The Commentariat -- March 28, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comments

[Jeanne]

Just listening to one minute of this POS presidunce gives me hives. He has been spectacularly rude and nasty to Jay Inslee and Gretchen Whitmer (not sure of spelling here--) who are actually working 24/7 for their states, and having the nerve to EXPECT things from the federal government, headed by these lazy, horrible human beings. Now his lawyers want to fight the clauses that permit checks and balances, especially the ones preventing the trump crime family from benefitting from the lifesaving bill. That will not happen if Katie Porter is on that committee, and she applied today. Rage against this contemptible "human being" seems too weak. I know that the people surrounding him are every bit as reprehensible as this dirtbag, but this one defies description. He will never change, never improve. He needs removal with a front end loader. New York City, Detroit and New Orleans are sinking fast. And it is ALL because of Donald J. Trump, officially the worst person in the history of this country.

[Akhilleus]

Jeanne,

I vote for removal with a trebuchet. Just think how much they could make on a lottery to see who gets to pull the lever. Now that I think of it, just imagine a medieval siege of some city. Instead of rocks and flaming arrows, they throw Fatty over the wall. Within days the place would be in shambles. Total chaos. The siege army could waltz in and take over without firing a shot, right in the middle of Fatty giving a speech about how great he is.

[Marie Burns]

My ophthalmologist & opticians have offices in a building on the campus of, but not part of, the local hospital. There were staff at the entrances taking temperatures of all non-staff wishing to enter the building, and the optician wore a mask & gloves when he repaired my glasses. I felt a lot safer.

[Forrest Morris]

Sounds like trumpthewomanhater thinks that our governor Whitmer
should get to her basement and start sewing masks and gowns, and
that's definitely just because she's a woman, and a Democrat to boot.
I e-mailed my family doctor yesterday about the symptoms I've had
for about 2 weeks. She called 15 minutes later to advise that their
offices aren't seeing patients because they ran out of protective
equipment. After answering all her questions, it was decided that
it's probably seasonal allergies since I'm in the garden most days.
Allergies and poison ivy will be way worse this year in our area
because of the mild winter we had.
I don't know what more trump thinks governor Whitmer could do.
Businesses and schools are closed in our state except for necessities
like grocery stores and drug stores and everyone I know is hunkered
down indoors (or in the yard).

[Marie Burns]

@Forrest Morris: I hope you can get tested at the Betsy DeVos Free Drive-thru Coronavirus Center.

[PD Pepe]

Back in the day when we had a real president, FDR urged everyone that could to start planting vegetable gardens–-they were called "Victory Gardens." One of my aunts and her husband rented a large plot of land from a farmer and commenced planting. They had every vegetable imagined, even corn. Our family and relatives got first shot at these but they opened it up to their surrounding neighbors on the weekends. Everyone joined in the weeding and care of this vast garden and I remember playing hide and seek with my brother among the corn stalks.

Now you would think at this time of shortage and trauma someone in that sorry administration would suggest Victory Gardens –-even small ones on a balcony. If we are to be confined to our homes for longer than Easter Sunday, why not? Put the kiddies to work–-experience the feel of rich soil on your hands again and in leu of that Christian resurrection know what planting a tiny seed can produce given sun and water.

Unfortunately we have no FDR, we have no Michelle veggie gardens, we have no administration with legs, we have very little of what we need in this Time of Catastrophe. I do believe Akhilleus said it best––"we're fucked." And when it's all said and done history will record who said what and who done that and maybe––just maybe we can learn something and finally shed that cognitive dissonance this country carries so heavily in its supposed greatness.

@Forest: hoping it's just allergies––take care.

[Forrest Morris]

The DeVos testing center would be in a pyramid-shaped building
reminiscent of the Amway pyramid scheme. Here's your thousand
dollar case of soap, direct from China.
There's even a bar in Grand Rapids named "The Pyramid Scheme."

[Ken Winkes]

Department of Corrections, from post late last night, after I shared this from my family practice doc daughter-in-law:

"Not trying to create panic, just awareness. The amount of information we are dealing with daily is overwhelming and frankly frightening for those of us in healthcare. I have been trying to share only the best information I find to help everyone I know continue to make good decisions about shelter in place/social distancing practices. Based on the above, and data from China, it is clear we will need to continue these measures for at least 4 weeks after peak - so another 7-8 weeks. And sure as s--- not by Easter!"

Her remark accompanied a chart showing our mostly rural western Washington county near the top of the NYTimes list of covid cases per 1000, worldwide.

Then later, this:

"Correction - the chart only includes one area of Italy and one in China, rather than all worldwide metro areas. You could extrapolate (as the person who first shared this with me) that makes us 8th highest worldwide, but really you would need a lot more info. Suffice to say we are 6th highest in US."

Sixth highest! Wow.

Still good advice.

And yes, lotsa gardening.

[Ken Winkes]

Look at her mouth. She's sucking up.

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/03/27/dr-birx-claims-trump-is-attentive-to-the-scientific-literature-and-the-details-of-covid-19.html

[Hattie]

Collective Compassion For Italy |
From “Pluto”, The Miniature Schnauzer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB1SHotSVsc

[Hattie]

I'm A Combat Veteran. Trump's Inability To Tell The Truth Is Costing American Lives. | HuffPost

“What we need now is to continue following the significant health measures that have been implemented in many locations across the country, as well as a leader who will champion these measures ― not false rhetoric or ridiculous plans for normalcy to be resurrected on Easter Sunday.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/combat-veteran-trump-coronavirus_n_5e7d41fcc5b6256a7a27a4ff

[Forrest Morris]

Remember when R's said "Corporations are people, my friend?"
I want all corporations to be limited to a $1200 bailout, with the
ones who didn't pay any taxes last year to get zero dollars.
Like that will ever happen.

[Cowichan's Opinion]

RE: Building cooperation with China for public health.
In Feb Canada sent China 14 tons of medical supplies.
Today we received an air freighter of needed medical supplies from China. Co-operation works!

[Ken Winkes]

More on the recent ascension of Dr. Birx.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/technology/coronavirus-fauci-trump-conspiracy-target.html?

In the Pretender's circle, truth tellers--that is, members of the Deep State-- get sidelined.

My guess?

As the virus comes closer to ignoring the silly Easter deadline, Birx will be the next to go.

Maybe it’s nearly time to bring back Dr. Bornstein. He always looked good on camera.

[NiskyGuy]

I'm not going to listen to it again right now, but I think Wait Wait Don't Tell Me created an entire program that doesn't mention trump, at lest by name, once. I enjoyed listening to the Podcast (the first one I have ever accessed on my 5-year-old phone). If this is right, I think this will be the first episode in at least four years where the words or actions of the White House occupier (and candidate before) were not exploited.

[citizen625]

In addition to "corporations are people, my friend" noted above is this piece about "efficiency" https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/03/27/economic-efficiency-resilience-coronavirus/#comments-wrapper.

To extend efficiency, aka centralization, aka monopoly - if as Tom Friedman said that the world is getting flatter, why are we stuck with Google, Facebook and Amazon? Are we too lazy to go to Powell's books, or text a person specifically, or duckduckgo.com things? What we are very clearly seeing in the 'us of a' is the Montgomery Wardification of us. Or is that the Sears-ification of us? We take a name and value and drive it into the ground. Values are central to a civil society; Sinclair news and the crazy, power-mad Aussie Murdoch are patronized everyday by people with nothing in common with their politics.