The Commentariat -- May Day! 2020
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times has a handy interactive U.S. map that gives an overview of each state's stay-at-home rules and where they stand when. There are "read more" links for individual states, which give more details. Mrs. McC: I've seen quite a few state-by-state summaries, and this is the first that seems actually helpful.
Katie Glueck, et al., of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Friday denied an allegation of sexual assault by a former Senate aide, Tara Reade, breaking a monthlong silence that had frustrated some Democratic activists as his presidential campaign grapples with issues of accountability and gender that are vitally important to many members of his party. Sounding emphatic and at times agitated in an interview on MSNBC, Mr. Biden ... tried to address concerns about Ms. Reade's claim by saying that she had a right to be heard while also insisting that he had not assaulted her."
Another Tawdry Trump Emolument. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Secret Service rented a room at President Trump's Washington hotel for 137 consecutive nights in 2017 -- paying Trump's company more than $33,000 -- so it could guard Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin while he lived in one of the hotel's luxury suites, according to federal documents and people familiar with the arrangement. Mnuchin, a financier from New York, lived in the Trump International Hotel for several months before moving to a home in Washington. Mnuchin paid for his hotel suite himself, a Treasury Department spokesperson said. For [the Secret Service's] room, the Trump hotel charged the maximum rate that federal agencies were generally allowed to pay in 2017: $242 per night, according to the billing records.... For the Trump hotel it was also a steady rental at a time when only about 42 percent of rooms were occupied, according to previously released data."
Bad, Bad Betsy Is Meaner Than a Junkyard Dog. Michael Stratford of Politico: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is continuing to garnish the wages of federal student loan borrowers who fall behind on payments even though Congress suspended the practice in the economic rescue package, according to a new lawsuit. An upstate New York woman who works as a home health aide for less than $13 an hour claimed in the lawsuit, filed late Thursday, that the federal government seized more than $70 from her paycheck as recently as last week -- nearly a full month after ... Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law. She is suing on behalf of about 285,000 borrowers whose wages are being garnished, according to the lawsuit."
Victor Ordonez of ABC News: "... Donald Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen will not be leaving prison to serve out the rest of his term in home confinement, according to sources familiar with the matter. Two weeks ago, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had notified Cohen that he would be released early from prison due to the COVID-19 outbreak.... It appears that other prisoners at Otisville who were granted home confinement have also lost those privileges...."
Oops! Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors are examining the communications of a New York family doctor whose work has been discussed on Fox News and who has been in touch with the White House to tout an anti-malarial as a treatment for the novel coronavirus, according to people contacted as part of the inquiry. The examination of Vladimir 'Zev' Zelenko's records began when an associate, conservative commentator Jerome Corsi, accidentally sent an email intended for Zelenko to another -Z' name in his address book -- federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who as a member of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team had spent months scrutinizing Corsi's activities during the 2016 presidential election.... It is unclear how seriously prosecutors are scrutinizing the matter.... But even passing interest from federal authorities into efforts to promote the anti-malarial is likely to chafe the president and his allies, particularly given the involvement of a former member of Mueller's team."
Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "The top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly directed crude and sexist comments toward women in now-deleted tweets, a CNN KFile review finds. Michael Caputo, who just started at the department in April, called several women on Twitter 'dogface' and made crude insinuations and sexist comments aimed at former FBI attorney Lisa Page prior to joining HHS.... Caputo's ire against Page seemed to stem from his own involvement in the Russia probe.... In other tweets from 2020, Caputo repeatedly referred to different women as 'dogface,' telling them 'look at this dogface,' 'you have a dogface,' and 'I would never sleep with you, dog-face.' In another tweet Caputo told a woman to 'go f**k yourself,' saying she was 'ugly,' and calling her 'honey.'"
Rob Gillies of the AP: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canada is banning the use and trade of assault-style weapons immediately. Trudeau cited numerous mass shootings in the country, including the killing of 22 people in Nova Scotia April 18 and 19. He announced the ban of over 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms, including two weapons used by the gunman as well as the AR-15 and other weapons that have been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States[.]... The Cabinet order doesn't forbid owning any of the military-style weapons and their variants but it does ban the use and trade in them. He said the order has a two-year amnesty period for current owners, and there will be a compensation program that will require a bill passed in Parliament.... 'Canadians need more than thoughts and prayers,' Trudeau said."
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The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. "The straightforward orders that have kept roughly nine out of 10 Americans at home gave way on Friday to a more complicated and sometimes dangerous patchwork of state and local measures that would allow millions of Americans to return to restaurants, movie theaters and malls for the first time in a month or more. That is, if they have the money and are actually willing to patronize them. Alabama, Maine, Tennessee and Texas are all allowing stay-at-home orders to expire and governors in about half the states in the union have announced plans to gradually ease restrictions in coming days." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Charisse Jones of USA Today: "About 30 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the past six weeks.... Roughly 3.8 million people filed for unemployment last week alone, the Labor Department said Thursday, lower than the 4.4 million who filed the week before and down from the all-time high of 6.86 million applications in late March. Jobless claims provide the best measure of layoffs across the country. While the number of claims continues to slide, the tally is still monumental, and is building toward a projected unemployment rate of 16.4% in May that would be the highest since the Great Depression, according to Morgan Stanley." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ From the New York Times live updates, linked above: "If anything, the job losses may be far worse than government figures indicate, according to many economists. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that roughly 50 percent more people than counted as filing claims in a recent four-week period may have qualified for benefits but were stymied in applying or didn't even try because they found the process too formidable.... As Emily Badger and Alicia Parlapiano [of the NYT] reported, systems that were devised to treat each unemployment case as potentially fraudulent are now rushing to deal with millions of newly unemployed people."
** Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "The federal government placed orders for well over 100,000 new body bags to hold victims of COVID-19 in April, according to internal administration documents obtained by NBC News, as well as public records. The biggest set was earmarked for purchase the day after ... Donald Trump projected that the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus might not exceed 50,000 or 60,000 people.... The 'human remains pouches' have not been paid for or shipped to the Federal Emergency Management Agency yet, according to the company's marketing manager, Mike Pryor.... Around the same time it wrote the contract for the body bags, FEMA opened up bidding to provide about 200 rented refrigerated trailers for locations around the country.... Body bag contracts bid by Homeland Security and the Veterans Affairs Department are just one illustration of how Trump's sunny confidence about the nation's readiness to reopen is in conflict with the views of officials in his own administration who are quietly preparing for a far worse outcome.... The documents show that task force members remain worried about several major risks ahead, including insufficient availability of coronavirus tests, [test facilities & staff,] the absence of a vaccine or proven treatments for the coronavirus, and the possibility of a 'catastrophic resurgence' of COVID-19."
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The total number of coronavirus cases in the United States exceeded one million. The American death toll surpassed that of the Vietnam War. And the economy was reported to have shrunk by nearly 5 percent. But the White House on Wednesday declared its response to the crisis 'a great success story.' As states begin to lift quarantines, President Trump is trying to recast the story of the pandemic from that of an administration slow to see and address the threat to one that responded with decisive action that saved lives. Recognizing that the crisis jeopardizes his chances of re-election, he and his allies want to convince his supporters that the cascade of criticism is unwarranted.... 'I often say I see the light at the end of the tunnel very strongly,' Mr. Trump said [Wednesday, Mrs. McC: in one of those curious, non-idiomatic and, in this case, ungrammatical 'strongly' sentences].... In the revised history of the pandemic that Mr. Trump and his team offered, his actions were not belated and inadequate, but bold and effective. 'We did all the right moves,' Mr. Trump said. 'If we didn't do what we did, you would have had a million people die, maybe more, maybe two million people die.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is not "revised history." This is lying about what happened in the past few weeks or months. Somebody should tell NYT reporters & editors that using accurate, if negative, language is good journalism. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Unhappy he has not done enough stupid stuff, Trump plans some more: ~~~
~~~ Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has fumed to aides and others in recent days about China, blaming the country for withholding information about the virus, and has discussed enacting dramatic measures that would probably lead to retaliation by Beijing.... 'Punishing China is definitely where the president's head is at right now,' one senior adviser said. Some political advisers have also encouraged Trump to take a more forceful swing at China because they think it will help him politically.... [So] senior U.S. officials are beginning to explore proposals for punishing or demanding financial compensation from China for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to four senior administration officials with knowledge of internal planning. The move could splinter already strained relations between the two superpowers at a perilous moment for the global economy.... Other administration officials are warning Trump against the push to punish China, saying the country is sending supplies to help the American response." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Chait on how President Americ. A. First has undermined any chance of getting China to "pay" for Covid-19: "The reason you generally can't collect money from other countries is that we don't have a world government. To the limited extent it is possible to force other countries to pay you back without invading and occupying them, it is through the enforcement of international bodies like the World Trade Organization. But Trump has ignored or weakened transnational authorities.... The closest thing to a feasible option would be repudiating debt held by China, though the blowback to that move would be so enormous -- other potential buyers of Treasury bills would be demanding higher interest rates forever -- that this would be more like an act of financial self-harm than the collection of reparations.... The only discernible endgame here seems to be creating a predicate for Trump to publicly demand repayments from China as his solution to the crisis. If he could insist Mexico would pay for the wall, he can say China will pay for the coronavirus. The obvious fact that neither is going to happen is immaterial to their value as nationalistic campaign slogans." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Senior Trump administration officials have pushed American spy agencies to hunt for evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that a government laboratory in Wuhan, China, was the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, according to current and former American officials. The effort comes as President Trump escalates a public campaign to blame China for the pandemic. Some intelligence analysts are concerned that the pressure from administration officials will distort assessments about the virus.... Most intelligence agencies remain skeptical that conclusive evidence of a link to a lab can be found, and scientists who have studied the genetics of the coronavirus say that the overwhelming probability is that it leapt from animal to human in a nonlaboratory setting, as was the case with H.I.V., Ebola and SARS. Mr. Trump's aides and Republicans in Congress have sought to blame China for the pandemic in part to deflect criticism of the administration's mismanagement of the crisis in the United States, which now has more coronavirus cases than any country." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's pretty extraordinary that a U.S. president* would tell intelligence agencies to "prove" a conspiracy theory. ~~~
~~~ Update. Joby Warrick, et al., of the Washington Post: "On Thursday, the U.S. intelligence community released an assessment formally concluding that the virus behind the coronavirus pandemic originated in China. While asserting that the pathogen was not man-made or genetically altered, the statement pointedly declined to rule out the possibility that virus had escaped from the complex of laboratories in Wuhan that has been at the forefront of global research into bat-borne viruses linked to multiple epidemics over the past decade.... Despite the intense scrutiny, the novel coronavirus's origins remain as murky now as they did when the first cases emerged in China five months ago. While intelligence analysts and many scientists see the lab-as-origin theory as technically possible, no direct evidence has emerged suggesting that the coronavirus escaped from Wuhan's research facilities. Many scientists argue that the evidence tilts firmly toward a natural transmission: a still-unknown interaction in late fall that allowed the virus to jump from a bat or another animal to a human." ~~~
~~~ Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump contradicted a rare on-the-record statement from his own intelligence community by claiming Thursday that he has seen evidence that gives him a 'high degree of confidence' the novel coronavirus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but declined to provide details to back up his assertion. The comments undercut a public statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued just hours earlier which stated no such assessment has been made and continues to 'rigorously examine' whether the outbreak 'began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.' 'Yes, I have,' Trump said when asked whether he's seen evidence that would suggest [give him 'a high degree of confidence'] the virus originated in the lab. Later, asked why he was confident in that assessment, Trump demurred. 'I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that,' he said." Mrs. McC: Actually, it's because the "evidence" is all in his own mind. (Re: the change in text from the report: I listened to the reporter's question.)
David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump is pressing his health officials to pursue a crash development program for a coronavirus vaccine that could be widely distributed by the beginning of next year, despite widespread skepticism that such an effort could succeed and considerable concern about the implications for safety. The White House has made no public announcement of the new effort, called Operation Warp Speed, and some officials are apparently trying to talk the president down, telling him that it would be more harmful to set an unreasonably short deadline that might result in a faulty vaccine than to wait for one that is proved safe and effective.... Mr. Trump's order came after he grew frustrated by warnings from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci ... and other experts on the coronavirus task force, that development of a vaccine would take a year to 18 months, and that even that schedule might be ambitious. He told Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, to come up with a faster program. According to one official, the idea would be to indemnify the major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from liability if the vaccines cause sickness or death...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Berkeley Lovelace of CNBC: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that U.S. officials and scientists are working as quickly as possible to produce a coronavirus vaccine, and he asserted that he's in charge of its development in 'Operation Warp Speed.' 'I hope we're going to have a vaccine and we're going to fast-track a vaccine like you've never seen before if we come with a vaccine. I think they probably will,' he told reporters during a White House meeting with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.... 'I'm really in charge of it,' he said. 'I think probably more than anything I'm in charge.'" Mrs. McC: How reassuring is it that a guy who thinks it might be good to ingest Lysol & Clorox has put himself "in charge" of managing release of a vaccine that holds harmless its developers & manufacturers? I never imagined I could become an anti-vaxxer, but Holy Cow! (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Anthony S. Fauci ... said the goal is production of hundreds of millions of doses by January, an effort dubbed 'Operation Warp Speed.' 'We want to go quickly, but we want to make sure it's safe and it's effective,' he said on NBC's 'Today' show. 'I think that is doable if things fall in the right place.' Fauci ... said manufacturers of the best potential vaccine candidates would ramp up production 'at risk,' meaning before they are proven to work, to speed up the process. Bloomberg News, which reported on the effort Wednesday, found taxpayers rather than drug companies would shoulder the financial risk of failed vaccine candidates. Though costly, this could result in one being available months earlier than under the typical process."
Donald Trump Cares More about Victims of the Coronavirus Than You Do. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump has led no national mourning. In his daily news conferences, he makes only perfunctory references to those who have died as he stiffly reads opening remarks, exhibiting more emotion when grieving his lost economic record than his lost constituents.... To the extent that he discusses the deaths caused by the virus, he generally does so in clinical and at times even self-congratulatory terms. 'Our death totals, our numbers per million people, are really very, very strong,' he told reporters on Thursday. 'We are very proud of the job we have done.'... Only after he was asked about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s calling on him to lower the flag at the White House to honor the dead did Mr. Trump say he would consider the idea. 'I don't think anybody could feel any worse than I do about all of the death and destruction that's so needless. Nobody,' he said. 'But I also have to make sure that we handle the situation well.'"
Who Was That Masked Man? Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Vice President Mike Pence was photographed on Thursday wearing a mask while visiting a General Motors plant in Indiana in what appeared to be a tacit acknowledgment of the criticism he has received for traveling the country without one. Mr. Pence drew intense criticism for flouting the guidelines of the Mayo Clinic, which asks all visitors to its campus in Minnesota to wear masks, during a stop there this week." ~~~
~~~ Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Vice President Pence's office has threatened to retaliate against a reporter who revealed that Pence's office had told journalists they would need masks for Pence's visit to the Mayo Clinic -- a requirement Pence himself did not follow.... Pence's wife, Karen Pence, said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday that he was unaware of the mask policy until his visit was over. But Steve Herman, who covers the White House for Voice of America, suggested that there was more to the story.... 'All of us who traveled with [Pence] were notified by the office of @VP the day before the trip that wearing of masks was required by the @MayoClinic and to prepare accordingly,' tweeted Herman, who covered the trip as part of his rotation as one of the pool reporters.... The tweet apparently enraged Pence's staff, which told Herman that he had violated the off-the-record terms of a planning memo that had been sent to him and other reporters in advance of Pence's trip. Herman said he was notified by the White House Correspondents' Association that Pence's office had banned him from further travel on Air Force Two, although a spokesperson in Pence's office later told VOA managers than any punishment was still under discussion, pending an apology from Herman or VOA." A Raw Story summary story is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, mikey, when your super-Christian wife lies on national teevee, it's news, and Herman had a duty to report it. The purpose of an "off-the-record planning memo" is to protect the veep and those traveling with him from terrorists or others who might misuse the information. Once the event is over, the purpose of the secrecy is, too (except to the extent it could endanger future travel). Say, maybe you & the missus can sit down with your staff, pull out your Bibles, and explain the turn-the-other-cheek thing.
Peter Bergen of CNN in an opinion piece: "What is most galling as the nation faces its worse crisis since World War II is how the Trump family keeps demanding recognition for their brilliant work and also our thanks for the catastrophic mess they have helped land us all in. Case in point is Jared Kushner, who has fallen upwards throughout his life.... According to officials cited by The New York Times, early on in the Covid-19 crisis, Kushner privately agreed with his father-in-law that this whole coronavirus thing was being overblown by the lamestream media.... And now, Kushner comes to Fox News, the Pravda of the Trump administration, to marvel on Wednesday that the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus is 'a great success story,' claiming that that 'we have all the testing we need to start opening the country' and state his hope that 'by July, the country's really rocking again.'... There is widespread agreement among experts that we don't have the testing capabilities to return to any semblance of normal life, and also that a second wave of infections could hit the country badly later in the year. This is the kind of thing we expect in a banana republic: the nepotistic incompetence and the demands from the public to lavish praise on the brilliant ruling family."
Sam Mintz of Politico: "A tiny airport in Devils Lake, N.D., scored enough money under the federal stimulus law to cover its expenses for 50 years. But one of the country's busiest airports, JFK International in New York, got barely enough aid to make it through three months of operations. Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration wrote the legislation to give an edge to small airports, according to House aides and airport analysts -- but in the process, they created massive disparities in funding from one airport to another. Now the FAA is trying to clean up the botched funding effort.... The story behind the $10 billion in airport funding effort is simple: Airports with little or no debt and a decent amount of cash on hand were entitled to receive a relatively large share of the money. But that inherently benefited small airports because they don't have the huge amounts of debt associated with capital projects at larger airports."
Sarah Okeson of DC Report: "A former lobbyist is using the Trump pandemic ... to ease safety rules intended to reduce deaths by monster trucks. Jim Mullen, acting administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, temporarily waived a rule regarding work breaks ... if their trucks are delivering essential supplies. Medical supplies, food and fuel are counted as essential.... Some of the horrific crashes have involved Werner Enterprises, the Omaha, Neb., trucking company where Mullen was ... vice president and general counsel.... In 2015, Mullen told senators the Obama trucking regulations were 'government overreach of the worst kind.'... Derek Leathers, the president and CEO of Werner Enterprises, joined Trump at a Rose Garden ceremony in 2018 to celebrate the Trump tax plan being passed." --s
Kate Linthicum, et al. of The Los Angeles Times: "The U.S. government has mounted a campaign to persuade Mexico to reopen many factories that were closed because of the country's social distancing guidelines, warning that the supply chain of the North American free-trade zone could be permanently crippled if factories don't resume production soon.... Pressure has also come from American CEOs, more than 300 of whom sent a letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador saying they were 'deeply concerned' about the shuttering of factories, and from the U.S. Department of Defense, which has implored Mexico to reopen plants that make parts for defense contractors.... Mexican officials have begun to cave, despite warnings from health authorities here that reopening factories too soon could lead to widespread death." --s
Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: "The Capitol's attending physician said Thursday that coronavirus tests will be available for staffers and senators who are ill, but not enough to proactively test all 100 senators as the chamber comes back in session, according to two people familiar with the matter. In a conference call with top GOP officials, Dr. Brian Monahan said there is not sufficient capacity to quickly test senators for coronavirus -- a contrast with the White House, where any people meeting with ... Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are tested for the disease. Monahan said test results in the Senate will take two or more days, while the White House has rapid testing. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene on Monday after more than a month away.... Roughly half the senators are 65 or older and at increased risk for the coronavirus.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has repeatedly vowed that the Senate can operate safely amid the pandemic with proper social distancing and masks. Though House Democrats originally planned to come back next week, they decided against returning after consulting with Monahan." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The same apparently applies to Senate staffers who have to return, too. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Wednesday, "I have not yet seen, personally ... a safety plan to protect those people who have to come back to the Capitol in order for us to do anything. Nor a plan to make sure that we are not spreading the virus ourselves or to the employees."
"The Swamp". Common Dreams via RawStory: "A new analysis of financial disclosure documents found that Republican and Democratic members of Congress [27 Democrats, 21 Republicans, and 1 independent] made nearly 1,500 stock transactions worth up to $158 million between February and April as the coronavirus.... spread across the U.S., heightening suspicions that elected officials in charge of the federal response to the pandemic have opportunistically cashed in on it." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
California. Amy Taxin, et al., of the AP: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom will order all beaches and state parks closed starting Friday after people thronged the seashore last weekend despite his social distancing order that aims to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Eric Nuñez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said a memo was sent to the group's members Wednesday so they have time to plan ahead of Newsom's expected announcement Thursday." (Also linked yesterday.)
Florida. Monique Madan of the Miami Herald: "Citing conditions that amount to 'cruel and unusual punishment,' a Miami federal judge ordered U.S. immigration authorities Thursday night to release hundreds of detainees held at three South Florida detention centers. In a strongly worded 12-page order filed late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acted with 'deliberate indifference' to the condition of its detainees. She ordered the agency to report to her within three days how it plans to cut its non-criminal and medically vulnerable populations by the hundreds.... Within two days, she ordered, ICE shall also provide masks to all detainees and replace them once a week.... The judge said that detainees with non-violent criminal records or underlying health conditions who qualify for release can be subject to detention alternatives like parole, telephone monitoring, physical check-ins or GPS monitoring through electronic ankle bracelets. The judge's decision came just hours after the Miami Herald published a story detailing the conditions inside the Krome Processing Center in Miami-Dade County. The story detailed ICE's practice of segregating together as many as a hundred detainees who have been exposed to COVID-19 and isolating them in large dormitories with no masks, no sanitizer and no possibility of social distancing." Mrs. McC: Cooke is a Bush II appointee.
Indiana. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Nearly 900 workers at a Tyson Food plant in Indiana have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. The coronavirus infected 890 of the 2,200 people at the plant located in Logansport, Ind., local station WISH TV reported Wednesday. The updated number is more than 700 additional confirmed cases at the plant than the Cass County Health Department reported last week, according to the Indianapolis Star. Tyson announced last week that the company would voluntarily close its facility and work with county officials on a plan to reopen.... On Tuesday President Trump signed an executive order using the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order meat processing plants to stay open and designate them as critical infrastructure. 'So there is some worry there that might force them to flip a switch and go, but we are continuing with our plan,' [County Commissioner Ryan] Browning reportedly said."
Michigan. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News: "Hundreds of people protested outside the Michigan Capitol building in Lansing on Thursday, with some pushing inside while the Legislature was debating an extension of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's state of emergency in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters held signs, waved American flags and even carried firearms, while some chanted 'Let us in!' and 'This is the people's house, you cannot lock us out. Others tried to get onto the House floor but were blocked by state police and sergeants-at-arms, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit. A state police spokesman told NBC News that it is legal in Michigan to carry firearms as long as it's done with lawful intent and the weapon is visible." With a few photos & dancing girls. ~~~
~~~ Amber Ainsworth of WDIV TV 4: "Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an Executive Order on Thursday extending the State of Emergency through May 28. The Republican-led Legislature refused to extend the declaration. Whitmer was asking [the Legislature] for a 28 day extension before she extended it herself."
New Jersey. Ave, Ave, Truvmpvs! Samantha Maldonado of Politico: "Hours after meeting with ... Donald Trump at the White House, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday that New Jersey will receive hundreds of thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment and coronavirus test kits from the federal government. The Trump administration will ship PPE -- which New Jersey has struggled to procure -- to 358 nursing homes in the state, Murphy said, including 220,000 masks, 19,000 goggles, 200,000 gowns and 1 million pairs of gloves. The virus has struck particularly hard in the state's nursing homes." Mrs. McC: Who knows if New Jersey will actually get the PPE & test kits, but it's disgusting that the governor had to go hat-in-hand to honor Trump in order to get even a promise of vital equipment to save lives.
Texas. Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune: "The day before Texas began its first wave of business reopenings during the coronavirus pandemic, the latest figures from the state health department brought some grim news. Another 50 Texans had died from the virus -- the most in a day yet -- and an additional 1,033 had tested positive -- the third most in a day yet. The numbers instantly sparked a fresh round of second-guessing about Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to let stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls reopen at 25% capacity Friday.... Abbott has zeroed in on two figures: the state's infection rate -- the ratio of positive cases to tests conducted -- and the hospitalization rate -- the proportion of infected Texans who are requiring hospitalization. Both rates have generally trended downward since high points in the first half of April.... He pointed out that, 'even with today's number, we have one one of the lowest deaths per capita in any state in America.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Safari was able to read a Houston Chronicle story on the same topic, but the Chron blocked me.
** John Laureman of Bloomberg: "The coronavirus pandemic is likely to last as long as two years and won't be controlled until about two-thirds of the world's population is immune, a group of experts said in a report. Because of its ability to spread from people who don't appear to be ill, the virus may be harder to control than influenza, the cause of most pandemics in recent history, according to the report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. People may actually be at their most infectious before symptoms appear." (Firewalled) --s
Elie Mystal of the Nation: "... if you listen to various state governors or the president of the United States, you'd think that the only parts of the country that need to be reopened are businesses and churches. Politicians want people to get back to work as soon as possible, but they seem to have no idea that without child care, a huge swath of the workforce will remain tied to their homes.... These reopening plans fail to show even a cursory appreciation for the practical challenges working parents are facing during the pandemic. The crisis should be showing us how essential affordable child care is to economic vitality, something other industrialized nations have already figured out."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Millions of Americans are stuck at home with nothing to do but check the news to find out if they'll ever be allowed out. So how is this possible? ~~~
~~~ Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "Americans divide evenly when asked whether they approve or disapprove of the way ... Donald Trump is handling the coronavirus situation in the U.S., with 50% approving and 48% disapproving. Approval of his handling of the COVID-19 crisis is down 10 percentage points from last month, including a 10-point decline among independents and a 16-point decline among Democrats.... Gallup's April 14-28 poll finds Trump's overall job approval at 49%, the same as in a March 13-22 poll but higher than his reading of 43% in an April 1-14 survey. To the extent that these variations are not a function of sampling error, they could be tied to Americans' changing outlook on the coronavirus situation in general and Americans' increasingly evaluating Trump on the COVID issue alone." Mrs. McC's suggestion to the 49 percent: Drink a big Lysol cocktail & go to bed. (Also linked yesterday.)
Timothy Gardner et al. of Reuters: "As the United States pressed Saudi Arabia to end its oil price war with Russia, President Donald Trump gave Saudi leaders an ultimatum. In an April 2 phone call, Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that unless the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started cutting oil production, he would be powerless to stop lawmakers from passing legislation to withdraw U.S. troops from the kingdom.... The threat to upend a 75-year strategic alliance, which has not been previously reported, was central to the U.S. pressure campaign that led to a landmark global deal to slash oil supply as demand collapsed in the coronavirus pandemic - scoring a diplomatic victory for the White House.... The kingdom's de facto leader was so taken aback by the threat that he ordered his aides out of the room so he could continue the discussion in private[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Presidential Race
Sean Sullivan & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "... Joe Biden on Friday denied that he sexually assaulted a former Senate aide, addressing the allegation publicly for the first time under increasing pressure from his party to speak about it. 'I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago,' Biden said in a written statement released by his campaign. 'They aren't true. This never happened.' The statement was released shortly before Biden was to appear on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.' Biden also called on the National Archives to release any record of a complaint Reade says she filed. 'If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there,' he said.... President Trump ... said Thursday that Biden 'should respond' to the accusation, which Trump said he 'didn't know anything about.' The president suggested that Reade's account could be a 'false accusation,' a topic he said he was knew well. More than 20 women have accused the president of sexual misconduct over the years, prompting a series of denials." ~~~
~~~ Biden posted the statement to Medium. ~~~
~~~ Here's a clip of the MSNBC interview. Joe did all right, IMO:
>~~~ Say It Ain't So, Joe. Lisa Lerer & Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. will publicly address an allegation of sexual assault for the first time in an appearance on morning television on Friday, after weeks of silence on the issue that had prompted frustration from Democrats and attacks from Republicans seeking to weaken him for a general election contest against President Trump. Mr. Biden will discuss the allegation on 'Morning Joe' on MSNBC, according to a Twitter post from the network. The decision followed intensive discussions in the Biden campaign about how to more forcefully confront the allegation." A Politico story is here. Mrs. McC: Great material for the kiddie hour. ~~~
~~~ Michael Stern, a former federal prosecutor, makes the case against Tara Reade in a USA Today op-ed. ~~~
~~~ Oh, and Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Online sleuths discovered a passage in a novel written by Reade's father, Bob Moulton, that sounds somewhat similar to the graphic account she began telling publicly about Biden in March: '... As soon as he closed and locked the door he put his hands up her skirt grabbed her buttocks slid his hands under her panties spread her cheeks and rammed his fingers into her....'"
Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "The president and his allies have embraced optimism as a central part of his new reelection push, offering a rosy message about a swift return to normal life despite the rising death toll and jobless claims resulting from the outbreak. Vice President Pence predicted the virus's impact will be largely over by Memorial Day. Much of the country will be back to normal by June, Jared Kushner ... told Fox News on Wednesday.... For his part, Trump has already declared that the economy has begun a 'comeback,' predicting 'phenomenal' growth in the fourth quarter an arguing that he will quickly reconstruct what he describes as history's 'greatest economy.'... As economists and health experts warn that this crisis is likely to linger longer and have a more severe impact than anything in recent memory, Trump is essentially risking his reelection on proving them wrong." (Also linked yesterday.)
Senate Race. South Carolina. Jessica Taylor of the Cook Report: "It's hard to think of a politician who has undergone a bigger evolution over the past four years than South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. But could that very political makeover hurt him at the ballot box in 2020, even in a reliably red state?... [Graham] has emerged as one of President Trump's fiercest defenders.... Likely challenger Jaime Harrison, the state's former Democratic Party chairman and a DNC associate vice chairman..., had a record-setting fundraising haul during the first quarter of this year.... Harrison's compelling ads highlight his early biography. He's used his money to run positive spots in every major media market in the state.... Meanwhile, the likely Democratic nominee has been largely unanswered on TV.... So we are moving [the] South Carolina [U.S. Senate race] from Solid to Likely Republican." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "A top donor to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is switching sides. Richard Wilkerson, former head of Michelin's North America unit, based in Greenville, South Carolina, has endorsed Democrat Jaime Harrison.... Though Graham leads in limited polls, Harrison is outraising him this year so far, bringing in $7.36 million over the first three months versus $5.6 million for Graham." (Also linked yesterday.)
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