The Commentariat -- April 24, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here.

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday said he was being sarcastic when he suggested multiple times a day earlier that scientists should consider exposing the body to light, heat and disinfectants as a potential treatment for coronavirus. 'I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,' Trump told reporters at an Oval Office bill signing. The president's explanation drew skepticism among those who watched the briefing, where Trump directly turned to other government officials to ask about the idea." Mrs. McC: As Anderson Cooper of CNN said, "You just witnessed the President* lying about something we all saw & heard him say only yesterday.... He must think we're all morons." This is a slight paraphrase. Here's a clip of Trump's supposed "sarcastic" remarks. He's querying Bill Bryan & Dr. Deborah Birx:

     ~~~ The full transcript of the "press briefing" is here. It's clear that Trump is dead serious in asking Bryan and Birx about injecting disinfectants & light rays into bodies to cure the coronavirus. The clip does show Trump making one sarcastic remark to Phil Rucker of the WashPo after Rucker asks about all the people dying of Covid-19 in warm climates like Florida & Singapore: "... Here we go.," Trump says. "The new headline is 'Trump asks people to go outside. That's dangerous.'" A few moment later (according to the transcript), Trump disses Rucker personally for asking a related question, "Hey, Phil. I'm the President and you're fake news. And you know what I'll say to you, I'll say very nicely... I know you well. I know you well because I know the guy, I see what he writes. He's a total faker...."

FDA Issues Trump Warning. Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "Two anti-malaria medications highly touted by President Trump should not be taken outside a hospital or clinical trial because of the risk of severe heart problems, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Friday. The FDA said it issued the warning because of numerous reports about serious cardiac events and death in patients with COVID-19 receiving hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, either alone or combined with the antibiotic azithromycin." Mrs. McC: This may be a first: a developed country issues a formal warning against advice their leader gives. Thanks, GOP, for leaving us with this schmuck! ~~~

~~~ Berkeley Lovelace of CNBC: "Citing a 'primary outcome' of death, researchers cut short a study testing anti-malaria drug chloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19 after some patients developed irregular heart beats and nearly two dozen died after taking doses daily. Scientists say the findings, published Friday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, should prompt some degree of skepticism from the public toward enthusiastic claims and perhaps 'serve to curb the exuberant use' of the drug, which has been touted by ... Donald Trump as a potential 'game changer' in the fight against the coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ In the meantime, of course, doctors are running around with their hair on fire warning everyone off Trump's disinfectant smoothie: ~~~

~~~ Allyson Chiu of the Washington Post: Trump's musings "spurred doctors, lawmakers and the makers of Lysol to respond with incredulity and warnings against injecting or otherwise ingesting disinfectants, which are highly toxic.... White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany ... accused the media of taking Trump's words out of context." The article is free to nonsubscribers. Of course it is; the story is a life-saving public service announcement. Mrs. McC: Since Republicans in the Senate wouldn't convict him, they should at least agree to pass a law requiring Trump to wear a large skull-and-crossbones Danger! sign on his chest every time he speaks in public.

Lauren Egan of NBC News: "... Donald Trump signed a nearly $500 billion interim coronavirus bill on Friday that includes additional money for the small-business loan program, as well as more funding for hospitals and testing. The bill passed the Senate earlier this week by voice vote and was approved by the House on Thursday on a 388-5-1 bipartisan vote."

~~~~~~~~~

Thursday in Presidential* Quackery

** Time to Pad the Walls of the Brady Press Room. Reed Richardson of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump offered up bizarre and possibly dangerous suggestions about medical research on the coronavirus at his daily White House briefing, suggesting that blasting patients with 'tremendous' amounts of UV light, even 'inside of the body' as well as injecting them with the same disinfectants that are used to kill the viruses on surfaces might be effective treatments for Covid-19. Trump was riffing off of some still developing research presented by Bill Bryan, an official from the Science and Technology branch of the Department of Homeland Security, who had just detailed the half-life of the coronavirus under various heat, humidity, and light conditions. Bryan noted that the virus seemed to decay quicker under the ultraviolet light from the sun.... Trump ... began to discuss his own take on the data.... 'So, supposing we hit the body with tremendous, I don';t know if it's ultraviolet or very powerful light, and I think you said that has been checked but your'e going to test it,' Trump said, turning to Bryan.... ' Then I said what it if you brought the light inside of the body which you could do either through the skin or some other way and I think you said you were going to test that, too, sounds interesting,' he added next, again turning to Bryan for validation. But then Trump even went further, connecting the household bleaching agents in most surface disinfectants to a possible internal treatment for humans, which would be toxic and possibly fatal. 'Then I see the disinfectant, one minute. Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that so that you'll have to use medical doctors with.... So we'll see, but the whole concept of the light, where it goes in one minute. That's pretty powerful.'" After Bryan diplomatically nixed Trump's "ideas," Trump doubled down, "waving his hand as if to demonstrate his imagined procedure." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The article includes video. Because it would have to or readers would not believe even Trump could be this wacko. Especially inasmuch as he claimed in March during a visit to the CDC, "People are surprised that I understand [virology]. Every one of these doctors said, 'How do you know so much about this? ' Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president." ~~~

This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it's dangerous. It's a common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves. -- Pulmonologist Vin Gupta ~~~

~~~ William Broad & Dan Levin of the New York Times: "Shortly after Mr. Trump made his latest comments on Thursday, emergency management officials in Washington State posted a warning on Twitter against following the president's suggestions.... When a reporter [-- Mrs. McC: Philip Rucker of the WashPo --] suggested that Mr. Trump's proposed treatments might be dangerous, letting 'people think they would be safe by going outside in the heat considering that so many people are dying in Florida,' Mr. Trump pivoted to another of his regular briefing themes: attacking the news media. 'Yeah, here -- here we go,' he began, clearly irritated. 'The new headline is, "Trump asks people to go outside, that's dangerous."...' Seeking affirmation of his opinion, Mr. Trump [asked] Dr. Deborah Birx ... if she had heard of the success of sunlight as an effective tool against viruses, and more specifically the coronavirus. 'Not as a treatment...,' Mr. Trump cut short her answer. 'I think that's a great thing to look at,' he said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Imagine that you're this scientist Bill Bryan. You've been plugging away at your job for decades. In near-total obscurity. Almost by chance, you get a moment on the national stage. It's a big day! Then along comes Trump, who tells you to try shooting up people with bleach & zapping them with UV rays. You have to respond to that. A moment in the sun, it turns out, is not nearly as delightful as Trump would have it. Bill Bryan found that out the hard way. ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, if you're interested in knowing what the study Bryan outlined actually found, this Washington Post story by Andrew Freedman & Jason Samenow does the job. The story is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ NBC New York: "The maker of Lysol disinfectants has a stern warning: Please don't ingest its products to try and treat the coronavirus. 'As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),' British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser said in a statement Friday, taking the extra step of bolding the phrase 'under no circumstance' in their release." ~~~

~~~ Trump Thinks He's Entitled to His Own Facts. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump said Thursday he disagreed with Anthony Fauci's statement that the U.S. does not yet have the testing capacity that it needs to effectively contain the spread of the novel coronavirus as stay-at-home restrictions are relaxed.... The president described the U.S. as more advanced than other nations on testing, claiming that other countries have inquired about American capabilities. 'We're doing very well on testing. We've tested far more than anyone else in the world and within a short period of time you'll be hearing about new tests that are coming out that are going to be incredible,' Trump said.... Fauci ... told Time in an interview published earlier Thursday that the U.S. needs to 'significantly ramp up' testing in order to contain future outbreaks.... Fauci ... was not present at Thursday's briefing...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Alice Park of Time: "Dr. Anthony Fauci ... says 'we are not in a situation where we can say we are exactly where we want to be with regard to testing' capacity for COVID-19 in the U.S. Fauci, in a discussion for TIME 100 Talks: Finding Hope on Thursday, says that the U.S. needs to not only increase the number of tests, which is happening as commercial testing companies increase production and the Food and Drug Administration continues to clear tests.... But, he says..., 'We need to significantly ramp up not only the number of tests, but the capacity to perform them, so that you don't have a situation where you have a test but it can't be done because there isn't a swab, or because there isn't extraction media, or not the right vial.... I am not overly confident right now at all that we have what it takes to do that. We are doing better, and I think we are going to get there, but we are not there yet.'" ~~~

~~~ James Risen of The Intercept: "[L]ike a medieval demagogue, Trump is spouting quackery and hatred straight out of the 14th century, when panicked Europeans confronting the Black Death strapped live chickens to their bodies, drank potions tinged with mercury and arsenic, and blamed the Mongols and the Jews when none of it worked.... Trump's criminally negligent, chaotic handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed, once and for all, that he is a corrupt, narcissistic psychopath.... Of course, some of Trump's most important enablers are the reporters in the White House press corps, who daily act as his Greek chorus.... The result is that the White House is stuck in a surreal alternate reality in which reporters and government officials continue to do their jobs as if the president were not mad as a hatter." --s

Jennifer Senior of the New York Times: "The president has decided he's had enough of running the country and is running full time for re-election instead. One could argue that this has been Donald J. Trump's approach from the start -- the last three years of shriek-tweeting, Fox-bingeing, and stadium rallies have had little to do with governance -- but it's much more obvious now that we&'re in the midst of a global emergency.... Trump's nightly news conferences, propaganda from the very beginning, are now aimed almost entirely at his base. They are campaign events. And ... the cable news outlets, which still carry the bulk of them live, ought ... check in with the Joe Biden camp before, during and after each one.... It would be harder to make the case for equal time for Biden if Trump were busy telling us what he's doing during these Potemkin pressers. But he's repeatedly telling us what he's not doing, because he's apparently responsible for nothing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

He's a Nut Job, But He's Our Nut Job. Julie Pace & Anna Fingerhut of the AP: "... Donald Trump has made himself the daily spokesman for the nation's coronavirus response. Yet few Americans regularly look to or trust Trump as a source of information on the pandemic, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 28% of Americans say they're regularly getting information from Trump about the coronavirus and only 23% say they have high levels of trust in what the president is telling the public. Another 21% trust him a moderate amount.... Only about half of Republicans say they have a lot of trust in Trump's information on the pandemic -- and 22% [of Republicans] say they have little or no trust in what he says about the COVID-19 outbreak. But even as many Republicans question Trump's credibility during the pandemic, the overwhelming majority -- 82% == say they still approve of how he's doing. That's helped keep the president's overall approval rating steady at 42%, about where it's been for the past few months." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: "As images of America's overwhelmed hospital wards and snaking jobless lines have flickered across the world, people on the European side of the Atlantic are looking at the richest and most powerful nation in the world with disbelief.... The pandemic sweeping the globe ... is shaking fundamental assumptions about American exceptionalism -- the special role the United States played for decades after World War II as the reach of its values and power made it a global leader and example to the world. Today it is leading in a different way: More than 840,000 Americans have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and at least 46,784 have died from it, more than anywhere else in the world.... And in the United States, [the pandemic] has exposed two great weaknesses that, in the eyes of many Europeans, have compounded one another: the erratic leadership of Mr. Trump, who has devalued expertise and often refused to follow the advice of his scientific advisers, and the absence of a robust public health care system and social safety net." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

A Day in the Life of a Dimwit. Katie Rogers & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump arrives in the Oval Office these days as late as noon, when he is usually in a sour mood after his morning marathon of television. He has been up in the White House master bedroom as early as 5 a.m. watching Fox News, then CNN, with a dollop of MSNBC thrown in for rage viewing. He makes calls with the TV on in the background.... The president sees few allies no matter which channel he clicks. He is angry even with Fox, an old security blanket, for not portraying him as he would like to be seen. And he makes time to watch Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's briefings from New York, closely monitoring for a sporadic compliment or snipe.... News coverage of his handling of the coronavirus has been overwhelmingly negative.... Mr. Trump frequently vents about how he is portrayed.... The daily White House coronavirus task force briefing is the one portion of the day that Mr. Trump looks forward to, although even Republicans say that the two hours of political attacks, grievances and falsehoods by the president are hurting him politically.... Mr. Trump rarely attends the task force meetings that precede the briefings, and he typically does not prepare before he steps in front of the cameras."

Richard Fausset & Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "When Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia announced this week that he would soon allow restaurants, barbershops and other businesses to reopen, the Republican governor's plan seemed in tune with a president who had openly encouraged protesters of social distancing restrictions. And the president did seem pleased. On Tuesday night, Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump, in separate phone calls, each expressed his support for the governor's coronavirus response.... That is why Mr. Trump's criticism on Wednesday -- 'I think it's too soon,' the president said during an afternoon briefing -- has baffled Mr. Kemp and Georgia Republicans, whose first-term governor rode to victory on a Trump endorsement. The president amped up his criticism on Thursday. 'I want them to open,' he said of businesses, "... But I was not happy with Brian Kemp. I will tell you that.'... Mr. Trump's public scoldings of Mr. Kemp sent a confusing message to other Republican governors who are considering similar moves.... Governors, even those allied with Mr. Trump, are all but forced to pay close attention to the administration's guidance on the timing of opening up their economies. And the guidance, critics say, is all over the place." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: A few news outlets have given Dr. Deborah Birx credit for getting Trump to criticize Kemp's order, but I'd say Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC put her finger on the real reason when she hypothesized that what really changed Trump's mind were polls that showed Kemp's move was unpopular. ~~~

~~~ Anne Gearan of the Washington Post also examines Trump's mixed & confusing messages on "reopening our country." ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Lemire & Ben Nadler of the AP: "... Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that they approved of his aggressive plan to allow businesses to reopen, just a day before Trump pulled an about-face and publicly bashed the plan, according to two administration officials. The green light from Pence and Trump came in separate private conversations with the Republican governor both before Kemp announced his plan to ease coronavirus restrictions and after it was unveiled on Monday.... Trump's sudden shift came only after top health advisers reviewed the plan more closely and persuaded the president that Kemp was risking further spread of the virus by moving too quickly."

Katherine Eban of Vanity Fair: "On the afternoon of Saturday, April 4, President Trump stood at the White House podium and escalated his marketing blitz on behalf of hydroxychloroquine, hyping the old malaria drug's alleged promise in treating COVID-19, as well as his administration's success in acquiring huge amounts of it.... That evening, according to emails obtained by Vanity Fair, Trump's political appointees would ramp up the pressure on career health officials to make good on the president's extravagant promises, despite clear warnings from federal clinicians about the risks and unproven benefits of chloroquine-based treatments for COVID-19.... That night, Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, sent an email [to top officials, announcing,] 'WH call. Really want to flood Ny and NJ with treatment courses....'... [In another email,] Giroir argued strongly against limiting the drugs to hospitals.... [A series of] emails indicate that the administration's top health officials were closely involved in a frenzied effort to make unproven chloroquine treatments widely available, even though the FDA's new emergency rule limited distribution of the drug as a COVID-19 treatment to hospitalized patients.... The intra-White House battle over the use of chloroquine drugs for treating COVID-19 broke into the open in dramatic fashion on April 21, when the administration's top coronavirus vaccine developer, Rick Bright, was pushed out of his position...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I figured Giroir was some low-information Trump political appointee, so I checked his Wikipage. Wow! I was completely wrong! He has an incredible amount of academic, professional (and military) experience in immunology, infectious diseases & other applicable fields. His CV would be pages long & all of it impressive. You would trust him with your life. Until now.

Dareh Gregorian & Geoff Bennett of NBC News: "A top Health and Human Services official [Dr. Rick Bright] who said he was transferred from his post for pushing back on 'efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections' felt pressured to rush access to chloroquine treatments for coronavirus after President Donald Trump had a conversation about it with a mega-rich donor [Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison], a source close to the doctor told NBC News.... Ellison sits on the White House economic recovery task force and is one of the president's top supporters in the tech industry. The billionaire also hosted a big-money fundraiser for Trump at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., in February." --s

Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: "The new spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services in a series of now-deleted tweets made racist and derogatory comments about Chinese people, said Democrats wanted the coronavirus to kill millions of people and accused the media of intentionally creating panic around the pandemic to hurt ... Donald Trump. Michael Caputo, a longtime New York Republican political operative who worked on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, was appointed last week as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at HHS, a prominent communications role at the department which serves a central role in the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Caputo, a prolific user who often tweeted insults and profanity, recently erased nearly his entire Twitter history from before April 12." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's HHS Department is pretty great. They hired a guy (apparently at Trump's behest) who's a xenophobic liar who falsely accuses Democrats of wishing death to millions; the guy who is running the department's pandemic response lacks much experience in anything but labradoodle breeding, and they fired a doctor who's an expert on vaccines because he pushed back against funding Trump's magical meds. Decency & competence are liabilities at HHS, not assets. ~~~

~~~ Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News: "No, the Trump administration did not put a professional dog breeder from Dallas in charge of COVID-19 response. Yes, the chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services briefly owned a family business raising Labradoodles. But he's also served three administrations in high level posts at HHS, the White House and the Pentagon. Colleagues who hired Harrison and served with him in government were appalled to see him disparaged Thursday as a mere 'dog breeder.'... By all accounts of those who've worked with him, Harrison is a serious public servant with deep experience. And he was never in charge of pandemic containment strategy. He was, rather, assigned a typical role for a cabinet secretary's chief of staff, serving as aide de camp on a task force run by the boss himself -- until Trump stripped that job from [HHHS Secretary Alex] Azar.... Trump's irritation with ... Azar, has been apparent for months and some confidants suspect that he's has gotten caught in the crossfire of a classic Washington ritual: finger pointing." Mrs. McC: Aah, I'm going with the dog-breeder characterization. Arf. ~~~

~~~ Then There's This Guy. Brendan Morrow of the Week: "One of President Trump's economic advisers has an admittedly 'crazy' idea for how to reopen the country amid the coronavirus pandemic: space outfits. Stephen Moore, a member of Trump's economic task force, spoke to The New York Times this week about restarting the U.S. economy, saying he's been advising the president about how 'we have to really get things opened' as soon as May 1st. But how are states to send people back to work in a safe way that doesn't endanger public health? Moore offered a bit of an ... out of the box ... suggestion. 'I was thinking this morning, and this is just kind of a thought experiment because I was thinking about this -- why don't we just put everybody in a space outfit or something like that?' Moore asked. 'No. Seriously.' The Times noted to Miller that 'well, we'd have to make the space outfits,' a fact he acknowledged while continuing to spitball." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That was this week. Last week, Moore was "repeatedly compar[ing] protesters who demonstrated against social-distancing measures to civil-rights icon Rosa Parks." Apparently Moore didn't notice that the protesters whose virtues he was extolling were carrying Confederate flags, whereas the flag-waving rebs of Parks' day were her antagonists. But don't think Moore isn't sensitive to racial issues. Like back when he joked "about Trump moving into the White House and kicking 'a black family out of public housing.'"

** Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: After an executive of Prestige Ameritech went on Steve Bannon's podcast, Bannon hooked him up with White House trade advisor Peter Navarro. Soon, Prestige Ameritech had a $9.5MM FEMA contract "directed by the White House" to produce medical masks & another excellent deal with Texas, engineered by Gov. Greg Abbott. "... it ... shows ... how Trump and his top aides have played favorites in awarding contracts and allocating scarce resources. Using the unilateral authority of the White House, Trump and his aides have consolidated power in a period of national crisis, picking winners and losers based in part on personal relationships, ideological affinity and partisan loyalty. Ultimately, that favoritism has created a two-track system of haves and have-nots in what Trump calls the 'war' against the coronavirus.... Put simply, the fight for survival among businesses related to the COVID-19 fight -- and for a slice of the billions of dollars going out the door — is about political influence. Most of the decisions are made by members of Vice President Mike Pence's coronavirus task force, which works closely with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's innovation team.... There's growing evidence that Trump and his aides are using his authority over both the contracting and allocation processes for political gain." Read on.

Jonathan O'Connell & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "... the Small Business Administration issued new guidance Thursday that suggested dozens of publicly held companies that previously received loans under the program should return the funds by May 7. The SBA's original $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program contained a vague requirement that businesses certify that 'current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary.' The new guidance is more explicit and said companies that had other sources of cash probably would not qualify.... While the SBA has refused to release a list of companies that received loans under the PPP, dozens of [large,] publicly traded companies have disclosed receiving the loans in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.... Although it relies on borrowers to certify their own eligibility, the SBA could audit loan recipients once the crisis passes. Violating the Cares Act rules would amount to breaking the law and submitting false information to a federally insured lender carries stiff penalties." ~~~

~~~ Stephen Gandel & Graham Kates of CBS News: "A digital technology company that specializes in the mass collection of smartphone location data and is working for ... Donald Trump's re-election campaign received millions from the federal coronavirus relief fund for small businesses. The company, Phunware, which now has about 60 employees, was eligible for the low-interest loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, which is aimed at businesses with less than 500 workers. There is no allegation of illegality associated with its loan. But the size of the loan -- $2.85 million -- is nearly 14 times the current PPP average of $206,000. Meantime, hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses got nothing, because the nearly $350 billion loan program ran out of money in just two weeks.... The speed of Phunware's loan is notable, too. The publicly traded Texas-based company named a high-profile former Wall Street executive as its corporate board chair on March 30, the day after the PPP program was passed by Congress.... The executive is Blythe Masters, who until 2014 had spent most of her financial services career at JPMorgan Chase, the bank that made the PPP loan to Phunware. The company received its loan funds two days after applying." Lou Rabon, who is suing Chase, said his small business applied via Chase for a $200K loan four days earlier than did Phunware -- the first day one could apply -- and has not yet received a loan.

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The House overwhelmingly passed a $484 billion spending package Thursday as the unemployment crisis deepened, a stark illustration of how policymakers continue trying to rescue an unraveling economy amid growing despair. Th legislation, approved 388-5, would restart a small-business loan program that was swamped by demand and allocate more money for health-care providers and virus testing. The vote was historic, as many lawmakers wore masks on the House floor, some even speaking through face coverings as they delivered impassioned remarks.... The legislation will now go to President Trump...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Unemployment Problem Is Worse Than the Numbers Reveal. Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "... millions of laid-off workers have still not been able to apply for [unemployment] benefits -- let alone receive them -- because of overwhelmed state unemployment systems.... According to the Labor Department, only 10 states have started making payments under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which extends coverage to freelancers, self-employed workers and part-timers. Most states have not even completed the system needed to start the process."

New York. Karen Matthews & David Caruso of the AP: "More evidence is emerging that far more New Yorkers have had the coronavirus than the number confirmed by lab tests, officials said Thursday, offering insight that could help authorities decide how and how quickly to let people stop isolating from friends and return to work. Blood samples collected from about 3,000 people indicated that nearly 14% had developed antibodies to fight a coronavirus infection, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at his daily news briefing. In New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., 21% of the people tested had antibodies. It's not know yet how much protection antibodies provide or how long that immunity might last, and Cuomo cautioned that the data was preliminary. The sample of people tested was small. Participants were hastily recruited at shopping centers and grocery stores, meaning they were healthy enough to be out in public." (Also linked yesterday.)

Pennsylvania. Still, There Will Be Heroes. Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "At his factory just off the Delaware River, in the far southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, Joe Boyce clocked in on March 23 for the longest shift of his life. In his office, an air mattress replaced his desk chair. He brought a toothbrush and shaving kit, moving into the Braskem petrochemical plant in Marcus Hook, Pa., as if it were a makeshift college dormitory. The casual office kitchen became a mess hall for him and his 42 co-workers turned roommates. The factory's emergency operations center became their new lounge room. For 28 days, they did not leave -- sleeping and working all in one place. In what they called a 'live-in' at the factory, the undertaking was just one example of the endless ways that Americans in every industry have uniquely contributed to fighting coronavirus. The 43 men went home Sunday after each working 12-hour shifts all day and night for a month straight, producing tens of millions of pounds of the raw materials that will end up in face masks and surgical gowns worn on the front lines of the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Feeding Hungry Americans. Here's a partial response to a comment RAS made in Wednesday's thread: ~~~

~~~ Danielle Garrand of CBS News: "Farmers around the country have been forced to dump milk and waste fresh produce as schools, restaurants and other institutions remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. In response, Supermarket chain Publix launched a new initiative Wednesday to help struggling farmers -- and get the food to Americans who need it most. The company's press release said it will purchase fresh produce and milk from farmers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and donate the goods directly to Feeding America food banks that are in its 'operating area.' During the first week of the initiative alone, some 150,000 pounds of produce and 43,500 gallons of milk is expected to be donated, the company said.... In addition to the new initiative, Publix Super Markets Charities recently made donations which totaled $2 million to help Feeding America's member food banks amid the crisis." Mrs. McC: Publix is owned by its employees. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ AND Now This. Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "Farmers in the upper Midwest euthanize their baby pigs because the slaughterhouses are backing up or closing, while dairy owners in the region dump thousands of gallons of milk a day. In Salinas, Calif., rows of ripe iceberg, romaine and red-leaf lettuce shrivel in the spring sun, waiting to be plowed back into the earth.... Across the country, an unprecedented disconnect is emerging between where food is produced and the food banks and low-income neighborhoods that desperately need it.... Late last week, the Trump administration stepped in, announcing a $19 billion program to help the struggling agriculture sector and distribute food to families in need. The aid package includes the government purchase of $3 billion in dairy, produce and meat products that will go to food banks and those in need. (About $16 billion is going to direct payments to farmers and ranchers.)" The article goes on to detail the distribution problems the operation faces. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I made a substantial contribution last week to a local food bank, and the director told me the organization had solved the distribution problem by sending grocery-store gift cards to needy families. This would not work in every case, but grocery gift cards would go a long way toward putting food on many families' tables, at the same time eliminating the need for creating a separate distribution system of perishables for food banks.

Oops. Ed Silverman, et al., of STAT: "The antiviral medicine remdesivir from Gilead Sciences failed to speed the improvement of patients with Covid-19 or prevent them from dying, according to results from a long-awaited clinical trial conducted in China. Gilead, however, said the data suggest a 'potential benefit.' A summary of the study results was inadvertently posted to the website of the World Health Organization and seen by STAT on Thursday, but then removed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sasha Pezenik of ABC News: "The eldest of former Democratic presidential contender and Massachusetts Sen. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's three older brothers, Don Reed, died on Tuesday night from the coronavirus in Norman, Oklahoma, about three weeks after testing positive. He was 86.... Warren has been passionately outspoken about the pandemic's grip on the nation and world; and a vocal critic of the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 crisis; releasing plans to combat its economic impact." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pandemics Kill Twin Brothers, 100 Years Apart. Giulia Nieto del Rio of CNN: "A 100-year-old World War II veteran who died from Covid-19 lost a twin brother to the 1918 pandemic a century earlier, his grandson said. Philip Kahn is the oldest veteran in Nassau County, New York, according to his family, and had been fearful of another pandemic happening in his lifetime, his grandson, Warren Zysman, told CNN.... Kahn and his twin brother, Samuel, were born on December 5, 1919. His brother died weeks later, [Zysman] said."

Coral Murphy of USA Today: "Retail stores may take a big hit: 100,000 locations could close by 2025 -- a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak -- if more Americans opt for online shopping. Analysts at Wall Street firm UBS said in a research note this week that the pandemic could alter behaviors, leading more shoppers to continue buying online. Shoppers who do go to stores may not linger, they said." --s

Presidential Race. Ha! Marc Caputo, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump is warning 'China will own the United States' if Joe Biden is elected president. But Trump himself is tens of millions of dollars in debt to China: In 2012, his real estate partner refinanced one of Trump's most prized New York buildings for almost $1 billion. The debt includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of China -- its first loan of this kind in the U.S. -- which matures in the middle of what could be Trump's second term, financial records show.... Aside from the historic precedent of a developer-turned president paying back millions to a bank controlled a foreign government, the 2012 Bank of China deal also stands out because Trump and his campaign have repeatedly highlighted the same bank's role in a $1.5 billion deal announced in 2013 by partners of Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. Critics of the Bidens have seized on the fact that the agreement materialized just days after Hunter Biden traveled to China with the then-vice president, who was there on official business.... [Also,] Chinese state-owned companies are constructing two luxury Trump developments in United Arab Emirates and Indonesia."

Senate Race. Georgia. She Got Runned Over by a Damned Trump Bus. Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal Constitution: "... Donald Trump's opposition to Gov. Brian Kemp's plan to start reopening parts of Georgia's economy will force Republican candidates to pick between their party's leader or the state's top official amid the coronavirus pandemic. That tension quickly factored into the race between U.S. Kelly Loeffler, Kemp's appointee to the seat, and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, whom Trump initially favored. Loeffler said Thursday she supports Kemp's 'efforts to begin to get Georgians back to work safely,' while Collins was critical of the governor.... In a quirk of timing, [Loeffler] joined the governor on a tele-town hall shortly before Trump's press briefing where she spoke of Kemp's approach as a needed step.... 'Poor Kelly did this to herself. She asked Brian to help her across the political street and they both got hit by a bus,' said Collins spokesman Dan McLagan. 'Which then got backed over them. And caught fire.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "The husband of 'The View' personality Meghan McCain violated federal labor law while threatening employees of his right-wing website against unionizing. In 2019, Ben Domenech tweeted that that union organizing in his workplace would result in the employee being sent 'back to the salt mine.' 'FDRLST Media chief Ben Domenech's tweet was an 'obvious threat' -- not a joke or an expression of opinion shielded by the First Amendment -- when viewed in light of workers' legally protected rights, Judge Kenneth Chu said Wednesday,' Bloomberg Law reports." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Emmanuel Felton of Buzzfeed: "Police in Texas arrested a man earlier this month after they said he took to Facebook Live to stream his search for a lone police officer to 'ambush and execute.'... [A]uthorities received several 911 calls reporting that 36-year-old Aaron Swenson went live on Facebook on the night of April 11, broadcasting his intentions to kill a police officer. After joining the live feed, police were able to identify Swenson's whereabouts and sent several officers to the area.... For months leading up to the incident, Swenson had been sharing memes from boogaloo pages on Facebook. In this internet subculture, boogaloo is slang for an upcoming second civil war, and members share anti-government, anti-law enforcement, and pro-gun messages." --s

Comments

[Marie Burns]

I'm report this comment by Akhilleus, which he made early this morning before I had published today's page:

By Akhilleus:

A Dead (and I do mean dead) Giveaway

How can you tell Fatty’s idea for “reopening” the economy is completely nuts (aside from the fact that it’s his idea)?

It’s a hard date. A date plucked out of the air. May 1.

What, pray tell, makes this such a magical date? Will the Trump Virus up and disappear on May 1? Will a cure be found on April 30? Maybe the latest bleach and light cure?

A real plan takes into account a little thing like readiness. Things need to be lined up and everything in order. Did the allied high command pick June 6th as D-Day out of a hat? No. In fact, D-Day was supposed to have been June 5th but the weather wasn’t cooperating. Windy conditions, rough seas, and heavy cloud cover made an amphibious assault very dangerous, if not impossible. Things were not READY! If Fatty had been in charge he would have ordered the invasion to proceed anyway because no one tells him what to do, dammit.

Picking a date via the dart at the calendar method for shoving people out the door into certain death for many is what’s happening here. He needs to look like he’s in charge and he’s got this thing licked, so May 1st it is.

You might as well say “On July 25, I’ll suddenly be smart.” No need to read or study or any of that crap. The date for Fatty to suddenly become smart? Well, you all know the answer to that one.

I’ve cautioned myself many times to never underestimate how stupid this fucking guy is. A decision rewarded on a daily basis.

[Akhilleus]

Another way you can tell Trump is a complete loony? He tells you so. You see that guy sitting across from you on the subway wearing a nice suit and reading the Times? He could be a dangerous lunatic. But you’d have no idea unless he opened his mouth and started talking ragtime about how he invented science. See, he originally was gonna call it Xanfuli but then someone else suggested he call it Science. Now, however, it’s time for him to cut someone’s throat. Lovely talking to you.

This is Trump every day. A lot of people are barking mad but they don’t advertise it. Or they’re completely delusional religious nuts who are sure the universe started on October 18, 6,756 years ago after Jesus had the hiccups. But most of these people don’t advertise how fucking nuts they are. Trump goes on national TV everyday and demonstrates that not only is he unfit to be president, it’s questionable whether or not he should be allowed to handle sharp objects.

But it gets worse. If cuckoo crap like drinking bleach and shining a UV light down your rapidly closing throat doesn’t scare you, just imagine the stuff he must jabber on about when he’s NOT on TV. Can you imagine how (increasingly) psycho it must be to sit in a meeting with this demented dunderhead?

But he’s president!! And millions of equally disturbed maniacs will try to shove him back into office in a few months, after he’s killed a few million more people by wasting everyone’s time with his crackpot bullshit.

I might try that bleach cure after all.

[citizen625]

In addition to Mrs. McCrabbie's note about Girior, Girior is a Haaahvard man. I'm assurred that his moral and ethical "education" is likely of an insufficient and incomplete nature. He probably got an "A" in his Tuskeegee Study class, however. One more thing, I bet you $50 he paid someone to write most of that Wikipedia page.

[safari]

After the disinfectant injections and UV skin treatments, the "nuking the hurricanes" idea just became downright ordinary. The tell-all books after this nightmare ends are going to be filled with complete idiocracy and lunacy.

And 90%+ Republicans STILL "support" him. And STILL won't let reality pierce their protective mind bubbles once the evidence starts flowing out.

Despite my ideological differences with Republican supporters, it had never gone beyond policy arguments. Henceforth, I'm afraid, I'll never look at one the same.

[PD Pepe]

Poor God ( like Obama) gets blamed for being so pissed at human imperfections that he conjures up a virus so virulent that it becomes a pandemic so says that small beady=eyed bird brain of a minister of tele-vangelists fame. Old withered Pat Robertson (the son of someone named Robert, not God) has announced that because God is so disturbed by abortion and same sex marriage he has wrought upon the world this deadly virus––"see? you MoFo's think you can just go willy–nilly through life breaking all the sacraments without consequences? "
If you recall ole Pat said something similar when 9/11 occurred. It's always somewhat of a shock to realize the pathology of those whose voices can be heard and then those who believe what is being voiced.

Which brings us back to the pathology of the Captain of the Ship who not only doesn't see the ice-burg he pretends there are no such things because when his ship is in the waters, it's clear sailing all the way. In his latest Kabuki theater appearance he conjures up cures that will curl your hair as well as your brain. So when I read James Risen's piece this morning I rejoiced ( even atheists can rejoice) because he said what needs to be said––plainly and if I may add–-very bigly!

" Trump’s criminally negligent, chaotic handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed, once and for all, that he is a corrupt, narcissistic psychopath.... Of course, some of Trump’s most important enablers are the reporters in the White House press corps, who daily act as his Greek chorus.... The result is that the White House is stuck in a surreal alternate reality in which reporters and government officials continue to do their jobs as if the president were not mad as a hatter."

And again we ask: what are we going to do about it?

[Bobby Lee]

I'm amazed. Trump goes from dancing to "We'll sing in the sunshine" to channeling Dr Josef Mengele in the space of a few moments.

Tryly astounding.

[Ken Winkes]

Egan has been reading Akhilleus, I see. Just omitted the death’s head emoji.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/opinion/republicans-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

My comment:

Wonderful column, Mr. Egan. The Party of Death, indeed.

Have said many times the most galling (good word, that, thanks ) thing about the Party that embraces so-called pro-life causes has long been the same Greedy Old Party that has opened its arms to death-dealing warmongers, racists, and corporate vultures who have deployed their money and influence to block the country's way to a sane healthcare system, and who have thereby over years directly or indirectly killed millions of post-fetal Americans.

Covid should have made the country's choices clear.

Will we see though the Republican Party's pro-life window dressing?

Will we back a Party that has been fundamentally anti-life since the 1980's, attacking unions, creating the absurd situation we find ourselves in, where most of our suddenly "essential" workers are among those paid the least, where our air and water are being corrupted as fast as our government, and where that yawning gap between rich and poor is reflected each day in the grim Covid death toll numbers.

"Give me liberty or give me death," Patrick Henry famously said. The line does have a certain ring to it, but now the Republican Party leaders want it all. Not liberty or death, but both.

Not for themselves, of course, but for those foolish or desperate enough to follow them to the political Jonestown the Republican Party seems bent on arranging for the nation's workers.

[Ken Winkes]

A quick survey this AM of the Rt Covid tracking site I linked here the other day shows only about ten states below the magic 1.0 number that indicates they are on the right track, making progress--as of yesterday anyway.

Some good news here and there, but one lesson to keep in mind: As the virus spreads, there are and will be ups and downs.

As is said, current progress is no guarantee of future results.

[Patrick]

Dr. Birx realizing that she needs to add more psychiatrists to her team:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1253487743046385670

If I were technically proficient I would add the theme music from "The Twilight Zone", which when I was a boy we would mouthmusic when one of our friends was talking crazy.

But you know what it sounds like. You've heard it. It's and earworm.

[Patrick]

Since the guy who normally dons the Easter Bunny costume didn't need to do it this year (no lawn party at the WH), he's going to do different duty. He'll do PSAs telling kids and MAGAmeatheads to lay off the Lysol.

https://www.wapc.org/wp-content/uploads/MrYukpointingatlicenseplate.jpg

[RAS]

Maybe someone at HHS was searching for someone with labratory experience and accidently searched labradoodle experience instead.

[RAS]

Akhilleus: "just imagine the stuff he must jabber on about when he’s NOT on TV."
Reince Priebus after he got left on the tarmac said about the Trump White House "Take everything you’ve heard and multiply it by 50." That was a while ago and Trump has only gotten worse since then.

[RAS]

Now I see why Trump is so mad at Joe and Hunter Biden, Hunter's (fake) China deal was bigger than Donald's real China deal.

[RAS]

Here is another depressing article about Facebook's advertising policies. Facebook has a massive list of people susceptible to misinformation to use as they please. They would send targeted ads at 80 million users interested in "pseudoscience" through Facebook. Helping the ruthless and crazy find their audience.

[Ken Winkes]

More nuts stuff.

The USPS, another Corona casualty if the Pretender has his way?

He was at it again today.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-trump-postalservic/trump-threatens-to-block-aid-for-u-s-post-office-if-it-does-not-raise-prices-for-amazon-idUSKCN226367

Never let it be said the Pretender let facts get in the way of his prejudices.

And Munchkin says that before there’s a lifeline tossed in the USPS direction there will have to be “reforms". Wonder what they will be. Another broken union? A Jeff Bezos surcharge? Or will the carriers have to take the Pretender's advice and drink a little Lysol before setting out on their routes?

Hiltzik laid it out pretty well earlier this month in the LATimes.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-04-09/trump-postal-service-lies