the team behind the calculations. These numbers are not exact predictions. In many ways, they reflect a worst-case scenario...." The story has one interactive map, showing the "moderate scenario. ProPublica has the story here. It includes a feature that IDs hospital bed availability in your region (apparently based on your IP address) & allows you to check other regions.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration plans to immediately turn back all asylum seekers and other foreigners trying to cross the southwestern border illegally, saying they cannot risk allowing the coronavirus to spread through detention facilities and among Border Patrol agents, four administration officials said on Tuesday. The officials said the ports of entry would remain open to American citizens, green card holders and some foreigners with proper documentation. Some foreigners would be blocked, including Europeans currently subject to earlier travel restrictions enacted by the administration. The entryways will also be open to commercial traffic."

Myah Ward of Politico: "Trump referred to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [D] as the 'failing Michigan governor' on Monday and lashed out at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo [D] after his calls for stepped up federal assistance. Minutes later, he heaped praise on his own administration for 'working very well with the Governors and State officials.'... 'Cuomo wants "all states to be treated the same." But all states aren't the same. Some are being hit hard by the Chinese Virus, some are being hit practically not at all,' Trump tweeted.... 'New York is a very big "hotspot", West Virginia has, thus far, zero cases. Andrew, keep politics out of it.'" ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "One day after President Trump told the nation's governors on a conference call that he had been 'watching a lot of you on television' dealing with the coronavirus, he proved it Tuesday morning by angrily tweeting at Michigan's governor for saying on MSNBC that 'the federal government did not take this seriously early enough.'... 'Ironically, he made my point that they're not taking this as seriously as they need to,' [Gov. Gretchen] Whitmer [D-Mich.] said in an interview Tuesday afternoon, noting that the president had been 'watching TV.' The back-and-forth illustrated the enormous gap between the president's response to the colossal public health crisis and that of many chief executives in the states. Since the coronavirus began spreading, the governors have taken a lead role in issuing strict guidelines and stern warnings, asserting themselves in ways that only highlighted the initial inaction and lack of seriousness from the White House.... This year, not a single Democratic governor became a major contender for the presidency. And in the 2016 primary campaign, a long roster of current and former Republican governors were trampled by Mr. Trump. But figures like [Governors Mike DeWine [R-Ohio], [Jay] Inslee [D-Washington] and ... Andrew M. Cuomo [D] of New York, each of whom have decades of government experience, may be some of the few leaders who emerge politically stronger from this crisis."

Maggie Haberman & Noah Weiland of the New York Times (March 16): "The culture that President Trump has fostered and abided by for more than three years in the White House has shaped his administration's response to a deadly pandemic.... It explains how Mr. Trump could announce he was dismissing his acting chief of staff as the crisis grew more severe, creating even less clarity in an already fractured chain of command. And it was a major factor in the president's reluctance to even acknowledge a looming crisis, for fear of rattling the financial markets that serve as his political weather vane.... Crises are treated as day-to-day public relations problems by Mr. Trump, who thinks ahead in short increments of time and early on in his presidency told aides to consider each day as an episode in a television show. The type of long-term planning required for an unpredictable crisis like a pandemic has brought into stark relief the difficulties that Mr. Trump was bound to face in a real crisis. Mr. Trump has refused repeated warnings to rely on experts, or to neutralize some of the power held by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in favor of a traditional staff structure. He has rarely fully empowered people in the jobs they hold." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "It isn't easy to find any bright spots amid our ongoing slide into failed-state status, but here's one: Far more Americans trust the news media than trust President Trump to tell them the truth about our coronavirus crisis. A new poll from NPR, PBS News Hour and Marist finds that only 37 percent of Americans have a good deal of trust in the information Trump tells them about coronavirus. By contrast, 60 percent have little to no trust. Meanwhile, the poll also finds that 50 percent have a good deal of trust in the news media's information about the disease, versus 47 percent who lack trust.... Our national response to a crisis with extraordinarily far-reaching destructive potential is more or less under the control of a megalomaniac who, with the eager backing of his media allies, vastly prioritizes protecting his reelection chances over protecting the country.... In addition to the threat it poses to the country, coronavirus also poses an existential threat to Trump's presidency. This Trump-protection project will only grow more urgent...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "When Deborah Frank Feinen, the mayor of Champaign, Ill., drafted an emergency powers declaration last Thursday to confront the coronavirus pandemic, she was proud of her city's early preparation. But by the time she got to work the next morning, the National Rifle Association had blared a 'national alert' saying 'anti-gun extremists' were moving 'to undermine our firearms freedom.' The city government was soon under siege.... Keen to defend President Trump from criticism and portray virus-related warnings as politically motivated fear-mongering, conservative organizations, media and Trump loyalists are undermining state and local government efforts to convey accurate information and protect their constituents.... On Sunday..., the Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne, an evangelical pastor and conspiracy theorist who has prayed with Mr. Trump in the White House, encouraged his tightly packed congregation to shake hands, to prove they were not 'pansies.'... He added, 'There's going to be forced vaccines' to 'kill off many people.' The president has not rebuked his allies...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "The Perils of the Pinocchio Presidency." Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "For three years, President Trump told his supporters that the federal government perpetrates hoaxes and frauds, that the media produces fake news and that nothing is on the level except for his tweets. He did the same with the novel coronavirus, portraying it as an ordinary flu that would 'disappear' and accusing Democrats of a hoax and the media of exaggerating.... But Trump's late conversion to reality has left behind one group of Americans that will be difficult to convince: his own supporters. Their alternative-facts diet has left them intolerant of anything the government and the media feed them. An alarming new poll from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist shows that the number of Republicans who believe the virus is a real threat has actually fallen over the past month, from 72 percent in February to just 40 percent now.... At Tuesday's briefing...,[Trump] spoke to those inclined toward vacation travel: 'I would recommend that they just enjoy their living room.' And he admonished those not following social-distancing guidelines: 'I'm not happy with those people.'... 'Those people' are Fox-News viewing Trump supporters who, until this week, had been encouraged to believe Trump's claims that the virus was well under control."

Thanks to safari for embedding this video, featuring governors, media personalities & ordinary people doing a far better job of attacking the coronavirus than is Donald Trump:

Hans Van der Burchard of Politico: "German pharmaceutical company CureVac insists it did not receive any offer from ... Donald Trump to secure exclusive rights to a potential coronavirus vaccine, despite the German government and the company's main investor saying it did. CureVac deputy CEO Franz-Werner Haas said on Tuesday 'there was and is no offer' from Trump 'or any governmental organizations' to take over the company or 'to have manufacturing slots reserved' for exclusive vaccine production for the U.S. market. The Tübingen-based company on Sunday and Monday rejected reports that Trump had attempted to snatch up exclusive rights to the firm's coronavirus vaccine, which is currently being developed in cooperation with a taxpayer-funded German institute. But Haas, in a one-hour news conference carried out by telephone, failed to explain why senior German ministers had confirmed -- and strongly condemned -- such a bid, and why even the company's main investor, Dietmar Hopp, said Monday that he had been informed about a U.S. offer which he then rejected."

Thomas Fuller, et al., of the New York Times: "The most ambitious experiment in America to stop the spread of the coronavirus -- shelter-in-place orders for almost every resident -- was underway for seven million people living around the San Francisco Bay on Tuesday.... Seven counties on Monday ordered that people stay inside -- and leave their homes only to 'obtain or perform vital services.'... As other parts of the country contemplate similar measures, the shelter-in-place order in the Bay Area is testing the willingness of a go-it-alone society to curb personal behavior for the greater good of the community.... It was left up to the counties and cities to decide what was essential and in a modern society, it turns out, that can be a lot.... Late on Tuesday, [San Francisco] City Hall reversed an earlier decision by declaring that marijuana dispensaries were considered essential and could remain open." ~~~

~~~ Get Used to It. Brian Resnick of Vox: "... public health experts believe social distancing is the best way to prevent a truly horrific crisis: perhaps hundreds of thousands or more if our health care system is overwhelmed with severe Covid-19 cases.... Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine..., says, 'The main message that isn't getting across to a lot of people is just how long we might be in this for.... This virus is going to be circulating, potentially for a year or two, so we need to be thinking on those time scales. There are no good options here.'... The reason we may be in for an extended period of disruption, Kucharski says, is that the main thing that seems to be working right now to fight this pandemic is severe social distancing policies. Drop those measures -- allow people to congregate in big groups again -- while the virus is still out there, and it can start new outbreaks that gravely threaten public health.... We'll need something to stop the virus to truly end the threat. That's either a vaccine ... or herd immunity. This is when enough people have contracted the virus, and have become immune to it, to slow its spread. Herd immunity is not guaranteed."

The Latest Virus-Breeding Sites: Unemployment Offices. Rebecca Rainey of Politico: "Employers are slashing jobs at a furious pace across the nation due to mass shutdowns over the coronavirus, slamming state unemployment offices with a crush of filers facing sudden crises. Long before official government data is expected to reveal the depths of the economic shock inflicted by the coronavirus, reports from state officials and businesses around the country indicate the gathering of a massive wave of unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Recession. In New Jersey, 15,000 people applied for unemployment benefits on Monday, a twelvefold increase over normal levels. In Connecticut, nearly 8,000 applications arrived over the weekend, an eightfold increase over the norm.... According to an NPR/Marist poll conducted Thursday and Friday, 18 percent of households already reported someone being laid off or having hours reduced because of the coronavirus outbreak, with women hit harder (21 percent) than men (16 percent), and people who earn less than $50,000 hit harder (25 percent) than those earning $50,000 or more (14 percent)."

Julie Tsirkin & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would move at 'warp speed' to pass coronavirus legislation Tuesday, but Sen. Rand Paul, his fellow Kentucky Republican, put a damper on those plans, two leadership sources told NBC News. Senators were heading toward a vote Tuesday on the package -- which would include provisions for free coronavirus testing, secure paid emergency leave, enhance unemployment insurance, strengthen food security initiatives and increase federal Medicaid funding to states -- but they had to slam on the brakes because of an amendment Paul proposed.... His amendment ... would 'require a social security number for purposes of the child tax credit, and to provide the President the authority to transfer funds as necessary, and to terminate United States military operations and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan.' McConnell agreed to take up the amendment Wednesday, delaying the vote on the larger bill, the sources said. The Paul amendment is not expected to pass. McConnell ... said earlier Tuesday that a number of his members think that the package the House passed Saturday has 'considerable shortcomings' but that it is still necessary and urgent. 'My counsel to them is to gag and vote for it,' he said."

Stephen Colbert & Jon Batiste practice social distancing:

Max & Mel Brooks, too. (Sorry about the sottotitoli; this was the only good video I found):

Anne Gearan & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "China's expulsion of American reporters from three major news organizations on Tuesday marked a major escalation of a proxy war between the world's two largest economies over the origin and global spread of the novel coronavirus that President Trump has called the 'Chinese virus.' Chinese authorities announced Tuesday that U.S. journalists from The Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal must hand over press credentials, effectively meaning they must leave the country. The move is in retaliation for recent restrictions on U.S.-based Chinese state media put in place by the Trump administration, but the newly hostile public posturing also comes as the health, economic and social costs of the virus are skyrocketing in the United States and have already taken a toll on China. At a time when public health experts say the world needs clear communication and cooperation to contain the pandemic, two of the globe's leading powers are butting heads as part of a nationalistic tit-for-tat over the coronavirus -- accusing each other of mishandling the outbreak and misrepresenting one another's roles in its rise." An NPR story is here.

Take This Job & Shove It. Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Dale Cabaniss, the director of the government's Office of Personnel Management, resigned abruptly on Tuesday, effective immediately. Cabaniss stepped down because of, what two people familiar with the matter said, was poor treatment from the 29-year-old head of the Presidential Personnel Office, John McEntee, and a powerful appointee at OPM, Paul Dans, the new White House liaison and senior adviser to the director of OPM. OPM Deputy Director Michael Rigas is now acting director of OPM.... Cabaniss had been at the agency only since September. The departure casts a cloud of uncertainty over the federal workforce as it struggles to decide how to handle the coronavirus outbreak.... OPM is the human resources management policy shop for the federal government's civil service.... McEntee's return to the White House has roiled the administration with some officials criticizing the former Trump campaign staffer for what they see as an effort to stock the administration with his friends, including at least three college seniors.... Dans has 'clearly come with some kind of agenda,' said a person familiar with his hiring, who noted Dans doesn't appear to have much of a background in Title V of the U.S. code...." ~~~

~~~ Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "... Dale Cabaniss resigned in frustration following months of tension with the White House budget office and more recently with its newly configured staffing office and a political appointee the office installed at OPM in the last month, according to three people familiar with her decision. Cabaniss thought that she was being micromanaged and that her authority was not respected, the people said.... Cabaniss, 58, has deep experience with federal personnel issues and was respected by her staff and by Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, where she served for two decades as a top Senate aide overseeing civil service issues." Mrs. McC: Donald Trump is the best example ever of the old saying, "A fish rots from the head down."

John Vidal of the Guardian: "Only a decade or two ago it was widely thought that tropical forests and intact natural environments teeming with exotic wildlife threatened humans by harbouring the viruses and pathogens that lead to new diseases in humans such as Ebola, HIV and dengue. But a number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity's destruction of biodiversity that creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19.... David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, recently wrote in the New York Times, 'We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.'" --s

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Thanks to safari for linking the video. This would be hilarious if these charlatans weren't such dangerous liars: ~~~

Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. easily defeated Senator Bernie Sanders in three major primaries on Tuesday, all but extinguishing Mr. Sanders's chances for a comeback, as anxious Americans turned out to vote amid a series of cascading disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Biden ... won by wide margins in Florida and Illinois and also carried Arizona, sweeping the night and achieving a nearly insurmountable delegate lead. The emphatic outcome could greatly intensify pressure on Mr. Sanders to end his campaign and allow Democrats to unify behind Mr. Biden as their presumptive nominee. The routs in Florida and Illinois, two of the biggest prizes on the national map, represented both a vote of confidence in Mr. Biden from most Democrats, and a blunt rejection of Mr. Sanders's candidacy by the kind of large, diverse states he would have needed to capture to broaden his appeal beyond the ideological left.... The turmoil caused by the coronavirus upended plans for a primary election in Ohio, where state officials postponed voting scheduled for Tuesday, in an abrupt maneuver that barely survived last-minute legal scrutiny. Four other states have also taken steps to delay their primary elections until late this spring, with Maryland on Tuesday becoming the latest to push back voting.... In a gesture to the gravity of the moment, Mr. Biden used much of his brief victory address -- via a balky live stream from his home in Wilmington, Del. -- to discuss the virus and to reassure the country." The Guardian's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Dear Bernie: I voted for you in 2016. Now is the time to drop out of the 2020 race. Not just because you can't win, but because it could save lives. Love, Your Friend & Admirer, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ~~~

~~~ Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "As Bernie Sanders's decisive primary defeats Tuesday put him almost hopelessly behind in the race for the Democratic nomination, he began facing growing calls to withdraw from Democrats who want the party to unite and focus its energy on defeating President Trump.... Sanders and his wife, Jane, are expected to reach a decision together about the future of the campaign, people in frequent contact with them said, taking input from advisers but making the call on their own. Many Democrats are waiting anxiously to see what Sanders says on Wednesday about the future of the race, if anything." The Guardian's story is here.

House Race. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Representative Dan Lipinski, a conservative Democrat from Illinois whose opposition to abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act made him a pariah in his party, lost a hard-fought primary race on Tuesday night to his progressive challenger, Marie Newman. Ms. Newman, a business consultant and founder of an anti-bullying program, edged out Mr. Lipinski by two percentage points, with 493 of 500 precincts reporting early Wednesday. She had the backing of the progressive group Justice Democrats and its standard-bearer, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, as well as Emily's List, the powerful group that backs Democrats who support abortion rights. Mr. Lipinski narrowly beat Ms. Newman in 2018. Tuesday's results were a major upset for the congressman, whose family has represented Illinois' third district, in the Chicago suburbs, for nearly four decades. Mr. Lipinski's father, Bill Lipinski, first won the seat in 1982 and held it until 2005, when Mr. Lipinski succeeded him." A BuzzFeed News story is here.


Matt Zapotosky
of the Washington Post: "Former U.S. congressman Duncan D. Hunter -- the California Republican who won reelection while under federal ­indictment, only to later admit wrongdoing in the case and resign -- was sentenced Tuesday to 11 months in federal prison, authorities said. The penalty brings to a close a dramatic case that saw prosecutors air publicly how the congressman used hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for family vacations, theater tickets and even to facilitate extramarital affairs, while Hunter countered that he was being unfairly targeted by a politicized Justice Department.... He was one of the first congressman to support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president, and after he was charged, he took a Trump-like approach to the case, attacking the prosecutors as politically motivated."

Sam Biddle et al., of The Intercept: "The makers of TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app with hundreds of millions of users around the world, instructed moderators to suppress posts created by users deemed too ugly, poor, or disabled for the platform, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. These same documents show moderators were also told to censor political speech in TikTok livestreams.... TikTok controls content on its platform to achieve rapid growth in the mold of a Silicon Valley startup while simultaneously discouraging political dissent with the sort of heavy hand regularly seen in its home country of China." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I've decided to self-select as being too ugly, poor and disabled.

Monday
Mar162020

The Commentariat -- March 17, 2020

It's primary election day in three states: Florida, Illinois & Arizona. Ohio's primary was cancelled in the middle of the night by a state supreme court ruling; see link to Columbus Dispatch story under "Presidential Race" below.

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

From the New York Times' live updates on coronavirus developments: "As the coronavirus pandemic ground large swaths of the economy to a halt, cost an increasing number of people their jobs and sent the markets reeling, the White House, Congress and the Federal Reserve began taking steps to get aid to people and businesses. In a briefing on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration is talking to Congress about sending cash payments to Americans over the next two weeks to cushion the economic blow from coronavirus. 'The president has instructed me we have to do this now,' he said. Mr. Mnuchin said that this Trump administration currently prefers making direct payments to Americans to get cash into their hands now rather than pushing for a payroll tax cut that would take months to reach people. He also said that President Trump instructed him to allow for the deferment of tax payments, interest free and penalty free for 90 days. People can defer up to a $1 million and corporations can defer up to $10 million in payments. The Treasury secretary said that this would inject $300 billion into the economy.... Mr. Trump said that his administration was also working to expand testing and preparing to ask Congress to infuse about $850 billion in additional stimulus to prop up the economy."

Trump Proposes Hu-u-ge Package to Raise Deficit & Help the Rich, Corporations. Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is asking Congress to approve a massive economic stimulus package of around $850 billion to stanch the economic free fall caused by the coronavirus, four officials familiar with the planning said Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will present details to Senate Republicans later Tuesday. The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, through a payroll tax cut or other mechanism, two of the officials said, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry. White House officials also want to include more assistance for small businesses and their employees in the legislation, the officials said.... The $850 billion package would come in addition to another roughly $100 billion package that aims to provide paid sick leave for impacted workers, though the details of that legislation remain very fluid as it moves through Congress.... Democrats have said their proposals are focused more on helping workers, health care providers, schools, and senior citizens.... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) is expected to outline his $750 billion proposal and contrast it with the White House's approach. Schumer's offering would expand unemployment insurance, provide money for schools, public transportation, expand Medicaid funding, expand more investments in health care, provide loan assistance, and halt evictions and foreclosures, among other things." ~~~

~~~ Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: "The coming bailout is a familiar moral catastrophe. During the financial crisis, the government saved the banking industry's bacon, while asking exceedingly little of the culprits. When the government spends billions of dollars to save industries, it has enormous leverage. This is the moment when Congress can shape an economy. It should demand, for instance, that the airlines keep their workers in their jobs; it should place hard caps on executive pay and prohibit stock buybacks; it can demand that airlines take steps to reduce their Sasquatch-size carbon footprint.... If the industry wants the public's money, it will have to deal with it."

Maggie Haberman & Noah Weiland of the New York Times (March 16): "The culture that President Trump has fostered and abided by for more than three years in the White House has shaped his administration's response to a deadly pandemic.... It explains how Mr. Trump could announce he was dismissing his acting chief of staff as the crisis grew more severe, creating even less clarity in an already fractured chain of command. And it was a major factor in the president's reluctance to even acknowledge a looming crisis, for fear of rattling the financial markets that serve as his political weather vane.... Crises are treated as day-to-day public relations problems by Mr. Trump, who thinks ahead in short increments of time and early on in his presidency told aides to consider each day as an episode in a television show. The type of long-term planning required for an unpredictable crisis like a pandemic has brought into stark relief the difficulties that Mr. Trump was bound to face in a real crisis. Mr. Trump has refused repeated warnings to rely on experts, or to neutralize some of the power held by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in favor of a traditional staff structure. He has rarely fully empowered people in the jobs they hold." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, I thought I had linked this story earlier, but I see I did not. There's not much in it you don't know, but it does give a good picture of how unsuited Trump is to hold any administrative post, much less president*.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "It isn't easy to find any bright spots amid our ongoing slide into failed-state status, but here's one: Far more Americans trust the news media than trust President Trump to tell them the truth about our coronavirus crisis. A new poll from NPR, PBS News Hour and Marist finds that only 37 percent of Americans have a good deal of trust in the information Trump tells them about coronavirus. By contrast, 60 percent have little to no trust. Meanwhile, the poll also finds that 50 percent have a good deal of trust in the news media's information about the disease, versus 47 percent who lack trust.... Our national response to a crisis with extraordinarily far-reaching destructive potential is more or less under the control of a megalomaniac who, with the eager backing of his media allies, vastly prioritizes protecting his reelection chances over protecting the country.... In addition to the threat it poses to the country, coronavirus also poses an existential threat to Trump's presidency. This Trump-protection project will only grow more urgent...." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "When Deborah Frank Feinen, the mayor of Champaign, Ill., drafted an emergency powers declaration last Thursday to confront the coronavirus pandemic, she was proud of her city's early preparation. But by the time she got to work the next morning, the National Rifle Association had blared a 'national alert' saying 'anti-gun extremists' were moving 'to undermine our firearms freedom.' The city government was soon under siege.... Keen to defend President Trump from criticism and portray virus-related warnings as politically motivated fear-mongering, conservative organizations, media and Trump loyalists are undermining state and local government efforts to convey accurate information and protect their constituents.... On Sunday..., the Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne, an evangelical pastor and conspiracy theorist who has prayed with Mr. Trump in the White House, encouraged his tightly packed congregation to shake hands, to prove they were not 'pansies.'... He added, 'There's going to be forced vaccines' to 'kill off many people.' The president has not rebuked his allies for their denialism."

~~~~~~~~~~

Benedict Carey of the New York Times: "Scientists tracking the spread of the coronavirus reported on Monday that, for every confirmed case, there are most likely another five to 10 people in the community with undetected infections. These often-milder cases are, on average, about half as infectious as confirmed ones, but are responsible for nearly 80 percent of new cases, according to the report, which was based on data from China."

Trump Faces Some Facts (At Least for Now). Nolan McCaskill & Joanne Kenen of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday acknowledged the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic, releasing strict new guidelines to limit people's interactions in an increasingly urgent bid to slow the virus in the next two weeks before U.S. hospitals are overwhelmed. 'It's bad. It's bad,' the president said at a news conference after releasing guidelines that called for people to avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people and to steer clear of eating and drinking at bars, restaurants and food courts. The guidelines -- including a strict recommendation that anyone with even minor symptoms stay home -- are not mandatory. But they were issued with a sense of alarm and a frankness that Trump has not previously displayed.... No country, including the United States, has it under control, he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Just yesterday Trump said the coronavirus was something "we have tremendous control of." He also said he would give himself a "10" on a scale of one-to-ten for his response to the virus, which he claimed no one saw coming a month ago. So, ya know, he hasn't totally faced reality. Trump said, too, that he was tested "very strongly" for the virus, & the test was negative. What does that mean? Did he get a super-test? Did the technician stab him really hard? I just hope if I'm tested, it won't be done "very weakly." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "President Trump's Monday coronavirus press conference was his best since the beginning of the crisis. That is, of course, a relative measure.... His most remarkable utterance -- one that would have set off an uproar if a normal president had said it -- came when he claimed the coronavirus had snuck up on everybody. 'We have a problem that, a month ago, nobody thought about,' he proclaimed. Uh, well, no. In January, two former Trump administration officials wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed pleading with Trump to take the coronavirus seriously. Almost two months ago, Joe Biden wrote an op-ed demanding a more forceful response. Trump spent this entire period relentlessly denying the United States faced any danger at all." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Chait is in Trumpspeak denial here. When Trump says, "nobody knew," of course he means, "I didn't know" or "I just learned." The form of the statement is just like the one he made to GOP officials three years ago: "Most people don't even know [Abraham Lincoln] was a Republican. Does anyone know? Lot of people don't know that." Of course the Stable Genius can't acknowledge his own ignorance, so he must attribute that ignorance to "most people" or "everybody."

~~~ If You Beat Trump Over the Head with a Baseball Bat Enough Times, He Might Just Sorta Get It. Meredith McGraw, et al., of Politico: "Before markets started spiraling like 1987's 'Black Monday' crash, and even before ... Donald Trump heard from state governors and G-7 leaders trying to stave off deaths at home, the president received a series of fresh warnings about the scale of the calamity poised to wash over America. His coronavirus task force presented new information based on overseas models showing how quickly the virus could spread without swift action. And new data he was shown from China overnight highlighted that country's economic collapse -- plunging factory activity and soaring unemployment -- despite its draconian measures to combat the coronavirus crisis. Faced with a reality that the nation he oversees needs to take dramatic action or follow in the footsteps of deeply troubled nations abroad, the president took on a newly somber tone about a virus outbreak he spent months downplaying.... In just 24 hours, the president went from telling people filling up their pantries to just 'relax,' to acknowledging the economy might be careening toward a recession and warning the public they have a narrow window of 15 days to stop the spread of a lethal disease." ~~~

~~~ Ben White of Politico: "The early signals from the coronavirus crisis point to a scale of damage unseen in the modern U.S. economy: the potential for millions of jobs lost in a single month, a historic and sudden plunge in economic activity across the nation and a pace of sharp market swings not seen since the Great Depression. The S&P is now only around 300 points away from wiping out all its gains since Donald Trump won the White House in November 2016. President Trump himself, one of the grandest boasters of the strength and resilience of markets and the American economy, appeared to capitulate on Monday with a more somber tone reflecting the immense magnitude of the challenge facing the nation.... The hope on the part of White House officials is not to avoid a sharp economic slowdown -- they all know it is coming -- but that the short-term pain from extreme measures will lead to a flattening in the curve of the virus spread."

Paul Krugman: "At every stage, Donald Trump minimized the threat and blocked helpful action because he wanted to look good for the next news cycle or two, ignoring and intimidating anyone who tried to give him good advice. But here';s the thing: Even if he weren't so irresponsibly self-centered, he has denuded the government of people who could be giving good advice in the first place.... As far as I can tell, the Trump team is utterly incapable of formulating a coherent response to the gathering economic crisis.... At this point, in other words, it's pretty much up to Jay Powell, the Fed chairman, and Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House; the question is whether Trump and Senate Republicans will let them save the economy.... In another time, under another president, the White House would have played a crucial role in shaping crisis legislation. But last week..., it was almost entirely a Democratic effort.... True, Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, negotiated with Pelosi, basically to make the bill a bit worse.... The Senate probably will eventually pass Pelosi's bill. But with all signs pointing to a steep economic dive, we need a much bigger stimulus package -- perhaps along the lines being developed by Chuck Schumer...."

Fred Imbert of CNBC: "Stocks fell sharply Monday -- with the Dow suffering its worst day since the 'Black Monday' market crash in 1987 and its third-worst day ever -- even after the Federal Reserve embarked on a massive monetary stimulus campaign to curb slower economic growth amid the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,997.10 points lower, or 12.9%, at 20,188.52. The 30-stock Dow was briefly down more than 3,000 points in the final minutes of trading. The S&P 500 dropped 12% to 2,386.13 -- hitting its lowest level since December 2018 -- while the Nasdaq Composite closed 12.3% lower at 6,904.59 in its worst day ever. The major averages fell to their lows into the close after ... Donald Trump said the worst of the outbreak could last until August. He also told reporters the U.S. 'may be' heading into a recession." This is an update of a story linked previously. ~~~

~~~ New York Times live market updates: "The S&P 500 fell 12 percent, its biggest drop since the coronavirus outbreak began to roil markets in the United States last month -- and its worst daily decline since October 1987.... Financial markets cratered on Monday, as investors were confronted with evidence that a steep decline in the world's largest economies may have already begun. The sell-off began after the Federal Reserve took extraordinary steps on Sunday afternoon to bolster the American economy, signaling that it saw an economic crisis unfolding as businesses shut down and borders are closed to contain the coronavirus. The financial downdraft was global.... Then came news that factory activity in China -- one of the world's largest economies -- fell 13.5 percent last month compared with February of last year. Investment in China fell by roughly 25 percent. And one of the first bits of data for American economic activity in March, a gauge of manufacturing activity in New York State, showed a record one-month plunge in the measure, which fell to its lowest level since 2009." ~~~

~~~ Matt Egan & Rob McLean of CNN: "America's eight biggest biggest banks are slamming the brakes on their aggressive share buyback programs as they promise to preserve capital to get through the coronavirus crisis. The financial institutions announced the buyback decision simultaneously Sunday evening just after the Federal Reserve took emergency actions aimed at staving off a deep economic recession.... The decision reflects a realization that it would look bad for banks to reward shareholders with massive buybacks while simultaneously taking unpopular steps such as foreclosures, pulling credit lines, freezing hiring and laying off workers." --s ~~~

~~~ Al Lewis of CNBC: "Goldman Sachs' economists declared the U.S. economy all but recession-proof at the dawning of 2020, but now it appears a coronavirus-induced recession may have begun just a few months later. The analysis didn't account for a 'Black Swan,' a term for an improbable and unforeseen event.... 'We are going into a global recession,' warns chief economic advisor at Allianz Mohamed El-Erian, who correctly called the bear market as it approached. 'The economic damage is going to last.'" --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "President Trump told a group of governors on Monday morning that they should not wait for the federal government to fill the growing demand for respirators needed to treat people with coronavirus. "'Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment -- try getting it yourselves,' Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call, a recording of which was shared with The New York Times. 'We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.' The suggestion surprised some of the governors, who have been scrambling to contain the outbreak and are increasingly looking to the federal government for help with equipment, personnel and financial aid. Last Wednesday, Mr. Trump directed his labor secretary to increase the availability of respirators, and he has generally played down fears of shortages." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ William Baldwin of Forbes (March 14): "The German government just placed an order for 10,000 mechanical ventilators. What's the U.S. government doing about a potential shortage here? Not much, it seems.... 'We could increase production five-fold in a 90- to 120-day period,' says Chris Kiple, chief executive of Ventec Life Systems, a Bothell, Wash. firm that makes ventilators used in hospitals, homes and ambulances.... The ventilator industry is getting a burst of desperate orders from China and Italy. The U.S. hasn't seen that yet, although manufacturers are bracing for it. 'The time for action by the government is now,' says Kiple." --s

Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "As part of his duties overseeing the task force in charges of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Mike Pence has been holding secret meetings with prominent right-wing 'influencers' on how to spin Donald Trump's administration's efforts to contain the growing health crisis." --s

Nahal Toosi, et al., of Politico: "Seven days before Donald Trump took office, his aides faced a major test: the rapid, global spread of a dangerous virus in cities like London and Seoul, one serious enough that some countries were imposing travel bans. In a sober briefing, Trump's incoming team learned that the disease was an emerging pandemic ... and that health systems were crashing in Asia, overwhelmed by the demand.... But ... this 2017 crisis didn't really happen -- it was among a handful of scenarios presented to Trump's top aides as part of a legally required transition exercise with members of the outgoing administration of Barack Obama.... But roughly two-thirds of the Trump representatives in that room are no longer serving in the administration. That extraordinary turnover in the months and years that followed is likely one reason his administration has struggled to handle the very real pandemic it faces now, former Obama administration officials said.... 'The problem is that they came in very arrogant and convinced that they knew more than the outgoing administration -- full swagger,' one former Obama administration official who attended said. 'There were people who were there who said, "This is really stupid and why do we need to be here,"' added another senior Obama administration official...."

MEANWHILE, on Trump TV. Paul Farhi & Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "For weeks, some of Fox News's most popular hosts downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, characterizing it as a conspiracy by media organizations and Democrats to undermine President Trump. Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham accused the news media of whipping up 'mass hysteria' and being 'panic pushers.' Fox Business host Trish Regan called the alleged media-Democratic alliance 'yet another attempt to impeach the president.' But that was then. With Trump's declaration on Friday that the virus constitutes a national emergency, the tone on Fox News has quickly shifted. On his program on Friday, Hannity -- the most watched figure on cable news -- lauded the president's handling of what the host is now, belatedly, referring to as a 'crisis.'... Trump, meanwhile, has long looked to Fox News and its personalities for guidance and approval, a dynamic that may have been pivotal this week after host Tucker Carlson reportedly visited with the president in person to urge him to take the coronavirus seriously."

Ryan Lucas of NPR: "Federal courthouses across the United States are taking steps large and small -- including postponing trials and moving courtroom hearings to video conferences -- as officials scramble to curtail public gatherings and limit the spread of the coronavirus.... The most dramatic effect so far on the federal judiciary was the Supreme Court's decision Monday to postpone oral arguments scheduled through April 1.... But there is no blanket decision that covers all district and circuit courts. Instead, each is crafting its own response in coordination with state and local health officials." (Also linked yesterday.)

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, via RawStory: "A teenager's website tracking coronavirus has become one of the most vital resources for people seeking accurate and updated numbers on the pandemic. The URL is nCoV2019.live. We speak with 17-year-old Avi Schiffmann, a high school junior from Mercer Island outside Seattle, who started the site in late December, when coronavirus had not yet been detected outside of China. Now the site has been visited by tens of millions from every country on Earth." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Mariel Padilla & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican, on Sunday encouraged healthy people to dine out at restaurants, contradicting public health advisories that strongly encouraged social distancing and discouraged Americans from attending mass gatherings.... 'There's a lot of concerns with the economy here because people are scared to go out,' he said. 'But I will just say, one of the things you can do is, if you're healthy, you and your family, it's a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant. Likely you can get in easily. Let's not hurt the working people in this country that are relying on wages and tips to keep their small business going.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch: "Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke melted down in a profanity-laced Twitter rant on Sunday in which he encouraged the public to defy the government' precautionary warnings meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, alleging that liberal billionaire George Soros was somehow involved in the 'FLU panic.' 'GO INTO THE STREETS FOLKS. Visit bars, restaurants, shopping malls, CHURCHES and demand that your schools re-open. NOW! If government doesn't stop this foolishness...STAY IN THE STREETS. END GOVERNEMNT CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? THIS IS AN EXPLOITATION OF A CRISIS,' Clarke posted on his Twitter account, where he has nearly one million followers. In another tweet, Clarke called the United States' response to the COVID-19 coronavirus the byproduct of 'several decades of liberal wussification.'... In one since-removed tweet, Clarke claimed that the ordered closures of bars and restaurants were part of 'orchestrated attempt to destroy CAPITALISM.' Clarke urged businesses to 'defy the order.'" Ginni Thomas (Clarence's wife) previously recommended that the White House hire Clarke for 'a homeland security ​role.​​'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Chait on Trump's attempt "to pay a German biopharmaceutical company to develop a coronavirus vaccine in the United States, with the proviso that the product would be 'only for the United States.'... First, it shows his inability to grasp positive sum outcomes, especially between countries. A vaccine is a reductio ad absurdum of his dog-eat-dog worldview. While production capacity is somewhat finite, a vaccine is not a scarce good. Successful vaccines are always shared around the world because the entire world has a shared interest in eradicating diseases. Trump is the only world leader who is trying a beggar-thy-neighbor strategy for pandemic response. Second, it reveals his cynical assumption that everybody else shares his own amorality.... And third, we have Trump's inability to grasp the larger picture.... Would other countries be happy about this, or angry? Would they react in ways that might harm us when we might need their cooperation?" (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Whoriskey & Neena Satija of the Washington Post on how U.S. testing failed: "As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, causing more than 80 deaths and over 4,000 confirmed cases, the struggles that overwhelmed the nation's testing are becoming clearer. First, the CDC moved too slowly to tap into the expertise of academia and private companies..., experts said.... The government effort was nevertheless marred by a widespread manufacturing problem that stalled U.S. testing for most of February.... Critics say government officials should have moved much more quickly to bring on expertise from outside the CDC." The story goes on to illuminate how the CDC rejected assistance from both the private sector & some state labs. Experts are urging the government to find out why.

Mitt Gets Real. Clare Foran of CNN: "Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Monday outlined a list of proposals to address the coronavirus outbreak, including giving all American adults $1,000 in response to fallout from the spread of the disease. Romney's office framed the proposals as a way to ensure economic stability for working Americans.... The proposal comes after businessman Andrew Yang drew attention as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary by advocating a universal basic income of $1,000 per month for every American adult to address economic inequality. Yang, who dropped out of the presidential race in February and is now a CNN political commentator, tweeted about the Romney proposal on Monday, saying, 'Mitt understands this crisis' potential impact on the economy and what is at stake.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Josh Marshall of TPM: "As we've moved into the shocking events of March one of my central experiences has been what I would call time dilation.... What's unthinkable Thursday is quaint by Sunday. Such rapid shifts in our perceptions of the world and reality we're living in are profoundly disorienting. I suspect more disorienting than many of us yet understand simply because there's no respite from the rush of events. With all this I thought it would be helpful to review some of the recent timeline of events, both to get some temporal footing but also to start thinking about the range of possibilities of what might happen and how long this might last." --s

Ben Collins of NBC News: "The various false text messages forwarded to many Americans on Sunday and Monday all started a little differently before making the same debunked claim: Martial law is coming. Martial law is not coming.... With social media networks like Facebook and Twitter cracking down on the spread of dangerous misinformation in the face of the pandemic, misleading information and false claims have moved to what experts are calling a literal 'game of telephone' in text-messaging apps. Some users, even those who have no intention of spreading wrong information, are forwarding along viral rumors and urban legends to push vital information that is frequently untrue.... The supposed 'source' of the martial law rumors differs from recipient to recipient. Different versions of the texts seen by NBC News attribute the rumor to 'high-ranking military officials,' a 'close friend ... with incredibly reliable information' and 'a source that works for Homeland Security.'"

Alex Wickham of BuzzFeed News: "The UK only realised 'in the last few days' that attempts to 'mitigate' the impact of the coronavirus pandemic would not work, and that it needed to shift to a strategy to 'suppress' the outbreak, according to a report by a team of experts who have been advising the government. The report, published by the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team on Monday night, found that the strategy previously being pursued by the government -- dubbed 'mitigation' and involving home isolation of suspect cases and their family members but not including restrictions on wider society -- would 'likely result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and health systems (most notably intensive care units) being overwhelmed many times over'... 'Our most significant conclusion is that mitigation is unlikely to be feasible without emergency surge capacity limits of the UK and US healthcare systems being exceeded many times over,' perhaps by as much as eight times, the report said. In this scenario, the Imperial College team predicted as many as 250,000 deaths in Britain."


The Grifters. Jordan Libowitz
of CREW: "On March 7, less than two weeks after President Trump returned from an official visit to India, the business he still owns and profits from made an announcement: it would now ship Trump-branded products to India. This appears to be a clear violation of the Trump family's pledge of no new foreign business during the Trump presidency, and an invitation for corruption. This decision will allow foreign nationals to funnel money into President Trump's pocket in a way that is unfortunately both secret and legal. India is joined on the announcement by Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland (which we must note is still technically part of the United Kingdom) and Germany." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Swamp. Mike Spies & Jake Pearson of ProPublica: "The Republican National Committee has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to contractors closely connected to the organization's chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel. One contract went to her husband's insurance company. Two others went to businesses whose executives recently donated to Ronna for Chair, a largely inactive political action committee that McDaniel controls.... The companies won the contracts soon after McDaniel became the party's top official. She was picked for the position by President Donald Trump after the 2016 election." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Phillip Bailey of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is quietly making phone calls to senior federal judges and urging them to step aside ahead of the 2020 election. A source familiar with the Kentucky leader's thinking described Monday how McConnell is personally reaching out to judges appointed by past Republican presidents.... The effort underscores how the GOP leader might be concerned about Republicans losing their Senate majority in the fall or ... Donald Trump failing to be reelected."

Robert Faturechi of ProPublica (March 10): "House members and staffers of both parties are increasingly dodging ethics investigators. The last decade showed a sharp drop in cooperation starting in mid-2016. Before that, in 74% of distinct cases subjects cooperated fully..., according to a ProPublica review of every case in which OCE found a potential violation. Since then, full cooperation has plummeted to just 33% of cases. Today, it's common for lawmakers from both parties to refuse not just some requests for interviews and documents from OCE, but all of them. In the last four years, subjects in 11 of 18 distinct cases refused any cooperation whatsoever. In the six years before that, there were just three such cases out of 43." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Balsamo & Eric Tucker of the AP: "The Justice Department is moving to drop charges against two Russian companies that were accused of funding a social media campaign to sway American public opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Prosecutors said they concluded that a trial, against a corporate defendant with no presence in the United States and no prospect of meaningful punishment even if convicted, would likely expose sensitive law enforcement tools and techniques, 'potentially undermining their effectiveness.' Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering were among three companies and 13 individuals charged in 2018 by special counsel Robert Mueller in a conspiracy to spread disinformation on social media during the 2016 presidential race. The effort was aimed at dividing American public opinion and sowing discord in the electorate, officials said. The case was one of the signature indictments from Mueller's two-year Russia investigation.... Concord was the sole defendant in the case to enter an appearance in Washington's federal court and contest the allegations. The case had been set for trial next month, making the government's filing all the more abrupt. Concord is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman known as 'Putin's chef' for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin." ~~~

~~~ Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department's retreat comes after several controversies over Attorney General William P. Barr and top aides' handling of Mueller-related cases." The Hill has a story here. Mrs. McC: I smell a rat. Or two. Or three.

Presidential Race

John Wagner & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said that no in-person voting will take place in the state's primary Tuesday, noting that proceeding as usual would not be in accordance with the CDC guidelines against gatherings of 50 people or more.... He said a lawsuit will be filed to enact the change.... Election officials in the three other states voting Tuesday -- Arizona, Florida and Illinois -- have said they will proceed with their primaries, though Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) questioned the wisdom of that ... Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. As of 8 pm ET Monday, it wasn't clear if Ohio polls would be open or closed tomorrow. Gov. DeWine, according MSNBC, asked a court to close the polls, and the court declined his request. DeWine is appealing. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Update 2. Rick Rouan & John Futty of the Columbus Dispatch: "For real this time: There is no Ohio primary Tuesday. Early Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a legal challenge to the state delaying the primary. A candidate in Wood County filed the action alleging the delay of the primary violated election laws. Only four justices participated in the ruling, which was issued without an opinion. The ruling capped a chaotic 12 hours in which it appeared the election was off, back on, and then off again.... Lawsuits are expected Tuesday seeking to allow additional days for absentee balloting and to perhaps move the election to a date other than June 2." ~~~

~~~ ** Nick Corasaniti & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "The other three states scheduled to vote on Tuesday [today] -- Arizona, Florida and Illinois -- have indicated that they intend to hold their elections as planned.... Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio have postponed their presidential primary elections.... Wyoming is suspending in-person caucuses and asking voters to mail or drop off their ballots. Other states are weighing similar options or adding extra precautions for voters." The story has more information on voting in the three states voting today, but if you vote in those states, you'll probably have to consult local papers or other news outlets for clarification.

Senate Race. Kentucky. Daniel Desroches of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign called on a potential Democratic opponent -- former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath -- to stop running political advertisements during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Amy McGrath's decision to blanket the airwaves with deceitful ads during the coronavirus outbreak is tasteless and shameful,' said McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden.... The Kentucky primaries were slated for May 19, but Gov. Andy Beshear delayed the primary by 35 days to June 23." Mrs. McC: Seems to me like a good time to run ads about how Mitch is holding up passage of a bill for coronavirus relief & mitigation funding.