The Commentariat -- March 31, 2020

Late Morning Update:

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "New information from the IRS on Monday shines more light on what people can do to get the checks from the government as quickly as possible while many families worry about paying the bills and buying food during the coronavirus crisis that has cost millions of people their jobs. For Americans eligible for stimulus cash under the new relief law, the fastest way to receive it is to make sure they've filed a tax return for 2019 or 2018 with bank information so the government can directly deposit the money. The IRS says it will use a person's 2019 return to calculate eligibility and automatically send the money to those who qualify. If they haven't filed a 2019 return, it'll be based on the 2018 return. The agency said it would publish additional information about the new forms soon on irs.gov/coronavirus. Mrs. McC: If you income fluctuated considerably from 2018 to 2019, seems as if some strategic filing decision might be in order.

"Not Winning." David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... the other three countries with the world's largest number of confirmed [coronavirus] cases -- Italy, China and Spain -- were all making significant progress at a similar point in their outbreaks. But the response in the United States has been slow and uneven.... The United States is badly behind. Both South Korea and the United States had their first confirmed case around the same day, in late January.... South Korea has suffered only about 150 deaths, one-twentieth as many as the United States." Mr.s McC: The graph at the top of Leonhardt's column is jarring. Trump has established a new definition of "American exceptionalism."

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "The captain of the nuclear aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt is begging for help while the coronavirus quickly spreads among the crew. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday that between 150 and 200 sailors have tested positive for COVID-19 on the carrier of more than 4,000. Capt. Brett Crozier wrote a four-page letter begging the Navy for help while they're docked in Guam."

Alexandra Petri of the New York Times: At the prompting of [Gui] Cavalcanti -- "the founder of the Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies, a Facebook group that is crowdsourcing solutions to address the diminishing stock of medical equipment around the world -- ... the world's open-source enthusiasts have banded together to dig up and catalog blueprints of critical do-it-yourself gear and tools that can save lives. Mr. Cavalcant ... initially intended to focus on ventilators. A front-line surgeon in the Bay Area convinced him to go after the low-hanging fruit: sanitizer, gloves, gowns and masks for medical professionals. Stacks of ventilators wouldn't do the public any good if there were no health care workers to operate them.... In just over two weeks, the Facebook group has grown to nearly 50,000 people. Members share their designs or mock-ups for various pieces of equipment, and offer moral support and encouragement." ~~~

Some Setbacks for Misogynists. Alice Ollstein of Politico: "Federal judges on Monday lifted restrictions Texas, Ohio and Alabama imposed on abortion during the coronavirus pandemic in decisions that could have repercussions for several more Republican-led states that have deemed the procedure non-essential during the crisis.... Iowa, Mississippi and Oklahoma are among the other states that recently moved to suspend access to the procedure as the pandemic intensified, arguing it would preserve desperately needed medical supplies."

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Tennis courts in Queens that are part of the U.S. Open complex will reportedly be turned into temporary hospitals as New York City works to relieve pressure on medical centers struggling to manage an influx of patients due to the coronavirus pandemic. An indoor training area at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is expected to house 350 medical beds starting Tuesday, a USTA spokesman told The Wall Street Journal."

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The New York Times' live updates for coronoavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.

Fred Imbert of CNBC: "Stocks rose on Monday, building on a strong rally from last week as the U.S. extended measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 690.70 points, or 3.2%, at 22,327.48. The S&P 500 climbed 3.4% to 2,626.65 while the Nasdaq Composite closed 3.6% higher at 7,774.15. Tech stocks such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon led the way higher for Wall Street. Microsoft jumped 7% while Alphabet and Amazon climbed 3.3% and 3.4%, respectively. The Dow is now up 20% from its coronavirus sell-off low reached on Monday while the S&P 500 has risen more than 17% from those levels. The Nasdaq has bounced more than 13%."

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Millions of Americans already have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis and the worst of the damage is yet to come, according to a Federal Reserve estimate. Economists at the Fed's St. Louis district project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, according to a recent analysis of how bad things could get."

Ben Kesslen of NBC News: "The White House coronavirus response coordinator said Monday that she is 'very worried about every city in the United States' and projects 100,000 to 200,000 American deaths as a best case scenario. In an interview on 'Today,' Dr. Deborah Birx painted a grim message about the expected fatalities, echoing that they could hit more than 2 million without any measures...."

Trump Denies He's Heard What Governor Just Said. Jonathan Martin, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump [suggested to] governors on a conference call on Monday that ... a chronic lack of kits to screen people for the coronavirus was no longer a problem. But governors painted a different picture on the ground. Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democrat, said that officials in his state ... 'don't have adequate tests,' according to an audio recording of the conversation obtained by The New York Times. Literally we are one day away, if we don't get test kits from the C.D.C., that we wouldn't be able to do testing in Montana,' Mr. Bullock said.... 'I haven't heard about testing in weeks,' the president said. 'We've tested more now than any nation in the world. We've got these great tests and we're coming out with a faster one this week.'... Mr. Trump added, 'I haven't heard about testing being a problem.'... At the daily White House briefing on Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump described the call as an opportunity for the governors to thank his administration. 'I think for the most part, they were saying, Thank you for doing a great job,' he said." The Times has the audio here. A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: One reason I don't hold high public office: I would have started shouting at Trump when he said, "I haven't heard that" immediately after I had spelled it out for him. I'd do the same if I were a White House reporter. ~~~

~~~ "Trump to Governors: I'd Like You to Do Us a Favor, Though." Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "True, Trump is not demanding that governors investigate Joe Biden in exchange for federal help. But he's strongly suggested that if governors speak candidly about his monumental incompetence, he'll penalize them and their states as they struggle to contain the coronavirus.... 'There are a lot of parallels between the president's behavior now and during the whole Ukraine scandal,' Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who led Trump's impeachment prosecution, told me. 'Certainly the most apparent is his demand that the governors basically pay fealty to him, praise him, or they'll suffer consequences.'... The Washington Post reported that Florida, governed by the Republican Trump sycophant Ron DeSantis, has had its requests for equipment from America's emergency stockpile entirely fulfilled, while other states are receiving only a fraction of what they ask for.... [Trump's] campaign just rolled out a new ad ... featuring appreciative quotes from [Gov] Andrew Cuomo and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.... Republican senators knew who Trump was and they refused to remove him. Now we're all, as the president said of the former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, going to go through some things."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Trump's virus defense is often an attack, and the target is often a woman. Now part of the long list of women the president has insulted: a governor [Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.)], a reporter [Yamiche Alclindor], the head of General Motors [Mary Barra] and, of course, the House speaker [Nancy Pelosi].

Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps you're thinking, as some reports would have it, that Trump finally got real about Covid-19's ongoing devastation because the disease was starting to hit some of his friends and/or because it had hit particularly hard in the borough where Trump was reared. Well, not entirely. ~~~

~~~ Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Aides and advisers say the president was heavily influenced by briefings from scientific and public health officials, as well as by the stark reality of the virus, including projections of greater deaths depending on what measures the government takes. But Trump campaign officials and political allies had also briefed the president in recent days about their fears of reopening the economy too soon, arguing that a spike in deaths could be even more politically damaging in November than the current economic downturn, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions. Public health officials warned Trump that many rural areas -- which form the bedrock of the president's political support -- do not have the necessary hospitals and doctors to handle an outbreak, should it come."

Dana Milbank:"On Sunday, Trump's public health advisers said that even with strict countermeasures, deaths from the coronavirus in the United States could be between 100,000 and 200,000 -- worse than even the worst-case scenarios just a month ago, and a spectacular failure of leadership for a president who claimed 'we have it totally under control.'... But Trump reasoned that, because 2.2 million Americans could die without any attempt at controlling the virus, 'if we can hold that down, as we're saying, to 100,000 -- it's a horrible number -- maybe even less, but to 100,000, so, we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job.' How does a human being use the phrase 'a very good job' in contemplation of the deaths of 100,000 to 200,000 souls? Trump seemed more moved by the number of people watching him. He tweeted Sunday that 'the "ratings" of my News Conferences etc. are so high, "Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers" according to the @nytimes.'"

From the New York Times live updates for Monday: "Mr. Trump said Monday that he and his advisers expected the number of people who test positive to peak around Easter, though he cited no data to back up his claim. 'That's going to be the highest point, we think, and then it's going to start coming down from there,' Mr. Trump said during an interview on Fox & Friends. 'That will be a day of celebration, and we just want to do it right so we picked the end of April.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Monday that he wouldn't mind running against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for president, adding that he thought Cuomo would make a better candidate than former Vice President Joe Biden.... 'I think probably Andrew would be better,' Trump continued. 'I'm telling you right now, you know, I want somebody [for] this country that's gonna do a great job, and I hope I'm going to win.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for criticizing his response to the coronavirus pandemic.... 'It's a sad thing,' Trump said during a call-in interview on 'Fox & Friends' Monday morning after he was asked to respond to Pelosi's criticism a day prior. 'She's a sick puppy in my opinion. She's got a lot of problems.' Pelosi on Sunday accused Trump of downplaying the public health crisis in a way that cost American lives, saying that 'his denial at the beginning was deadly' on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: "Former Vice President Joe Biden castigated ... Donald Trump for questioning how many protective masks hospitals were using amid the spread of COVID-19, calling such statements 'among the most reckless and ignorant' he had made during the ongoing pandemic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Shadow Knows. Robinson Meyer of the Atlantic: "On March 13..., Donald Trump promised Americans they would soon be able to access a new website that would ask them about their symptoms and direct them to nearby coronavirus testing sites. He said Google was helping. That wasn't true. But in the following days, Oscar Health -- a health-insurance company closely connected to ... Jared Kushner -- developed a government website with the features the president had described.... [But it never launched.] The site would not have helped many Americans even if it had launched. Today, more than two weeks after the president promised a national network of drive-through test sites, only a handful of such sites have opened, and fewer than 1 million Americans have been tested. The partnership between the administration and the firm suggests that Kushner may have mingled his family's business interests with his political interests and his role in the administration's coronavirus response.... For the past several weeks, Kushner has led a 'shadow task force' on the coronavirus, separate from Vice President Mike Pence's official committee, according to The Washington Post."

Dan Diamond of Politico: "The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by ... Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence. The agency allowed for the drugs to be 'donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible,' HHS said in a statement, announcing that Sandoz donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the stockpile and Bayer donated 1 million doses of chloroquine." Mrs. McC: Take 'em now; we'll test 'em later. Good luck! (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post story is here; it's free to nonsubscribers.

Rachel Roubein of Politico: "The Trump administration has approved the first system for sterilizing specialized face masks worn by front-line health workers battling the coronavirus, potentially easing the severe shortage of the protective gear. The FDA also reversed course on a daily cap for the decontamination system, less than 24 hours after Ohio's Republican governor criticized the FDA on Sunday morning for the limit. As of Sunday night, the agency will let the machines be deployed to sites around the country and there won't be a limit on the number of masks they're allowed to clean each day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Actually, the NSC Was Sounding Alarms Early on. Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "Throughout January and much of February, senior Trump administration officials heatedly debated the scope and scale of the coronavirus pandemic, which had emerged from China and was spreading around the world. New national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien and his deputy, Matthew Pottinger, were among those pushing early for strong action. Pottinger, who lived in China as a Wall Street Journal reporter during the SARS crisis, had witnessed how the Chinese government deals with internal crises and knew they were underplaying the problem.... [The two] repeatedly pressed other top officials to take the threat more seriously.... It's also been widely claimed that the NSC cut back on its pandemic expertise under Trump. Yet those assertions don't hold up to scrutiny."

The Stupidest Man in the Senate Has Some Thoughts. Joseph Zeballos-Roig of Business Insider: "Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called to reopen parts of the American economy to avoid throwing it into a recession or depression. He said 'death is an unavoidable part of life' in a USA Today op-ed published Monday."

Michael Wayland of CNBC: "Ford Motor and GE Healthcare plan to produce 50,000 ventilators within the next 100 days at a facility in Michigan to assist with the coronavirus pandemic. Production of the critical care devices is expected to begin with 500 United Auto Workers union members the week of April 20, according to executives at both companies. Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, will be able to produce 30,000 ventilators a month after early July, officials said. The companies expect to produce 1,500 by the end of April, 12,000 by the end of May and 50,000 by July 4, officials said." ~~~

~~~ Edward Ongweso of Vice: "On Monday, General Electric factory workers launched two separate protests demanding that the company convert its jet engine factories to make ventilators. At GE's Lynn, Massachusetts aviation facility, workers held a silent protest, standing six feet apart. Union members at the company's Boston headquarters also marched six feet apart, calling on the company to use its factories to help the country close its ventilator shortage amid the coronavirus pandemic. These protests come just after General Electric announced it would be laying off 10 percent of its domestic aviation workforce, firing nearly 2,600 workers, along with a 'temporary' layoff of 50 percent of its maintenance workers in a bid to save the company '$500 million to $1 billion.'"

Will Sommer & Tracy Connor of the Daily Beast: "A controversial Florida pastor who refused to stop holding packed church services, in violation of coronavirus restrictions, was arrested Monday by a local sheriff who said the preacher was putting his follower' lives at risk. Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was booked on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and violation of public health rules after flouting social distancing orders at The River at Tampa Bay church. Howard-Browne -- an ally of ... Donald Trump -- has been an outspoken opponent of social distancing requirements, claiming his church has machines that can stop the coronavirus and vowing to personally cure the state of Florida himself."

What's Wrong with This Picture? Julia Marsh, et al., of the New York Post: "Crowds of gawkers ignored New York's social-distance regulations and packed the west side of Manhattan on Monday to watch a US Navy hospital ship arrive to give badly needed coronavirus aid. The throngs of people stood shoulder to shoulder and took photos of the USNS Comfort as it pulled into Pier 90 near West 50th Street at about 10:40 a.m., photos of the scene show. Some waved American flags and others huddled against one another at the fence of the pier. Meanwhile, joggers out for a morning run brushed past the onlookers. At least a dozen NYPD cops stood by and initially did not disperse the bone-headed bystanders as they gathered and snapped cellphone photos of the ship pulling into the pier. After members of the City Hall press corps tweeted about the throngs of people, Mayor Bill de Blasio's communications team directed the NYPD to get the crowds to disperse."

Jake Offenhartz of the Gothamist: "On Tuesday morning, a makeshift tent hospital in Central Park will begin treating overflow patients from Mount Sinai, as the spread of COVID-19 begins to overwhelm local hospitals. Announcing the 68-bed respiratory unit this weekend, Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the relief organization, Samaritan's Purse, responsible for funding and erecting the facility. The mayor did not mention that the group is led by Franklin Grahamm [Billy's son,] a notorious anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic preacher with a track record of using humanitarian missions to proselytize an evangelical agenda." Mrs. McC: Yesterday I cited an item in the WashPo's updates about this makeshift hospital; the item presented the organization in a positive, or at least neutral, light. I apologize.

Mrs. McCrabbie: So Sunday, I was wondering why the NRA thought gunsellers provided "essential" services, and I joked that maybe NRA members figured they should go out & shoot the neighbors if they suspected the neighbors might be coronavirus carriers. Well, not so funny. "A Maine man..." ~~~

~~~ Alaa Elassar of CNN: "A Maine man said armed neighbors descended on his home and chopped down a tree to block his road and prevent him from leaving because they believed he may have coronavirus.... Officers learned that some residents believed the [man's] roommates needed to be quarantined. None of the roommates, who were from New Jersey and were renting a home in Vinalhaven while working a construction job since September, showed symptoms consistent with Covid-19, deputies said. The residents had been on the island for nearly a month before the incident took place." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Selam Gebrekidan of the New York Times: "In Hungary, the prime minister can now rule by decree. In Britain, ministers have what a critic called 'eye-watering' power to detain people and close borders. Israel's prime minister has shut down courts and begun an intrusive surveillance of citizens. Chile has sent the military to public squares once occupied by protesters. Bolivia has postponed elections. As the coronavirus pandemic brings the world to a juddering halt and anxious citizens demand action, leaders across the globe are invoking executive powers and seizing virtually dictatorial authority with scant resistance.... Critics say some governments are using the public health crisis as cover to seize new powers that have little to do with the outbreak, with few safeguards to ensure that their new authority will not be abused.... And there are few sunset provisions to ensure that the powers will be rescinded once the threat passes."

Presidential Race

Marianna Sotomayor of NBC News: "... Joe Biden took his virtual presidential campaign to the next level Monday when he launched a podcast as the coronavirus forces him to get creative in reaching voters otherwise distracted by a global pandemic. The podcast 'Here's the Deal' is intended to provide listeners 'a voice of clarity during uncertain times' by delving into pressing subjects affecting Americans' day-to-day lives in conversations between Biden and 'national top experts,' according to a description of the podcast shown to NBC News." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You can get to Biden's first podcast here; I had to maneuver past a fundraiser page to find it.

Nitasha Tiku & Jay Greene of the Washington Post: "Millions of consumers are turning to Instacart, Amazon and Whole Foods as essential resources during the novel coronavirus pandemic, something that has given workers at those companies unprecedented leverage. Now they are conducting walkouts, strikes and sickouts to demand hazard pay and safety protections that match what they say is the high risk they take in showing up to work.On Monday, some workers for grocery delivery app Instacart began a nationwide strike to demand hazard pay of $5 per order and better health protections. Meanwhile, some warehouse employees at an Amazon facility in Staten Island, N.Y., walked out because they said the e-commerce giant isn't doing enough to protect them. And on Tuesday, some staff at Amazon-owned Whole Foods around the country plan to call in sick to demand the grocer offer hazard pay of double their current hourly wages, along with other health protections." ~~~

~~~ Annie Palmer of CNBC: "Amazon has fired a Staten Island warehouse worker who organized a strike to demand greater protections for employees amid the coronavirus outbreak. Chris Smalls, a management assistant at the facility..., said he was fired Monday afternoon following the strike. Smalls and other employees walked out to call attention to the lack of protections for warehouse workers. The workers are also urging Amazon to close the facility after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus last week. The organizers said that at least 50 people joined the walkout."

The Commentariat -- March 30, 2020

Afternoon Update:

From the New York Times live updates: "Mr. Trump said Monday that he and his advisers expected the number of people who test positive to peak around Easter, though he cited no data to back up his claim. 'Thats' going to be the highest point, we think, and then it's going to start coming down from there,' Mr. Trump said during an interview on Fox & Friends. 'That will be a day of celebration, and we just want to do it right so we picked the end of April.'" ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Monday that he wouldn't mind running against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for president, adding that he thought Cuomo would make a better candidate than former Vice President Joe Biden.... 'I think probably Andrew would be better,' Trump continued. 'I'm telling you right now, you know, I want somebody [for] this country that's gonna do a great job, and I hope I'm going to win.'" ~~~

~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for criticizing his response to the coronavirus pandemic.... 'It's a sad thing,' Trump said during a call-in interview on 'Fox & Friends' Monday morning after he was asked to respond to Pelosi's criticism a day prior. 'She's a sick puppy in my opinion. She's got a lot of problems.' Pelosi on Sunday accused Trump of downplaying the public health crisis in a way that cost American lives, saying that 'his denial at the beginning was deadly' on CNN...."

Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: "Former Vice President Joe Biden castigated ... Donald Trump for questioning how many protective masks hospitals were using amid the spread of COVID-19, calling such statements 'among the most reckless and ignorant' he had made during the ongoing pandemic."

Dan Diamond of Politico: "The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by ... Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence. The agency allowed for the drugs to be 'donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible,' HHS said in a statement, announcing that Sandoz donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the stockpile and Bayer donated 1 million doses of chloroquine." Mrs. McC: Take 'em now; we'll test 'em later. Good luck!

Rachel Roubein of Politico: "The Trump administration has approved the first system for sterilizing specialized face masks worn by front-line health workers battling the coronavirus, potentially easing the severe shortage of the protective gear. The FDA also reversed course on a daily cap for the decontamination system, less than 24 hours after Ohio's Republican governor criticized the FDA on Sunday morning for the limit. As of Sunday night, the agency will let the machines be deployed to sites around the country and there won't be a limit on the number of masks they're allowed to clean each day."

Mrs. McCrabbie: So yesterday, I was wondering why the NRA thought gunsellers provided "essential" services, and I joked that maybe NRA members figured they should go out & shoot the neighbors if they suspected the neighbors might be coronavirus carriers. Well, not so funny. "A Maine man... ~~~

~~~ Alaa Elassar of CNN: "A Maine man said armed neighbors descended on his home and chopped down a tree to block his road and prevent him from leaving because they believed he may have coronavirus.... Officers learned that some residents believed the [man's] roommates needed to be quarantined. None of the roommate who were from New Jersey and were renting a home in Vinalhaven while working a construction job since September, showed symptoms consistent with Covid-19, deputies said. The residents had been on the island for nearly a month before the incident took place."

Marianna Sotomayor of NBC News: "Former Vice President Joe Biden took his virtual presidential campaign to the next level Monday when he launched a podcast as the coronavirus forces him to get creative in reaching voters otherwise distracted by a global pandemic. The podcast 'Here's the Deal' is intended to provide listeners 'a voice of clarity during uncertain times' by delving into pressing subjects affecting Americans' day-to-day lives in conversations between Biden and 'national top experts,' according to a description of the podcast shown to NBC News." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If anyone knows how to access a podcast without having to join something or sign up for some Apple or Microsoft app, let me know, and I'll share it.

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The New York Times' coronavirus updates for Monday are here. the Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here.

From the WashPo: An outbreak of the novel coronavirus in rural Washington state has been traced to a choir group's weekly rehearsal, the Los Angeles Times reported. On March 10, 60 members of the Skagit Valley Chorale attended practice. Since then, two have died, three have been hospitalized, and 45 have either tested positive or shown symptoms of covid-19, the paper reported. The outbreak was notable given that the singers, wary of the virus's growing death toll in Seattle, were careful to use hand sanitizer, avoid physical contact and keep a distance from one another. None appeared to be ill at the time. County health officials have concluded the virus must have been transmitted through the air by singers who were asymptomatic, the Times reported. If so, it would bolster the findings of researchers who say the virus can be transmitted through microscopic aerosols, in addition to the much larger respiratory droplets that are emitted when someone coughs or sneezes.

The New York Times' coronavirus updates for Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday.) "President Trump said Sunday that the federal government's guidelines for social distancing would last until April 30, backing down from his previous comments that he hoped the country could go back to work by Easter.... Earlier in the day, a commercial aircraft carrying gloves, masks, gowns and other medical supplies from Shanghai touched down at Kennedy International Airport in New York, the first in a series of roughly 20 flights that White House officials say will funnel much-needed goods to the United States by early April.... The flights are the product of a public-private partnership -- led by Jared Kushner..., in which the administration is looking to health care distributors like McKesson Corporation, Cardinal, Owens & Minor, Medline, and Henry Schein.... Mr. Trump on Sunday appeared to suggest that New York hospitals are doing something improper with their surgical masks, saying that he does not believe they really need the amount of equipment they have said would be necessary.... Asked to elaborate on his allegation, he said, 'I think people should check that because there's something going on.... I don't think it's hoarding. I think it's maybe worse than hoarding.'" ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "... Trump's insinuation that theft is to blame for hospital mask shortages during this pandemic, at a time when hundreds of hospitals across the country -- and countries across the world -- are all begging for more masks, is insane.... But Trump has also consistently foisted blame for his administration's failure onto others. Appearing on Sean Hannity's show last Thursday night, Trump denied that hospitals actually needed all the ventilators they say they need.... The fairly simple dynamic that a global pandemic creates a massively elevated demand for equipment necessary for its treatment -- which is no more complex than how Halloween creates a demand for pumpkins in late October -- appears to be incomprehensible to Trump. Of course, he is also motivated to deny the crisis. Trump has claimed the need for ventilators was completely unpredictable..., that the shortage of masks is Obama's fault, and governors 'should try getting [them] yourselves.' His attempts to shirk blame for the catastrophe are growing increasingly pathological." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: To be fair, it is not inconceivable that Donnie, the young entrepreneur, was out on the streets of Queens in July, trying to sell aluminum Christmas trees. Luckily, Fred bailed him out. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Shear writes the New York Times' full story on Trump's Sunday briefing. ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This New York Times page (I think) provides a guide to the paper's free coronavirus coverage. The page also allows you to sign up for a daily e-mail which has a guide to the free coverage. ~~~

~~~ Washington Post live updates for Sunday are here. "Asked Sunday whether his previous statement about Easter was a mistake, Trump responded, 'No. It was just an aspiration.'"

And so, if we could hold that [number of American deaths] down, as we're saying, to 100,000 -- it's a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 [thousand] and 200,000 -- we altogether have done a very good job. -- Donald Trump, at a press briefing Sunday ~~~

~~~ Zeke Miller & Jill Colvin of the AP: "Trump, who has largely avoided talk of potential death and infection rates, cited projection models that said potentially 2.2 million people or more could have died had the country not put social distancing measures in place. And he said the country would be doing well if it 'can hold' the number of deaths 'down to 100,000.' 'It's a horrible number,' Trump said, but added: 'We all together have done a very good job.'... The U.S. had more than 139,000 COVID-19 cases reported by Sunday evening, with more than 2,400 deaths. During the course of the Rose Garden briefing, reported deaths grew by several dozen and the number of cases by several thousand.... Brought forward by Trump at the outdoor briefing, [Dr. Anthony] Fauci said his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 deaths is 'entirely conceivable' if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis. He said that helped shape the extension of the guidelines, 'a wise and prudent decision.'... Fauci's prediction would take the death toll well past that of the average seasonal flu. Trump repeatedly cited the flu's comparatively much higher cost in lives in playing down the severity of this pandemic." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Whether it was Fauci and/or others or the teevee, somebody or something finally got through to the Useless Idiot. At his press conference today, he said, "I've been watching that for the last week on television. Body bags all over, in hallways. I've been watching them bring in trailer trucks -- freezer trucks, they're freezer trucks, because they can't handle the bodies, there are so many of them. This is essentially in my community, in Queens, Queens, New York. I've seen things that I've never seen before." ~~~

     ~~~ Philip Rucker of the Washington Post thinks it's the bodybags, a friend of Trump's who is in a coma, and maybe the 2-million figure: "The prospect of 2 million deaths seemed to stick with Trump because he repeated the statistic 16 times at Sunday's news conference."

~~~ Daniel Dale & Tara Subramaniam of CNN: "... Donald Trump has made numerous false and misleading statements at the near-daily White House coronavirus briefings. Here is a fact check of his Sunday briefing in the Rose Garden[.]... Trump falsely denied that he claimed governors from certain states are asking for equipment they don't need.... Yamiche Alcindor asked the President whether he felt his comments and belief 'that some of the equipment that governors are requesting they don't actually need' would have an impact on the federal distribution of ventilators and other medical resources. As Alcindor attempted to finish her question, the President interjected, 'I didn't say that.'... He did say that.... On March 26 during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said, "a lot of equipment's being asked for that I don't think they'll need" specifically in reference to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo..." There's more, of course. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Worth noting: during the same presser in which he claimed he never said states were asking for equipment they don't need, Trump claimed that New York hospitals were "doing something ... worse than hoarding" PPE.

Our Nero. As the president fiddles, people are dying. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on CNN Sunday morning ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday President Trump's delay and denial in responding to the coronavirus pandemic has had 'deadly' consequences for Americans. 'His denial at the beginning was deadly, his delaying of getting equipment ... to where it is needed is deadly, and now the best thing would be to do is to prevent more loss of life, rather than open things up so that because we just don't know,' Pelosi said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kamram Rahman of Politico: "Joe Biden urged ... Donald Trump on Sunday to 'stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply' about his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic. 'Look, the coronavirus is not the president fault, but the slow response, the failure to get going right away, the inability to do the things that needed to be done quickly -- they are things that can't continue,' the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alan Smith of NBC News: "Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he anticipates the coronavirus could kill between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans while infecting 'millions.' Speaking with CNN's 'State of the Union,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said however he does not want to be 'held' to that prediction because the COVID-19 outbreak is 'such a moving target.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kamran Rahman of Politico: "The White House Coronavirus Task Force unanimously shunned ... Donald Trump's suggestion of a quarantine in the New York City area, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday. The president 'did very seriously consider' the idea of locking down the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Mnuchin said on 'Fox News Sunday.' But Trump was dissuaded after a meeting with the task force led by Vice President Mike Pence." Mrs. McC: Say what? Are these guys initiating a united front against Trump's bluster? It's not like pence & Mnuchin to stand up to Trump, especially publicly -- and on Fox "News"! (See related WashPo item on pence linked yesterday. Politico story also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Steve Holland of Reuters: "Trump, who initially dismissed the pandemic as 'under control,' is having to adjust his messaging to fit grim times, and some of his allies are pushing him to show more heart.... Two sources familiar with the internal dynamics of the White House said advisers twice intervened during the last week to nudge Trump to drop the strident language that is a hallmark of his presidency and instead seek to unite Americans.... After his outburst [in which he slammed NBC News reporter Peter Alexander for asking him what he had to say to fearful Americans], advisers urged Trump to 'tell people something real, something emotional, something heartfelt,' one source said. The next day, the president tried a softer tone. 'This is a time of shared national sacrifice, but it's also a time to treasure our loved ones,' he said. In the second case, Trump dropped - at least for now - his description of the disease as 'the Chinese virus' at the urging of aides.... In response, Trump sought to tamp down anti-Asian sentiment among some Americans, saying in a post on Twitter that 'it is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Surely both "concessions" were scripted by others. Sorry, Donnie, you're incapable of faking empathy. Andrew Cuomo, who is a lot tougher than you are, is able to show empathy that brings tears to the eyes of TV viewers -- because he means it. Narcissism just doesn't cut it here.

Jonathan Chait: "Trump happens to be enjoying his highest approval ratings at the moment. It is possible he will somehow maintain, or even enhance, his current standing. But his handling of the coronavirus -- even from the narrow perspective of politics, which is how Trump himself views it -- is doing almost everything to ensure that his bump is short-lived, and will eventually be followed by a long, steep decline. Trump's recent polling bump is real. The important context, though, is that every leader is getting approval bumps, and almost all of them are getting much bigger ones than Trump.... Rallying around a leader in the initial stages of a crisis is a well-known public-opinion phenomenon.... He said on camera, 'I don't take responsibility at all,' a line that will appear in almost every Democratic ad, because it violates Americans' most fundamental requirements of their leaders.... If he winds up winning reelection, it will be in spite of everything he has done so far." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Swan & Joann Muller of Axios: "A plane from Shanghai arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York Sunday morning carrying an extraordinary load: 12 million gloves, 130,000 N95 masks, 1.7 million surgical masks, 50,000 gowns, 130,000 hand sanitizer units, and 36,000 thermometers.... The flight is the start of what might end up being the largest government-led airlift of emergency medical supplies into the United States. That's according to Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who runs the coronavirus supply chain task force at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He spoke to Axios on Saturday night. The airlift is the most dramatic part of the Trump administration's frantic attempts to catch up with a nationwide medical equipment crisis. Polowczyk told Axios that he's already booked 22 similar flights over the next two weeks. Starting with this weekend's airlift, he said, 'We have essentially a flight a day, mostly from Asia' to expedite the transport of medical equipment that distributors already plan to sell into the U.S. This weekend's first load of medical supplies will go into the New York tri-state area, Polowczyk said, and subsequent flights will distribute supplies to other parts of the country." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If Trump had done this six weeks ago, he would have won re-election. Instead, he's our Nero.

Juan Cole: "Trump has spent three and a half years dumping on immigrants to the United States, imagining them as rapists, gang members, and welfare moochers.... Trump's own complete uselessness has been revealed, as he frittered away January, February and early March being a coronavirus denialist.... He is worse than useless. Now that the problem has hit, guess what?... Nearly nearly one third of American physicians are foreign-born. And about a quarter of nursing aides are first-generation immigrants. They are on the ramparts, our first line of defense, risking their lives every day during the pandemic." --s

Neal Boudette & Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times on the G.M.-Ventec partnership to build ventilators. "When Mr. Trump lashed out at G.M. on Friday, executives at both companies were stunned.... 'What we've accomplished in five days is incredible,' Larryson Foltran, who works in a technology support group at G.M., wrote on Facebook, noting he had been working 14 to 18 hours a day. He said that the president's posts had bothered him 'on a deeper level.'" Thanks to unwashed for the link. Mrs. McC: Obviously Foltran has been too busy designing stuff to read anything about Trump's SOP. Trump's standard mode is tantrum, and the people who bear the brunt are those Trump considers underlings, which now includes everyone in the world.

Just a Timeline Reminder. Mike Pompeo Press Statement (Feb. 7): "This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.... Today, the United States government is announcing it is prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to assist China and other impacted countries, both directly and through multilateral organizations, to contain and combat the novel coronavirus." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This would have been a really good thing -- had we had or were developing adequate supplies in the U.S. But, as Sen. Chris Murphy [D-Conn.] tweeted on Feb. 5, two days before Mike's announcement, "Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now." (Story linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. As Dean Obeidallah points out in a CNN opinion piece, on the same day (Feb. 7) Pompeo was boasting about the donation to China, "the World Health Organization sounded alarm bells about 'the limited stock of PPE,' noting demand was 100 times higher than normal for this equipment.... How could Trump allow tons of vital medical equipment Americans [needed] to be transported to another country in February if, as he has claimed since January, he fully understood the risk the United States was facing from the virus. As a reminder, the first known case of coronavirus case on US soil was confirmed ... on January 21...."

Somebody Tell Trump. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "A new working paper from Michael Greenstone and Vishan Nigam of the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics underscores that [saving lives & saving the economy] are complementary. A regimen of moderate social distancing, like what many areas of the country are doing now, has the potential to save well over a million lives. And those saved lives are worth $8 trillion to the U.S. economy. The paper takes as its starting point a coronavirus forecast published by Neil Ferguson and others at London's Imperial College Covid-19 Response Team. The analysis concluded that, left unchecked, the virus would kill 2.2 million people in the United States. It also found that moderate social distancing measures -- including a seven-day isolation for anyone showing symptoms, a 14-day voluntary quarantine for their household, and significantly reduced social contact for those 70 and older -- would halve the overall mortality to 1.1 million people. Greenstone and Nigam extended their calculations to put a dollar value on all those saved lives."

Isaac Chotiner of the New Yorker interviews NYU Law professor Richard Epstein who wrote an article for the Hoover Institution arguing that "public officials have gone overboard" in their attempts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Epstein is not an epidemiologist, but he thinks he knows more than they do about contagious, deadly viruses. From his original published prediction that 500 Americans would die (it was a typo; that was supposed to be 5,000!) to the schoolyard fight he picks with Chotiner, the interview would be sort of funny if not for the fact that some White House aides were relying on it to set U.S. policy. (New Yorker stories are subscriber-firewalled, & they have a limit of something like four/month. Opening them in a private window no longer works as a go-around.)

Julia Horowitz of CNN: "Faced with an unprecedented crisis, economists and investors are racing to understand the depth of the coronavirus recession and its aftershocks. The problem is, the datasets they'd typically rely on are practically useless. Take the monthly US jobs report, which is due out for March this Friday.... [I]t's usually a must-read. But because the survey was conducted in the second week of March, before many of the shutdowns aimed at controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus came into effect, it's already outdated.... The upcoming read of US GDP that covers January through March will be similarly unhelpful.... Even the weekly readout of Americans who filed for their first week of unemployment benefits has limited utility.... [T]he number is so outside normal bounds that it's almost impossible to put into context[.]" --s

Billy Bambrough of Forbes: "The U.S. dollar has taken a beating ... dropping almost 4% against a basket of currencies this week -- its biggest weekly loss since the height of the global financial crisis over 10 years ago.... On top the of the massive economic aid package, the Fed has been working hard to prop up plunging markets -- with mixed results despite its shock-and-awe firepower. Potential risks of the combined cross-party rescue bill and Fed's biggest-ever bazooka include out-of-control inflation, the dollar's displacement as the world's funding currency, and the complete destabilization of the U.S. financial system.... [A]ll told the extraordinary measures are expected to grow the Fed's balance sheet by $4.5 trillion this year. Throughout and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis the Fed grew its balance sheet by a paltry $3.7 trillion." [Firewalled] --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press: "First of all, she has a name. Gretchen Whitmer. She is not 'the woman' or 'all she does is sit there' or 'you know who I'm talking about' -- all phrases ... Donald Trump has used besides saying the actual name of the person Michigan voters elected to govern us.... Show some respect.... And stop complaining about her 'complaining.' Gretchen Whitmer hasn't done anything that every Michigander doesn't want her to do -- ask the federal government for masks, ventilators, test kits and other aid to fight the COVID-19 virus that is infecting and killing us. She's not speaking for herself. She's speaking for the people." Read on. The number of disrespectful, untrue criticisms Trump has made of Whitmer is appalling.

A Good Sign. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "The Seattle area, home of the first known coronavirus case in the United States and the place where the virus claimed 37 of its first 50 victims, is now seeing evidence that strict containment strategies, imposed in the earliest days of the outbreak, are beginning to pay off -- at least for now. Deaths are not rising as fast as they are in other states. Dramatic declines in street traffic show that people are staying home. Hospitals have so far not been overwhelmed. And preliminary statistical models provided to public officials in Washington State suggest that the spread of the virus has slowed in the Seattle area in recent days. While each infected person was spreading the virus to an average of 2.7 other people earlier in March, that number appears to have dropped, with one projection suggesting that it was now down to 1.4."

David Shortell, et al. of CNN: "The Justice Department has started to probe a series of stock transactions made by lawmakers ahead of the sharp market downturn stemming from the spread of coronavirus, according to two people familiar with the matter. The inquiry, which is still in its early stages and being done in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has so far included outreach from the FBI to at least one lawmaker, Sen. Richard Burr, seeking information about the trades, according to one of the sources." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll be gobsmacked if Bill Barr's DOJ raises a finger against a Republican member of Congress.

From the Washington Post live updates Sunday: "Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) warned Sunday that his state's health system is at risk of being overwhelmed with patients in a matter of days. By April 4 or 5, he said on ABC News's 'This Week,' New Orleans will be at capacity on ventilators. Next, he warned, area hospitals will be out of beds. 'We remain on a trajectory, really, to overwhelm our capacity to deliver health care,' he said. Edwards said the state has ordered 12,000 ventilators from both the national stockpile and private options but has received only 192. He warned that state officials might have to toughen enforcement....

"The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is helping New York City in the battle against the novel coronavirus by offering 50 beds to non-veteran patients who do not have covid-19, the agency announced Sunday. The 35 acute-care and 15 intensive-care-unit beds are the result of New York state's request for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which then asked VA for assistance, according to an agency statement....

"... workers spent the weekend constructing an emergency field hospital in [New York City's] Central Park. On Sunday, volunteers and officials from Samaritan's Purse, a Christian organization that provides medical aid around the globe, continued work on setting up a 68-bed facility in the park's East Meadow, across the street from Mount Sinai Hospital. The facility will hold eight intensive care units with ventilators and will be staffed by about three to four doctors and several more nurse practitioners, according to Ken Isaacs, the organization's vice president of programs and government relations. When the outbreak overwhelmed Italy, Samaritan's Purse set up a temporary hospital in Cremona, a small town east of Milan. It is the first time the organization has run simultaneous emergency units in such large, developed countries...."

Andrew Tobias of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio "Gov. Mike DeWine [R] on Sunday sharply criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approving only limited use of a new mask-cleaning technology developed by an Ohio research firm, saying the decision would harm the nation's fight to protect front-line medical workers and first responders against the coronavirus.... DeWine issued a scathing statement on Sunday morning, calling the decision 'nothing short of reckless.'... DeWine’s uncharacteristic rebuke of the federal COVID-19 response spurred a quick response, prompting ... Donald Trump and U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Stephen Hahn to call him directly within hours, according to DeWine.... Later Sunday morning, DeWine tweeted that he had spoken with Trump about the issue. Trump said he will 'do everything he can to get this approved today,' DeWine said on Twitter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Falwell Brings Back Students -- AND Covid-19. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: Jerry Falwell, Jr. "reopened the [Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.,] last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. [Thomas] Eppes, [head of the university's health services,] said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggest Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.... Of the 1,900 students who initially returned last week to campus, Mr. Falwell said more than 800 had left. But he said he had 'no idea' how many students had returned to off-campus housing.... For critical weeks in January and February, the nation's far right dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic. Mr. Falwell derided it as an 'overreaction' driven by liberal desires to damage Mr. Trump. Though the current crisis would appear epidemiological in nature, Dr. Eppes said he saw it as a reflection of 'the political divide.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story is here.

Marc Caputo of Politico: "Joe Biden has had limited success with his live-from-Wilmington coronavirus briefings. His longtime adviser, Ron Klain, is a different story. The nation's former Ebola czar recently cut a video for the Biden campaign making an animated case against Donald Trump's handling of the contagion -- a white board presentation that racked up 4.4 million views on Twitter alone. Now, the president's reelection campaign is drawing a bead on Klain. Over the past week, the president's allies have trained its fire on him, seeking to undermine his credibility and use Klain's high-profile role as the face of Biden's coronavirus response to bolster their own arguments about Biden's own competence.... While a new poll shows a majority approves of Trump's coronavirus response, it also reveals that Americans, by a 20-point margin, believe he initially reacted too slowly to the crisis -- a central component of Klain's public critique." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of Drunk "Journalism." Thom Geier of the Wrap: "Jeanine Pirro's Fox News show got a late start on Saturday night due to 'technical difficulties' -- but when the former New York state judge did appear nearly 15 minutes into her show, her usually perfectly coifed hair appeared disheveled and she seemed to many viewers to be tipsy in her verbal delivery. 'We apologize for the technical difficulties,' Pirro said when she finally appeared about a quarter into the one-hour broadcast after anchor Jackie Ibanez covered for her initial absence. Pirro's speaking was notably loose throughout the broadcast -- which a network spokesperson attributed to the lack of a teleprompter in the host's first broadcast from home." Mrs. McC: The story includes clips. I can't stand to watch Pirro sober, so I skipped clips of the drunk tank show. And, yeah, lack of a teleprompter is a common reason people slur their words. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Cedric Cromwell of the Mashpee Wamponoag Tribe: "At 4:00 pm [Friday] -- on the very day that the United States has reached a record 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and our Tribe is desperately struggling with responding to this devastating pandemic -- the Bureau of Indian Affairs informed me that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered that our reservation be disestablished and that our land be taken out of trust. Not since the termination era of the mid-twentieth century has a Secretary taken action to disestablish a reservation." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

They don't look like Indians to me. -- Donald Trump in Congressional testimony, 1993, in a hearing on Native American casinos ~~~

Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "The U.S. Interior Department is rescinding the reservation status of a Native American tribe whose plan to build a casino on its Massachusetts land was attacked by President Donald Trump last year.... Tribal members are believed to be descendants of the first Native Americans to encounter the Pilgrims nearly four centuries ago. They call themselves the 'People of the First Light.'... The tribe's proposed casino would have been competition for two casinos in Rhode Island owned by Twin River Worldwide Holdings, whose president, George Papanier, was once a finance executive at the Trump Plaza casino hotel in Atlantic City, The Washington Post reported. Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Committee, is a lobbyist for Twin River casinos.... His wife, Mercedes Schlapp, is the White House strategic communications director." --s

Martyn McLaughlin of The Scotsman: "The Rockshiel Trust, listed by Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, among his global portfolio of property holdings, has applied to build a cluster of luxury townhouses and apartments in a conservation area of Edinburgh. Since the revised plans were lodged in January, the proposed development has attracted 41 public comments to date. Every single one has registered an objection.... Mnuchin's disclosures include several other properties in Edinburgh worth up to £8m. However the US Treasury said he has no financial interest in the trust, and its inclusion in his OGE filings is because of his wife, Louise Lonton, the Scots actress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- March 29, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Falwell Brings Back Students -- AND Covid-19. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: Jerry Falwell, Jr. "reopened the [Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.,] last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. [Thomas] Eppes, [head of the university's health services,] said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggest Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.... Of the 1,900 students who initially returned last week to campus, Mr. Falwell said more than 800 had left. But he said he had 'no idea' how many students had returned to off-campus housing.... For critical weeks in January and February, the nation's far right dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic. Mr. Falwell derided it as an 'overreaction' driven by liberal desires to damage Mr. Trump. Though the current crisis would appear epidemiological in nature, Dr. Eppes said he saw it as a reflection of 'the political divide.'"

Andrew Tobias of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio "Gov. Mike DeWine [R] on Sunday sharply criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approving only limited use of a new mask-cleaning technology developed by an Ohio research firm, saying the decision would harm the nation's fight to protect front-line medical workers and first responders against the coronavirus.... DeWine issued a scathing statement on Sunday morning, calling the decision 'nothing short of reckless.'... DeWine's uncharacteristic rebuke of the federal COVID-19 response spurred a quick response, prompting ... Donald Trump and U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Stephen Hahn to call him directly within hours, according to DeWine.... Later Sunday morning, DeWine tweeted that he had spoken with Trump about the issue. Trump said he will 'do everything he can to get this approved today,' DeWine said on Twitter."

Our Nero. As the president fiddles, people are dying. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on CNN Sunday morning ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday President Trump's delay and denial in responding to the coronavirus pandemic has had 'deadly' consequences for Americans. 'His denial at the beginning was deadly, his delaying of getting equipment ... to where it is needed is deadly, and now the best thing would be to do is to prevent more loss of life, rather than open things up so that, because we just don't know,' Pelosi said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'"

Kamram Rahman of Politico: "Joe Biden urged ... Donald Trump on Sunday to 'stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply' about his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic. 'Look, the coronavirus is not the president fault, but the slow response, the failure to get going right away, the inability to do the things that needed to be done quickly -- they are things that can't continue,' the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'"

Alan Smith of NBC News: "Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he anticipates the coronavirus could kill between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans while infecting 'millions.' Speaking with CNN's 'State of the Union,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said however he does not want to be 'held' to that prediction because the COVID-19 outbreak is 'such a moving target.'"

Kamran Rahman of Politico: "The White House Coronavirus Task Force unanimously shunned ... Donald Trump's suggestion of a quarantine in the New York City area, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday. The president 'did very seriously consider' the idea of locking down the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Mnuchin said on 'Fox News Sunday.' But Trump was dissuaded after a meeting with the task force led by Vice President Mike Pence." Mrs. McC: Say what? Are these guys initiating a united front against Trump's bluster? It's not like pence & Mnuchin to stand up to Trump, especially publicly -- and on Fox "News"! (See related WashPo item on pence linked below.)

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Steve Holland of Reuters: "Trump, who initially dismissed the pandemic as 'under control,' is having to adjust his messaging to fit grim times, and some of his allies are pushing him to show more heart.... Two sources familiar with the internal dynamics of the White House said advisers twice intervened during the last week to nudge Trump to drop the strident language that is a hallmark of his presidency and instead seek to unite Americans.... After his outburst [in which he slammed NBC News reporter Peter Alexander for asking him what he had to say to fearful Americans], advisers urged Trump to 'tell people something real, something emotional, something heartfelt,' one source said. The next day, the president tried a softer tone. 'This is a time of shared national sacrifice, but it's also a time to treasure our loved ones,' he said. In the second case, Trump dropped - at least for now - his description of the disease as 'the Chinese virus' at the urging of aides.... In response, Trump sought to tamp down anti-Asian sentiment among some Americans, saying in a post on Twitter that 'it is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Surely both "concessions" were scripted by others. Sorry, Donnie, you're incapable of faking empathy. Andrew Cuomo, who is a lot tougher than you are, is able to show empathy that brings tears to the eyes of TV viewers -- because he means it. Narcissism just doesn't cut it here.

Jonathan Chait: "Trump happens to be enjoying his highest approval ratings at the moment. It is possible he will somehow maintain, or even enhance, his current standing. But his handling of the coronavirus -- even from the narrow perspective of politics, which is how Trump himself views it -- is doing almost everything to ensure that his bump is short-lived, and will eventually be followed by a long, steep decline. Trump's recent polling bump is real. The important context, though, is that every leader is getting approval bumps, and almost all of them are getting much bigger ones than Trump.... Rallying around a leader in the initial stages of a crisis is a well-known public-opinion phenomenon.... He said on camera, 'I don't take responsibility at all,' a line that will appear in almost every Democratic ad, because it violates Americans' most fundamental requirements of their leaders.... If he winds up winning reelection, it will be in spite of everything he has done so far."

Jonathan Swan & Joann Muller of Axios: "A plane from Shanghai arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York Sunday morning carrying an extraordinary load: 12 million gloves, 130,000 N95 masks, 1.7 million surgical masks, 50,000 gowns, 130,000 hand sanitizer units, and 36,000 thermometers.... The flight is the start of what might end up being the largest government-led airlift of emergency medical supplies into the United States. That's according to Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who runs the coronavirus supply chain task force at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He spoke to Axios on Saturday night. The airlift is the most dramatic part of the Trump administration's frantic attempts to catch up with a nationwide medical equipment crisis. Polowczyk told Axios that he's already booked 22 similar flights over the next two weeks. Starting with this weekend's airlift, he said, 'We have essentially a flight a day, mostly from Asia' to expedite the transport of medical equipment that distributors already plan to sell into the U.S. This weekend's first load of medical supplies will go into the New York tri-state area, Polowczyk said, and subsequent flights will distribute supplies to other parts of the country." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If Trump had done this six weeks ago, he would have won re-election. Instead, he's our Nero.

Just a Timeline Reminder. Mike Pompeo Press Statement (Feb. 7): "This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.... Today, the United States government is announcing it is prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to assist China and other impacted countries, both directly and through multilateral organizations, to contain and combat the novel coronavirus." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This would have been a really good thing -- had we had or were developing adequate supplies in the U.S. But, as Sen. Chris Murphy [D-Conn.] tweeted on Feb. 5, two days before Mike's announcement, "Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now." (Story linked below.)

Billy Bambrough of Forbes: "The U.S. dollar has taken a beating ... dropping almost 4% against a basket of currencies this week -- its biggest weekly loss since the height of the global financial crisis over 10 years ago.... On top the of the massive economic aid package, the Fed has been working hard to prop up plunging markets -- with mixed results despite its shock-and-awe firepower. Potential risks of the combined cross-party rescue bill and Fed's biggest-ever bazooka include out-of-control inflation, the dollar's displacement as the world's funding currency, and the complete destabilization of the U.S. financial system.... [A]ll told the extraordinary measures are expected to grow the Fed's balance sheet by $4.5 trillion this year. Throughout and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis the Fed grew its balance sheet by a paltry $3.7 trillion." [Firewalled] --s

** Cedric Cromwell of the Mashpee Wamponoag Tribe: "At 4:00 pm [Friday] -- on the very day that the United States has reached a record 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and our Tribe is desperately struggling with responding to this devastating pandemic -- the Bureau of Indian Affairs informed me that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered that our reservation be disestablished and that our land be taken out of trust. Not since the termination era of the mid-twentieth century has a Secretary taken action to disestablish a reservation." --s

Marc Caputo of Politico: "Joe Biden has had limited success with his live-from-Wilmington coronavirus briefings. His longtime adviser, Ron Klain, is a different story. The nation's former Ebola czar recently cut a video for the Biden campaign making an animated case against Donald Trump's handling of the contagion -- a white board presentation that racked up 4.4 million views on Twitter alone. Now, the president's reelection campaign is drawing a bead on Klain. Over the past week, the president's allies have trained its fire on him, seeking to undermine his credibility and use Klain's high-profile role as the face of Biden's coronavirus response to bolster their own arguments about Biden's own competence.... While a new poll shows a majority approves of Trump's coronavirus response, it also reveals that Americans, by a 20-point margin, believe he initially reacted too slowly to the crisis -- a central component of Klain's public critique."

Annals of Drunk Journalism. Thom Geier of the Wrap: "Jeanine Pirro's Fox News show got a late start on Saturday night due to 'technical difficulties' -- but when the former New York state judge did appear nearly 15 minutes into her show, her usually perfectly coifed hair appeared disheveled and she seemed to many viewers to be tipsy in her verbal delivery. 'We apologize for the technical difficulties,' Pirro said when she finally appeared about a quarter into the one-hour broadcast after anchor Jackie Ibanez covered for her initial absence. Pirro's speaking was notably loose throughout the broadcast -- which a network spokesperson attributed to the lack of a teleprompter in the host's first broadcast from home." Mrs. McC: The story includes clips. I can't stand to watch Pirro sober, so I skipped clips of the drunk tank show. And, yeah, lack of a teleprompter is a common reason people slur their words.

Martyn McLaughlin of The Scotsman: "The Rockshiel Trust, listed by Steve Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, among his global portfolio of property holdings, has applied to build a cluster of luxury townhouses and apartments in a conservation area of Edinburgh. Since the revised plans were lodged in January, the proposed development has attracted 41 public comments to date. Every single one has registered an objection.... Mnuchin's disclosures include several other properties in Edinburgh worth up to £8m. However, the US Treasury said he has no financial interest in the trust, and its inclusion in his OGE filings is because of his wife, Louise Linton, the Scots actress."

~~~~~~~~~~

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

From the NYT: "President Trump said on Saturday night that he would not impose a quarantine on New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but would instead issue a 'strong' travel advisory to be implemented by the governors of the three states.... Later Saturday night, the C.D.C. issued a formal advisory urging the residents of the three states to 'refrain from nonessential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.' The advisory, which was posted to the agency's website and its Twitter account, does not apply to 'employees of critical infrastructure industries,' the agency said. That includes trucking, public health professionals, financial services and food supply workers."

Getting Trump off the Hook. From the WashPo: "Vice President Pence said Saturday that in the coming week his coronavirus task force will bring its recommendations to President Trump on whether to ease social distancing requirements and reopen the U.S. economy. Pence told Fox News's Jesse Watters that the task force was 'following the data' on coronavirus infections in the country and would brief Trump accordingly. 'While the president has said he'd like to open the country up in weeks not months, we're going to be bringing that data forward to him,' Pence said in a Saturday interview. 'Ultimately, the president will make a decision that he believes is in the best interest of all of the American people.'"

Trump Has No Idea What He's Doing, Ctd. Toluse Olorunnipa & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Eager to demonstrate that he is in control of a viral outbreak that is spreading rapidly across the country, President Trump has ramped up efforts to show he is using some of his broadest powers as commander in chief. But the unprecedented push has been plagued by growing confusion about how far his authorities actually extend and how much he is willing to use them. He blindsided New York's governor Saturday by publicly announcing a potential quarantine order on the state's residents, only to retreat from the idea hours later. This came a day after he authorized his government to use the Defense Production Act, a move on which he'd been taking an on-again, off-again stance, but it remains unclear whether that power will be used. And he is due to issue new guidelines next week about whether the country should continue social distancing practices -- but he's vacillated between all but declaring victory against the coronavirus and acceding to experts who say the national slowdown may have to continue for several more weeks."

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. (Also linked yesterday) ~~~

~~~ From the NYT updates: "President Trump said Saturday that he might order a quarantine of New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut, a dramatic exercise of federal power that would impose restrictions on travel by millions of Americans in order to prevent them from carrying the coronavirus to other parts of the country. Mr. Trump offered no details about how his administration would enforce a ban on the movements in or out of three northeastern states.... Mr. Trump -- who first broached the idea of the quarantines as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York was giving a news conference -- said he had talked with Mr. Cuomo just hours earlier. Asked about Mr. Trump's suggestion, Mr. Cuomo said they had not discussed the possibility of a quarantine." Emphasis added.~~~

     ~~~ A full NYT story by Michael Shear & Annie Karni is here. "Mr. Trump floated the idea of a quarantine even as he left the White House for the first time in more than a week to travel to a naval base in Norfolk so he could trumpet the departure of the 894-foot hospital ship, saying that its 1,000 beds would play a 'critical role' in freeing up capacity at area hospitals. In reality, however, the arrival of the Comfort will help the struggling state only on the margins.... The president's decision to turn the trip to the base into a high-profile photo opportunity raised questions about safety and his use of government resources at a time when the administration's own guidelines advise against most travel and gatherings of more than 10 people." A US News story, by Paul Shinkman, is here. Mrs. McC: Response to a pandemic necessarily must be flexible. It cannot be scattershot, just making up stuff on the fly, with no planning, discussion with principals, etc. This "maybe I'll quarantine millions of people; maybe I won't; whatever" crap is inexcusable. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Kelly Mena of CNN: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday in an interview with CNN that he didn't believe a possible New York quarantine was legal and that it would be a 'federal declaration of war' after ... Donald Trump said he was considering such a tactic for the New York metro area as US coronavirus cases increase." Mrs. McC: Otherwise, everything is going very smoothly.

Amy Goldstein, et al., of the Washington Post: "On Feb. 5..., a shouting match broke out in the White House Situation Room between Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and an Office of Management and Budget official.... The dispute over funding [the federal supply of medical equipment] highlights tensions over a repository straining under demands from state officials. States desperate for materials from the stockpile are encountering a beleaguered system beset by years of underfunding, changing lines of authority, confusion over the allocatio of supplies and a lack of transparency from the administration, according to interviews with state and federal officials and public health experts. The stockpile holds masks, drugs, ventilators and other items in secret sites around the country. It has become a source of growing frustration for many state and hospital officials who are having trouble buying -- or even locating -- crucial equipment on their own to cope with the illness battering the nation.... It was never intended for an emergency that spans the entire nation." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "... as the deadly virus from China spread with ferocity across the United States between late January and early March, large-scale testing of people who might have been infected did not happen -- because of technical flaws, regulatory hurdles, business-as-usual bureaucracies and lack of leadership at multiple levels, according to interviews with more than 50 current and former public health officials, administration officials, senior scientists and company executives. The result was a lost month, when the world's richest country -- armed with some of the most highly trained scientists and infectious disease specialists -- squandered its best chance of containing the virus's spread.... Three agencies responsible for detecting and combating threats like the coronavirus [-- the CDC, FDA & DHHS --] failed to prepare quickly enough.... None of the agencies" directors conveyed the urgency required to spur a no-holds-barred defense." ~~~

~~~ Suzanne Smalley of Yahoo! News: "Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus. The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they 'didn't need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,' Murphy recalled in an interview with Yahoo News' 'Skullduggery' podcast. 'What an awful, horrible catastrophic mistake that was,' Murphy said. On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: 'Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.'"

Matthew Chapman of RawStory: "On Friday, President Donald Trump signed into law a record $2 trillion stimulus bill to help those suffering from the coronavirus pandemic -- part of which involves one-time cash payments being sent out to tens of millions of American households. But according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump wants those checks to be sent out explicitly in his name. 'Mr. Trump has told people he wants his signature to appear on the direct payment checks that will go out to many Americans in the coming weeks, according to an administration official,' wrote Siobhan Hughes and Natalie Andrews. 'Normally, a civil servant -- the disbursing officer for the payment center -- would sign federal checks, said Don Hammond, a former senior Treasury Department official.'" --s

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "... Rudy Giuliani posted a tweet featuring misinformation about the coronavirus and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which was then deleted by Twitter because it violated the platform's rules.... The tweets link now gives users the message 'This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.'" In the tweet, Rudy quotes winger Charles Kirk, who claimed that "Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to have 100% effective rate treating COVID-19. Yet Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is threatening doctors who prescribe it"

Fiona Harvey of the Guardian: "Economists and global health experts have called on G20 leaders to provide trillions of dollars to poorer countries to shore up ailing healthcare systems and economies, or face a disaster that will rebound on wealthier states through migration and health crises."--s

Amy Sullivan of ProPublica: "Several disability advocacy organizations filed complaints this week with the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, asking the federal government to clarify provisions of the disaster preparedness plans for the states of Washington and Alabama.... More than 7 million people in the U.S. have some form of cognitive disability. Some state plans make clear that people with cognitive issues are a lower priority for lifesaving treatment." --s

Kennedy Center Management Helps Out in a Time of Crisis. Peggy McGlone & Michael Brodeur of the Washington Post: "Hours after President Trump signed a stimulus bill that includes $25 million for the Kennedy Center, its president Deborah Rutter told the National Symphony Orchestra that their paychecks would end this week.... Ed Malaga, president of Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians, described the decision as outrageous and said the union has filed a grievance challenging what it believes is an illegal action.... Rutter told her staff earlier in the week that she was suspending her $1.2 million salary until the crisis ended, saying she needed to be the first to sacrifice and that more cuts were coming. Weekly payroll for the musicians is $400,00o, an arts center spokeswoman said." A Washington Free Beacon story is here.

The NRA Helps Out in a Time of Crisis. Rashaan Ayesh of Axios: "The National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups filed a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials on Friday after gun stores were deemed non-essential and required to close for the state's stay-at-home order amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.... Both Second Amendment advocates and gun control backers argue that shutting federally licensed firearms dealers could push buyers to purchase guns online or through private sales without background checks, per AP. Yes, but: Gun control advocates are also concerned about a possible uptick in new owners who don't have access to training and don't understand how to store their weapons as multiple states issue stay-at-home orders." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Oh, Wait. It Gets Worse. Justine Coleman of the Hill: "A federal agency has designated gun sellers as part of the country's 'critical' infrastructure during the coronavirus outbreak. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Saturday included 'workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges' as critical infrastructure on an advisory list.... The federal agency had not originally included the firearms industry on a list of critical infrastructure issued more than a week ago, The Associated Press" Really?? Really??? What? Shoot your neighbor if you think he has Covid-19?

Taryn Luna, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "The number of coronavirus patients in California's intensive care unit beds doubled overnight, rising from 200 on Friday to 410 on Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. The number of hospitalized patients testing positive for the coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease known as COVID-19 rose by 38.6% -- from 746 on Friday to 1,034 on Saturday, Newsom said.... California has reported more than 115 deaths and more than 5,500 cases of coronavirus around the state as of Saturday.... A Los Angeles Times data analysis found that California has 7,200 intensive-care beds across more than 365 hospitals. In total, the state has more than 70,000 beds. The Times data analysis shows roughly one intensive-care bed for every 5,500 people in California.... Newsom on Saturday said the federal government sent Los Angeles County 170 ventilators that arrived 'not working,' and now a Silicon Valley company [-- Bloom Energy --] is fixing the equipment.... Newsom said the Trump administration has not yet fulfilled the state's request for ventilators and separately sent the 170 ventilators to L.A. County."

David Smiley of the Miami Herald: "A reporter for the state capital bureau operated jointly by two of Florida's largest newspapers was denied access Saturday to a press conference by Gov. Ron DeSantis detailing the state's latest efforts to contain one of the largest outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in the country. Mary Ellen Klas, the Herald's bureau chief for the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau, said she was refused entry into the Capitol in Tallahassee to attend a press briefing by the governor ... [and other officials] regarding COVID-19... Klas said a reporter for the News Service of Florida was told that he would be shut out as well if he insisted that Klas be allowed to cover the press conference in person.... Klas said later in an interview that [state spokesman Meredith] Beatrice also told her the state was refusing her access into the Capitol because she had requested 'social distancing' at the governor's briefings.... The top editors of the Herald, Times, el Nuevo Herald, Bradenton Herald, Palm Beach Post, Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel made the same request of DeSantis' office in a March 20 letter."

Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "Millions of people across the world have lost their jobs, and trillions of dollars have been wiped off the value of stock markets. But not everyone has lost out.... Regulatory filings show that [Jeff] Bezos sold $3.4bn worth of Amazon shares in the first week of February, just before the stock price peaked. There is no suggestion that Bezos acted improperly by selling the shares or that he was acting on non-public information about the impact of the pandemic. But his timing was near-perfect.... In total US executives sold about $9.2bn in shares of the companies they run in the five weeks before the start of the stock market rout. Selling before the 30% collapse in the market saved them from paper loses of $1.9bn." --s

Juan Cole: "Demonstrating that the technologies of settler colonialism never take a break, Israeli Occupation forces have demolished an emergency clinic set up by Palestinians in a small town inside the Palestinian West Bank, according to the Israeli peace organization, Btselem.... There have already been cases of Covid-19 in the Palestinian West Bank, which is very densely populated and where Israeli Occupation policies force people to line up in crowds at military checkpoints. The Palestinian Authority is doing what it can to encourage social isolation, but it is kept weak by Israeli policy." --s

Champe Burton of The Trace: "The Trump administration has implemented new export rules for American small arms, ammunition, and gun parts -- a major victory for the American gun industry, which has lobbied for the change for more than a decade.... The arrangement [which went into effect on March 9] dramatically reduces restrictions on who can sell weapons internationally and guts oversight of where guns end up. It also eliminates a requirement to notify Congress of gun deals totaling more than $1 million.... These changes were first considered by the Obama administration in 2010, as a way to streamline the export process, but after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the proposal lost steam." --s

Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a physician who became a powerful voice in Congress on government spending and waste, died early Saturday after a long fight with prostate cancer. He was 72. Coburn, a Republican from Muskogee, served in the Senate from 2005 to 2015 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001. After leaving the Senate, he pushed for a constitutional convention and advocated for a range of conservative fiscal causes." A Washington Post obituary is here.