The Commentariat -- May 18, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Jane Timm of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Monday said he has been taking hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment for COVID-19 that he has vigorously promoted. 'A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy.... You'd be surprised at how many people are taking it,' Trump said at the White House.... I'm taking it hydroxychloroquine, right now.' The president said he has been taking the drug for 'a couple weeks' and that it was prescribed by the White House doctor. The FDA has warned against its use for COVID-19 outside of a hospital setting due to a risk of serious heart problems." Mrs. McC: He also is imbibing prodigious gulps of bleach, doctor-presribed, of course.

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

Mrs. McCrabbie: I didn't bother to read this piece in Sunday's Washington Post by Ashley Parker & Phil Rucker, but I guess ti should have. I might think Rucker took my criticism to heart: "President Trump has proclaimed the latest phase of pandemic response the 'transition to greatness.' But Trump appears poised to preside over the eventual transition more as a salesman and marketer than a decider. The United States under Trump has also retreated from its historic position of global leadership, declining, for instance, to participate in a coronavirus summit with other nations earlier this month. Amid a once-in-a-century deadly pandemic, Trump has inserted his ego squarely into the U.S. response while simultaneously minimizing his own role -- deferring critical decisions to others, undermining his credibility with confusion and misinformation, and shirking responsibility in what some see as a shrinking of the American presidency."

Trump Is So Corrupt He Doesn't Know He's Corrupt. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "After former top vaccine official Rick Bright maintained Sunday that the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic has been slow and chaotic, President Trump responded in a late-night tweetstorm, saying that whistleblowers like Bright are 'causing great injustice and harm' to the nation. In an interview with '60 Minutes,' Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, criticized the government for failing to have a clear plan in place to address the totality of the American outbreak.... Shortly after the program aired, Trump took to Twitter to again describe the concerns of Bright, who led BARDA for four years, as complaints from a 'disgruntled employee,' and he reiterated his long-standing call to undo protections for whistleblowers." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That is, when someone points to wrongdoing and/or incompetence in the Trump administration, it causes "great harm to the nation." That doesn't even make any sense. Most taxpayers want their tax dollars to be used effectively, and if someone is screwing up, they expect others to call attention to it & correct the errors. But Trump thinks the malfeasance is not the corruption or incompetence but the act of reporting corruption or malfeasance.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post:"President Trump's abrupt decision to remove the inspector general of the State Department [Steven Linick] constitutes the latest in a string of corrupt efforts to remove public servants who prioritize real oversight and accountability over protecting Trump at all costs.... House Democrats have discovered that the fired IG had mostly completed an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's widely criticized decision to skirt Congress with an emergency declaration to approve billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia last year, aides on the Foreign Affairs Committee tell me.... 'We don't have the full picture yet, but it's troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr. Linick pushed out before this work could be completed,' [Rep. Eliot] Engel [D-N.Y.] said in the statement to me.... The [arms sale to Saudis] was condemned by lawmakers in both parties who have increasingly been turning on continued U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which stretches back to the last administration and has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe. Congress subsequently voted to block the arms sales, with some Republican support, but Trump vetoed the effort." ~~~

     ~~~ A related CNN report, by Zachary Cohen, is here.

Morgant Chalfant of the Hill: "Attorney General William Barr said Monday that he does not expect a criminal investigation of former President Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden to result from the probe undertaken by U.S Attorney John Durham. 'Based on the information I have today, I don't expect Mr. Durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,' Barr told reporters at the Justice Department. 'Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others.' Barr was asked about President Trump's recent remarks encouraging investigations into Obama and other officials from the previous administration. The president suggested they were involved in criminal wrongdoing in connection with the FBI's investigation into Russian interference.... 'What happened to the president [Trump] in the 2016 election and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent,' Barr told reporters Monday. 'It was a grave injustice and it was unprecedented in American history.'" A Washington Post report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: So, at least so far, Barr has decided fake "Obamagate' are a bridge too far. We'll see if he changes his mind in the weeks before the November election.

Nick Valencia of CNN: "A senior official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday offered a pointed rebuke of White House trade adviser Peter Navarro's scathing criticism of the top health agency in the latest sign of growing tension between the CDC and the White House. 'We should remind Mr. Navarro that the CDC is a federal agency part of the administration. The CDC director is an appointed position, and Dr. (Robert) Redfield was appointed by President (Donald) Trump,' the official told CNN. 'If there is criticism of the CDC, ultimately Mr. Navarro is being critical of the President and the man who President Trump placed to lead the agency.'"

Katie Benner & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Federal investigators found cellphone evidence that links Al Qaeda to last year's deadly shooting at a United States military base in Pensacola, Fla., according to two American officials briefed on the investigation. The F.B.I. found that the gunman, Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Air Force cadet training with the American military, had communicated with a Qaeda operative who had encouraged the attacks, according to the two officials, who were not authorized to speak about it publicly ahead of an 11 a.m. news conference by Attorney General William P. Barr. The F.B.I. uncovered the links after recently bypassing the security features on at least one of Mr. Alshamrani's two iPhones without help from Apple, according to the officials." A CNN report is here.

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. economy could shrink by upwards of 30% in the second quarter but will avoid a Depression-like economic plunge over the longer term, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told '60 Minutes in an interview aired Sunday. The central bank chief also conceded that jobless numbers will look a lot like they did during the 1930s, when the rate peaked out at close to 25%[.]" The full transcript & a video of Powell's "60 Minutes" appearance is here.

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Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Moderna, the Massachusetts biotechnology company behind a leading effort to create a coronavirus vaccine, announced promising early results from its first human safety tests Monday. The company plans to launch a large clinical trial in July aimed at showing whether the vaccine works. The company reported that in eight patients who had been followed for a month and a half, the vaccine at low and medium doses triggered blood levels of virus-fighting antibodies that were similar or greater than those found in patients who recovered. That would suggest, but doesn't prove, that it triggers some level of immunity. The antibody-rich blood plasma donated by patients who have recovered is separately being tested to determine whether it is an effective therapy or preventive measure for covid-19. Moderna's announcement comes days after one of its directors, Moncef Slaoui, stepped down from the board to become chief scientist for Operation Warp Speed, a White House initiative to speed up vaccine development. Watchdogs called out Slaoui's apparent conflict of interest, noting he owns Moderna stock options worth $10 million." The story is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's uncanny the way Trump manages to taint even good news with his predilection for corruption.

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

Trump Is Projecting Again. Rishika Dugyala of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed his predecessor as 'grossly incompetent,' a day after former President Barack Obama said leaders weren't 'even pretending to be in charge' amid the coronavirus pandemic.... [President Obama] didn't name names, but the implication was clear.... 'Look,' [Trump said of Obama,] 'he was an incompetent president. That's all I can say. Grossly incompetent.'... [Trump's] brief comments on Sunday come as he pushes the unfounded 'Obamagate; conspiracy theory...."

Felicia Sonmez & Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "Tensions between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spilled out into public view on Sunday as a top adviser to President Trump criticized the public health agency's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.The comments by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro are the latest signal of how the Trump administration has sought to sideline the CDC. The agency typically plays the lead role in public health crises, but in recent weeks it's had its draft guidance for reopening held up by the White House, leaving states and localities to largely fend for themselves.Speaking on NBC News's 'Meet the Press,' Navarro sharply criticized the CDC over its production of a flawed coronavirus test kit that contributed to a nationwide delay in testing.... Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose agency oversees the CDC, pushed back against Navarro's criticism in an interview on CBS's 'Face the Nation.'" The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "Two of ... Donald Trump's top officials are now pointing the finger at the administration's own scientists and Americans' pre-existing health conditions to explain the country's world-leading Covid-19 death toll. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar suggested Sunday that underlying health conditions, including among minorities, were one reason for the high American death toll -- nearly 90,000 as of Sunday evening. And Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro added the government's own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to its list of scapegoats alongside China and the Obama administration. The White House has been escalating its effort to recast the narrative of its own chaotic response to the crisis as it aggressively pushes to reopen the country, a process vital to the fortunes of millions of people who have lost their jobs in lockdowns and its own political prospects in November.... The United States accounts for about 4.25% of the world's population, but currently has about 29% of the confirmed deaths from the disease...."

If you want to know how much your neighbors are sheltering in place, this Washington Post map has an interactive county-by-county breakdown based on cellphone location information.

WPVI Philadelphia: "Drexel [University]'s experts ... used real-life numbers to estimate how many lives were saved [by shutdowns & social distancing], and how many hospitalizations didn't happen in 30 cities around the country[.] For Philadelphia, it estimates that 45 days of being shut down, and doing social distancing spared 62-hundred lives, and kept 57-thousand people out of hospitals than if life went on as usual. There were sizable results in other cities - in Baltimore, the model estimates nearly 23-hundred fewer deaths. In Dallas, 10-thousand lives saved, while in New York City, 25-thousand lives may have been saved by changing our behavior."

Europe. Kate Connolly of the Guardian: "The mayor of Athens has said he will 'liberate' public space from cars. His counterpart in Paris says it is out of the question for the city to return to pre-coronavirus traffic and pollution levels. In Berlin, 14 miles (22 km) of new bike lanes have appeared almost overnight. Around the world, from Dublin to Sydney, cities are being radically reshaped in favour of cyclists and pedestrians as empty streets give authorities the opportunity to implement and accelerate large-scale projects. Cycling advocates and environmental activists are urging governments to ensure the revival is long-term and lasts beyond the pandemic, for fear of a pushback by the car lobby." --s

** Josh Lederman & Andrea Mitchell of NBC News: Steve Linick, "the State Department inspector general who was removed from his job Friday [by Donald Trump, at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 'recommendation,'] was looking into whether ... Pompeo made a staffer walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning and make dinner reservations for Pompeo and his wife, among other personal errands, according to two congressional officials assigned to different committees. The officials said they are working to learn whether former Inspector General Steve Linick may have had other ongoing investigations into Pompeo. The officials say the staffer who was alleged to have been made to do personal tasks is a political appointee who was serving as a staff assistant. CNN reported last year that congressional Democrats were investigating a different complaint, this one from a whistleblower, alleging that Pompeo's diplomatic security agents were made to perform similar personal tasks. The House first obtained details of the inspector general investigation late last week after learning of Linick's sudden removal." The Washington Post report is here. ~~~

~~~ Edward Wong of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo swatted away questions about his use of government resources again and again last year.... But his record is now coming under fresh scrutiny after President Trump told Congress on Friday night that he was firing the State Department inspector general -- at Mr. Pompeo's private urging, a White House official said.... Democrats and other critics of Mr. Pompeo say the cloud of accusations shows a pattern of abuse of taxpayer money -- one that may mean lawmakers will be less willing to give the administration the benefit of the doubt as congressional Democrats begin an investigation into Mr. Linick's dismissal.... Mrs. Pompeo has accompanied Mr. Pompeo on several long trips overseas.... Other secretaries of state have occasionally traveled with spouses, but some officials in the State Department say Mrs. Pompeo, a former bank executive, has played an unusually active role in running meetings and accompanying her husband on official business."

Andrea Shalal, et al. of Reuters: "U.S. lawmakers and officials are crafting proposals to push American companies to move operations or key suppliers out of China that include tax breaks, new rules, and carefully structured subsidies. Interviews with a dozen current and former government officials, industry executives and members of Congress show widespread discussions underway - including the idea of a 'reshoring fund' originally stocked with $25 billion - to encourage U.S. companies to drastically revamp their relationship with China.... U.S. reliance on China-made products ... accounted for some 18% of overall imports in 2019." --s

Presidential Race

Yesterday we learned from the NYT that Donnie Junior (Dumb) "on Saturday posted a social media message suggesting Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a pedophile, an incendiary and baseless charge that illustrates the tactics the president is turning to as he attempts to erase Mr. Biden's early advantage in key state polls." Now, we learn that Eric (Dumber) is playing, too: ~~~

~~~ Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: "Eric Trump claimed Saturday that the coronavirus will 'magically' vanish after the November election and allow the country to fully reopen -- an assertion that has no basis in science and is contradicted by health experts worldwide. In an interview with Fox News's Jeanine Pirro, Trump suggested the president's critics were using the pandemic to undermine his father's rallies, calling it a 'cognizant strategy' that would cease once it was no longer politically expedient.... The Biden campaign pushed back against Trump's comments.... 'We're in the middle of the biggest public health emergency in a century, with almost 90,000 Americans dead, 1.5 million infected, and 36 million workers newly jobless,' said Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield in a statement. 'So for Eric Trump to claim that the coronavirus is a political hoax that will 'magically' disappear is absolutely stunning and unbelievably reckless.'... President Trump himself has acknowledged the pandemic will remain a public health problem for months." An Axios story is here. Mrs. McC: It would be quite sad if a hoax made Dumber really sick.

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Heather Vogell of ProPublica: "Among the toxic contributors to the financial crisis of 2008, few caused as much havoc as mortgages with dodgy numbers and inflated values. Huge quantities of them were assembled into securities that crashed and burned, damaging homeowners and investors alike.... Twelve years later, there's evidence something similar is happening again. Some of the world's biggest banks -- including Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank -- as well as other lenders have engaged in a systematic fraud that allowed them to award borrowers bigger loans than were supported by their true financials, according to a previously unreported whistleblower complaint submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission last year. Whereas the fraud during the last crisis was in residential mortgages, the complaint claims this time it's happening in commercial properties like office buildings, apartment complexes and retail centers." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If there's a scam to be had, scammers will have it.

Beyond the Beltway

Washington State. Jim Brunner & Joseph O'Sullivan of the Seattle Times: "Controversial Spokane Valley state Rep. Matt Shea, who was suspended from the House Republican caucus after an investigation concluded he had engaged in domestic terrorism, will not seek reelection this fall. Shea did not file to run again for the Legislature as the candidate filing deadline for the August primary expired Friday afternoon, said Mike McLaughlin, elections manager for the Spokane County Auditor's Office. Shea did, however, file to run as a Republican precinct committee officer. The surprise development came after Shea had for months defiantly refused calls from Republican and Democratic leaders to resign, vowing to fight on and not bow down to what he called 'a coup' against him. Shea's decision came after a House-commissioned investigation released in December concluded the lawmaker planned and participated in domestic terrorism against the United States with his involvement in a trio of standoffs against the government." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's comforting to know that at least Washington state Republicans have some standards: they would prefer their elected officials were not terrorists.

Way Beyond

Israel. Oliver Holmes of the Guardian: "Benjamin Netanyahu has been sworn in as Israel's prime minister, heading a unity government in which he will rotate the leadership with his former rival, Benny Gantz, in a deal that could see the annexation of large parts of the West Bank.... The Netanyahu-Gantz deal also hints at the potential annexation of parts of the Palestinian territories this summer, stating that Netanyahu could bring Donald Trump's 'vision for peace' to the cabinet for discussion from 1 July." --s ~~~

~~~ Juan Cole: "The new government is a catastrophe.... It will encourage Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu to continue to dismantle Israeli democracy.... Netanyahu will be emboldened in his plan to annex some 30 percent of the Palestinian West Bank.... The usually cautious King Abdullah II of Jordan warned of 'massive conflict' were Netanyahu to follow through.... It will sideline the 20% of Israelis who are of Palestinian heritage and who have 15 seats in the 120-member Knesset or Israeli parliament. They had been on the brink of being admitted to the Israeli political game, but now will be completely marginalized. The US corporate press won't tell you this, but the reason for the inability to form a government was Israeli racism." --s

News Lede

New York Times: "Ken Osmond, who played the duplicitous teenager Eddie Haskell on the long-running sitcom 'Leave It to Beaver,' one moment a smarmy young man when talking to parents, the next moment a devilish troublemaker when the adults were out of sight, died on Monday at his home in ... Los Angeles. He was 76."

The Commentariat -- May 17, 2020

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

Audra Burch & John Eligon of the New York Times: "... former President Barack Obama delivered a virtual commencement address on Saturday, urging thousands of graduates at historically black colleges and universities 'to seize the initiative' at a time when he says the nation's leaders have fumbled the response to the coronavirus pandemic. The speech combined the inspirational advice given to graduates with pointed criticism of the handling of a public health crisis that has killed more than 87,000 Americans and crippled much of the economy.... Mr. Obama's remarks ... also appeared to be an effort to comfort and assure an American public divided by President Trump's handling of the crisis. The former president also used the moment to attempt to rally the nation in an election year around values historically championed by Democrats like universal health care, and environmental and economic justice." ~~~

     ~~~ New Lede: "Without the springtime rituals of traditional graduation ceremonies, former President Barack Obama delivered two virtual commencement addresses on Saturday, urging millions of high school and college graduates to fearlessly carve a path and 'to seize the initiative' at a time when he says the nation's leaders have fumbled the response to the coronavirus pandemic." ~~~

~~~ Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: President "Obama on Saturday criticized the handling of the coronavirus pandemic without mentioning ... Donald Trump by name, just a week after privately critiquing the administration's response to the Covid-19 crisis. ~~~

~~~ Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "And much of his advice encouraging students to become leaders doubled as an indictment of the Trump administration's management of the pandemic.... On the whole, Obama struck his signature tone of calm and measured optimism, and used the country's current economic and public health crises as springboards for discussing his usual political themes, including the importance of community organizing and finding common ground outside of comfort zones. And he also emphasized the unique injustices faced by young black people like Ahmaud Arbery at a time when some political leaders are arguing that coronavirus is an equalizer of sorts.... The speech won't be Obama's final commencement address in 2020 — his next graduation speech, to high school seniors, will take place Saturday at 8 pm ET, and he will deliver a third address to 2020 graduates at 3 pm ET on June 6." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McC: Obama's political radar is still near-perfect. What a guy! Please put him on the Supreme Court, Joe, if he'll do it. Otherwise, Secretary of State. Earth would swoon. The New York Times has the full transcript here. The page does have video of Obama's HBCU speech, but you have to find it. Here's a clip: ~~~

~~~ Here's President Obama's speech to high-school graduates:

~~~ Edward Moreno & Justine Coleman of the Hill: "College graduates are poised to enter one of the most difficult job markets in U.S. history. Nearly 4 million people are expected to graduate with a college degree this academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. They will do so amid soaring unemployment and shuttering businesses."

MEANWHILE. Trump Cheers Militant Protesters. Daniel Politi of Slate: "... Kevin Vesey, a reporter with News 12 Long Island, posted a video of what he experienced at an anti-lockdown protest in Commack, N.Y., earlier this week.... At one point, a maskless protester gets close to Vesey. 'I think you need to back away,' Vesey can be heard saying in the video. 'No, I've got hydroxychloroquine,' the protester says as he continues to approach Vesey. 'I'm fine.'... If you haven't seen it yet, Vesey's video is shocking in its rawness. The reporter films as demonstrators, many of whom are wearing Trump paraphernalia..., repeatedly heckle him and outright insult him as he walks among them.... On Friday night ... Donald Trump joined those praising the protesters who made it difficult for Vesey to do his job.' FAKE NEWS IS NOT ESSENTIAL!' Trump tweeted as he shared the video. On Saturday the president again shared the video, which includes a protester giving the reporter the finger, while he praised the demonstrators as 'great people!'"

The Reckoning. Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The government's halting response to the coronavirus pandemic represents the culmination of chronic structural weaknesses, years of underinvestment and political rhetoric that has undermined the public trust -- conditions compounded by President Trump's open hostility to a federal bureaucracy that has been called upon to manage the crisis. Federal government leaders, beginning with the president, appeared caught unaware by the swiftness with which the coronavirus was spreading through the country.... Even after the machinery of government clanked into motion, missteps, endemic obstacles and lack of clear communication have plagued the efforts to meet the needs of the nation.... This hollowing out has been going on for years as a gridlocked Congress preferred continuing resolutions and budgetary caps to hardheaded decisions about vulnerable governmental infrastructure and leaders did little to address structural weaknesses. The problems have grown worse in the past three years."

The Edward Luce piece of the Financial Times linked yesterday -- "Inside Trump's Coronavirus Meltdown" -- previously firewalled, is now free to read. --s

"Refusing to Wear a Mask Is a Uniquely American Pathology." Dahlia Lithwick of Slate explores how right-wing men, especially, have confused First Amendment rights with the right to expose others to the coronavirus. "The simplest explanation for the insistence that wearing masks is for thee, but not for me, rests in the fundamental narcissism of Donald Trump, and the booming cottage industry on the part of right-wing media in so-called vice-signaling—the performative acting out of malice and cruelty toward the weak." ~~~

~~~ Well, Not Entirely American. Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "With the news this week that Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, is in hospital with Covid-19, the virus has now penetrated the Kremlin, 10 Downing Street, the Palácio do Planalto and the White House. Putin, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump ... have had one thing in common in their responses to coronavirus: a belief or suggestion, at least in the early stages, that taking personal protective measures against the virus is somehow unseemly and at odds with their macho political brands."

"The Era of Stupid." Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe: "I have a suggestion for how we should define the Trump Years: The Era of Stupid.... There are so many 'stupid' examples one can choose from: Sharpie-gate; the president's talk of buying Greenland; his musing on whether it's possible to nuke a hurricane or inject people with disinfectants; his refusal, aped by many of his followers, to wear a mask in the midst of a global pandemic. The list goes on and on. But president's latest fixation is perhaps Peak Stupid -- 'Obamagate.'... Because we live in the Era of Stupid, many people seem primed to believe this bad thing they can't actually describe. The president said it's true. So did Tucker Carlson, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity..., The result is an entire political ecosystem devoted to the propagation of stupid.... Alas, this is the time in which we are living; when the stupid, mindless, and inane have not just entered the political mainstream, but have come to define it. All of us, whether we believe it or not, are stupider as a result." --s

Isaac Scher of Business Insider: "Last month, Russia sent the United States a shipment of Aventa-M ventilators, saying they could help with the nationwide shortage. But now, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency says the ventilators won't be used after the model has been blamed for fatal fires.... On Tuesday, a fire broke out in the intensive care unit of a St. Petersburg[, Russia,] hospital, killing five coronavirus patients. A similar fire was started in a Moscow hospital three days earlier, killing one coronavirus patient..., Russian health officials have also banned the Aventa-M ventilators in the aftermath of the fires.... Reuters previously reported that the ventilators were manufactured by a Russian firm under US sanctions." --s ~~~/p>

~~~ Carla Babb of VOA: "The United States will donate 200 medical ventilators to Moscow via U.S. military transport beginning next week, to aid against the worsening coronavirus outbreak in Russia.... The U.S. government is donating 100 percent of the cost of the ventilators, their start-up components and their delivery expenses, which officials said totals roughly $4.7 million." --s

Bob Bland in a USA Today op-ed: "One month ago ... a small group of volunteers came together to found >Masks for America and teamed up with leading health care activist Ady Barkan's Be A Hero Fund, Social Security Works and National Nurses United to get our front-line heroes the equipment they needed to stay safe as they saved lives.... Our small group of volunteers has successfully delivered nearly 200,000 FDA-certified, CDC-approved KN95 masks to front-line workers in hard hit areas -- New York City, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico  — in just a matter of weeks. But it wasn't easy, because when the federal government finally decided to act...., instead of helping us, they seized some of our PPE shipments without telling us where they were taking them.... FEMA ... seized 50,000 N95 respirators we had ordered without giving us an explanation or telling us where those respirators were going. In my 15 years of working in the manufacturing industry with international and domestic supply chains, I have never -- never -- had the federal government interfere like this."

Cronyism. Jake Pearson of Mother Jones: "An Omaha, Nebraska-based private jet company [Jet Linx Aviation, which caters to well-to-do CEOs and executives] whose principal owner [Vice Chairman John Denny Carreker and his wife, Connie] donated generously to Donald Trump and Republicans ahead of the 2016 election received $20 million in taxpayer aid from the federal bailout package passed in March.... CNBC reported on Thursday that Clay Lacy Aviation, a Van Nuys, California-based private jet company whose founder has given nearly $50,000 to the Republican National Committee and Trump, got $27 million in federal funds.... [O]f the roughly 2,000 private jet companies operating in the U.S..., they received about $157 million in taxpayer aid, less than a percent of the more than $23 billion disbursed so far for the passenger airline industry." --s

Alaska. Argumentum ad Hitlerum. Meet Your Elected Official. Hannah Knowles & Candace Buckner of the Washington Post: "The uproar began when an Alaska lawmaker emailed all 39 of his statehouse colleagues to compare health-screening stickers to the badges that singled out Jews during the Holocaust.... [State] Rep. Ben Carpenter (R) wrote Friday, sharing his dismay at a new requirement for legislators returning to the Alaska Capitol amid the novel coronavirus pandemic[:] 'Are the stickers available as a yellow Star of David?' The backlash was swift: 'Ben, this is disgusting,' one Jewish representative wrote back.... 'I don't think a tag that we're cleared to enter the building is akin to being shipped to a concentration camp,' responded another. The leader of the state House's Republican delegation said Carpenter should apologize. But Carpenter dug in. 'Can you or I -- can we even say it is totally out of the realm of possibility that covid-19 patients will be rounded up and taken somewhere?' he said later in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, arguing that officials are overreacting to the virus with limits on people's liberty. 'People want to say Hitler was a white supremacist. No. He was fearful of the Jewish nation, and that drove him into some unfathomable atrocities.' That provoked a new round of denunciations from fellow lawmakers...."

Maine. A Florida Man Delivers Protest Speech from Lexus. Charles Eichacker of the Bangor Daily News: "Former governor Paul LePage briefly returned [link fixed] to Blaine House on Saturday for a protest of the business restrictions that its current occupant, Gov. Janet Mills, has put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. LePage did not even appear to leave the vehicle -- with its Florida plates -- that he drove to the rally. Instead, in what may have been a way to avoid violating Maine's requirement that out-of-state visitors remain in quarantine for two weeks after arriving here, he parked the Lexus sedan in a small lot next to the Blaine House and used his cell phone to address a gathering of protesters about 40 feet away. Then, he pulled out of the lot and appeared to drive off[.]" --s

Michigan. Corey Williams of the AP: "A man accused of making credible death threats against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel has been charged on a terrorism count, the Wayne County prosecutor's office said Friday. Robert Tesh made the threats via a social media message to an acquaintance on April 14 and authorities concluded the message amounted to 'credible threats to kill,' prosecutor Kym Worthy said Friday in a news release." ~~~

~~~ Violet Ikonomova of Deadline Detroit describes Tesh as a "downtown Detroit real estate agent.... Online profiles and old media reports describe him as a real estate agent who was formerly marketing director for Downtown Realty. He's no longer with the brokerage after being fired in 2018 for failing to show up to work several days in a row, said owner Larry Else." Mrs. McC: I've now seen two photos of Tesh, and he looks creepy in both of them.

Texas. The State's Justices Want Texans to Die. Chris Boyette & Kelly Mena of CNN: "The Texas Supreme Court issued a stay Friday evening to keep county election officials from allowing voters who are afraid of catching coronavirus to vote by mail. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the court to step in Wednesday, arguing that election officials are 'misapplying' the state's 'disability' requirement for absentee mail-in voting amid the pandemic. Paxton, a Republican, filed a petition for Dallas, Cameron, El Paso, Harris and Travis counties. The court will hear the case on May 20 as the next state election fast approaches. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats and voting rights groups have pushed for states to expand vote-by-mail access. Those calls have been met with resistance from Republicans, who favor stricter measures that they argue ensure the integrity of the electoral process. The next election date in Texas is July 14 for a primary runoff election. The last day to apply for a mail-in ballot is July 2. The Texas Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in late March, asking a judge to allow that a Texas election provision allowing voters to cast a mail-in ballot if they suffer from a disability apply to any voter who feared for their health amid the coronavirus pandemic. On April 17, Travis County District Judge Tim Sulak issued a temporary injunction allowing any voter with coronavirus concerns to use the 'disability' election provision to request a vote-by-mail ballot. Paxton immediately filed an appeal...." ~~~

~~~ Gina Sunseri & Ella Torres of ABC News: "Texas has seen a steady rise in novel coronavirus cases and fatalities since reopening just over two weeks ago.... While the cases are still well below New York..., the steady increase shows that the curve has not yet flattened in Texas.... Hospitalizations rates have appeared to flatten, but that data is reported on a two-week lag.... Gov. Greg Abbott's communications director John Wittman told ABC News that the amount of testing has doubled since reopening, contributing to the rise in cases."

Karoina Modig of NBC News: "... on homemade placards at anti-lockdown protests in the last month, an unusual slogan has been spotted: 'Be more like Sweden.' Prominent Republican Party figures and GOP-supporting commentators have praised Sweden for its light-touch approach to the coronavirus pandemic -- it is almost unique among nations in not ordering citizens to stay indoors, while cafes and restaurants have stayed open.... But ... the Swedish Public Health Agency's strategy is based on trying to slow the spread of the virus as much as possible, not on keeping the economy going. The Swedish economy, heavily dependent on the global supply chain, is suffering just as much as many other countries. The decision to keep schools open was about freeing up health care workers to deal with the pandemic, not to stimulate the economy[.]... All Swedes have access to health care regardless of their income or ability to pay, and lifting a lockdown in the country would not leave the poor much more vulnerable to disease." ~~~

~~~ Lauren Leatherby & Allison McCann of the New York Times (May 15): Sweden's "moderated response to the coronavirus outbreak has drawn praise from some American politicians, who see Sweden as a possible model for the United States as it begins to reopen. 'We need to observe with an open mind what went on in Sweden, where the kids kept going to school,' Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, said at a hearing on Tuesday. But while Sweden has avoided the devastating tolls of outbreaks in Italy, Spain and Britain, it also has seen an extraordinary increase in deaths, mortality data show. In Stockholm, where the virus spread through migrant communities, more than twice the usual number of people died last month. That increase far surpasses the rise in deaths in American cities like Boston and Chicago, and approaches the increase seen in Paris. Across Sweden, almost 30 percent more people died during the epidemic than is normal during this time of year, an increase similar to that of the United States and far higher than the small increases seen in its neighboring countries." Mrs. McC: As usual, Rand Paul doesn't know what he's talking about.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "... Donald Trump is appealing directly to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his push for Congress to more aggressively investigate the origins of the 2016 Russia investigation. Trump's plea to McConnell (R-Ky.) comes after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) swiftly rejected Trump's calls for the panel to haul in former President Barack Obama for testimony about the FBI's handling of the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.... 'Mitch..., Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught,' [wrote] Trump, who has asserted without evidence that Obama acted improperly. 'They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country. Don't let them get away with this!' In a separate tweet, Trump wrote: 'The Republicans must play by the same rules, or die!'... In an interview Thursday on Fox News..., McConnell declined to endorse an effort to call Obama before the Senate, deferring to ... [Graham]." Mrs. McC: Here's where we anatomy students find out if a Turtle has a backbone.

Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "Two top Democrats have told the Trump administration to preserve all records related to the Friday removal of the State Department's inspector general, a late-night move that led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to warn of an acceleration in a 'dangerous pattern of retaliation' against federal watchdogs. Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) launched an investigation Saturday into the ouster of Steve Linick, the latest in a string of weekend removals of oversight officials who have clashed with the Trump administration. Engel, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, claimed Linick was fired after opening an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and said the timing suggested 'an unlawful act of retaliation.'" ~~~

~~~ Nahal Toosi of Politico: "... Donald Trump's decision to oust the State Department's inspector general may wind up backfiring on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose role in the dust-up and overall use of his perch at Foggy Bottom now face heightened scrutiny from Democrats. Pompeo's wife, Susan, also could get dragged into any inquiries that arise.... The ex-congressman has repeatedly disavowed interest in [running for Kansas' open U.S. Senate seat], even as his actions have suggested he was laying the groundwork to leap into the contest, just in case. Whatever his ambitions, Pompeo's critics say too many of his actions as America's chief diplomat seem designed to bolster his domestic standing with the GOP base.... In letters to the White House, the State Department and Linick's office..., [Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) & Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.] cited reports that Pompeo had recommended Trump fire Linick, saying, 'It is our understanding that he did so because the inspector general had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself. Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation.'... U.S. diplomats have quietly voiced concerns for many months about Susan Pompeo's role at the State Department. They note, for instance, that she occasionally travels with the secretary, requiring State Department staffers to assist her." ~~~

~~~ Conor Finnegan & Benjamin Siegel of ABC News: "Under Linick, the State Department Inspector General's office has repeatedly criticized the agency and its Trump leadership for poor performance. Last November, it found that senior Trump appointees improperly retaliated against a career civil servant over her perceived nationality and political beliefs. Last August, it said senior political appointees in charge of one bureaus treated employees in a 'harsh and aggressive manner' and created a 'negative and "vindictive" environment.'... Appointed to the role in 2013 by President Barack Obama, Linick is a career government lawyer who served as a senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush and assistant U.S. attorney in California and Virginia under President Bill Clinton." ~~~

The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power. -- Sen. Mitt Romney, in a tweet Saturday ~~~

~~~ Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump accelerated his retaliatory purge of public servants by firing the State Department's inspector general, who had played a minor role in the president's impeachment proceedings and was said to have begun investigating alleged misconduct by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Acting on Pompeo's recommendation, Trump abruptly terminated Steve A. Linick late Friday night, again challenging established norms of American governance in his push to rid the federal bureaucracy of officials he considers insufficiently loyal to or protective of him and his administration.... Although [inspectors general] technically are political appointees, their independence has long been protected."

~~~ Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "While Democrats appear to believe an inquiry into Pompeo may be behind this loss of confidence, it's also possible that Trump plans to release Linick due to his small role in 2019's impeachment proceedings. While he did not testify, Linick did hand over documents to Congress that had been given to the State Department by Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer. [Trump removed] a number of officials involved in those proceedings ...from their posts.... 'The assault on the [inspector generals] is late-stage corruption, and Trump's kicking down one of the last bulwarks that stand between us and the burgeoning corruption-driven authoritarianism,' tweeted Walter Shaub, the former White House ethics chief who resigned in 2017.... [He added] that Trump's moves are signs of a 'collapsing republic.'" ~~~

~~~ Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "The Trump message continues to get stronger every day. If you so much as open an investigation against someone in the Trump administration, you're fired. Needless to say, this poses a problem. The job of an inspector general is to audit the cabinet department he works for. But since Trump is currently president, everyone in every cabinet department is part of the Trump administration. This basically means that the entire IG corps is on notice not to seriously investigate anyone." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to some legal expert I heard on CNN, the president* cannot fire an IG because he doesn't "have confidence" in the IG, as Trump wrote in a letter to Pelosi (see Vox's report & elsewhere), but only if the IG has proved guilty of some dereliction of duty, like, say, being drunk on the job or shtumping the Secretary's wife during office hours (oh, Steve, you didn't!). It's been my observation over the years that IGs often conduct investigations at the request of legislators from the opposing party. Needless to say, the subjects of these investigations are not likely to be ones that please the administration. The president or president* is not supposed to like it, even if he should want to know if some subordinates are behaving badly. As Drum lays out, investigating the department s/he works for is her or his job.

J. Edward Moreno of The Hill: "Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford admitted Friday that he was involved in an extra-marital affair with a former Senate intern...,.Gabriela Linder, who interned for former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 2009.... First elected in 2012 then again in 2018, Horsford is the first black person elected to represent Nevada in Congress. He has been married since 2000 and has three children. The affair reportedly happened from 2009-2010 and then again from 2017-2019." --s

Presidential Race

"Donald Trump Jr. Smears Biden with Baseless Instagram Post." Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "President Trump's eldest son on Saturday posted a social media message suggesting Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a pedophile, an incendiary and baseless charge that illustrates the tactics the president is turning to as he attempts to erase Mr. Biden's early advantage in key state polls. Donald Trump Jr., who is one of his father's most prominent campaign surrogates, put on Instagram a picture of Mr. Biden saying: 'See you later, alligator' alongside an image of an alligator saying: 'In a while, pedophile.' When a reporter shared the Instagram post online, the younger Mr. Trump, echoing one of his father's tactics, wrote on Twitter that he was only 'joking around.'.... Yet in the same Twitter post, he also reprised his original insinuation. He accused the former vice president of 'unwanted touching' alongside a collage of photographs of Mr. Biden showing affection for children. The misleading images were mostly taken from public swearing-in ceremonies at the Capitol, where the former vice president warmly greeted lawmakers and their families." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Good for Martin & the Times for getting a story right, and not making total trash talk a he-said/he-said story, as the Times is wont to do.

Marty Johnson of the Hill: "President Trump on Saturday lashed out at the Obama administration's early handling of the Russia investigation, mocked the news media and flatly dismissed his presumptive Democratic rival >Joe Biden in an hours-long tweetstorm. Trump, who is at Camp David for the weekend, spent much of the first half of Saturday sharing various articles and tweets aimed at buttressing his allegations against Obama-era officials and poking at ;various perceived critics." Mrs. McC: But, you know, all he cares about is you.

AP: "Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, a high-profile critic of ... Donald Trump who quit the GOP and became an independent, announced Saturday he would not seek the Libertarian nomination for the White House, weeks after saying he was running because voters wanted an 'alternative' to the two major parties. In deciding to drop out, he cited the challenges of trying to campaign as a third-party candidate during the coronavirus pandemic." The Washington Post's report, by Dave Weigel, is here. The New York Times' report, by Alexander Burns, is here.

Rich Shapiro of NBC: "Luke Denman, 34, was one of two ex-Green Berets [the other being fellow Army veteran Aidan Berry] arrested in a foiled plot to oust Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. He's now locked up in a Venezuelan jail, his fate in the hands of a leader the U.S. government considers a dictator responsible for tens of millions of his people going hungry.... A third ex-Green Beret, Jordan Goudreau, claimed responsibility for the plot.... In interviews with NBC News, a half dozen family members and close friends of Denman and Berry said they believe the former Special Operations soldiers would have only participated in such an operation had the two men been convinced it was supported by the U.S. government.... Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the U.S. had no 'direct involvement' in the operation." --s

Jillian Ambrose of the Guardian: "Beer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from 'all-plant' bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into plastic in partnership with major beverage makers. A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels.... Globally around 300 million tonnes of plastic is made from fossil fuels every year, which is a major contributor to the climate crisis.... The bio-refinery plans ... could appear on supermarket shelves by 2023." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Puerto Rico. Danica Coto of the AP: "Gov. Wanda Vázquez announced on Saturday that she will hold a nonbinding referendum in November to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a U.S. state, a move that comes amid growing disillusion with the island's U.S. territorial status. For the first time in the island's history, the referendum will ask a single, simple question: Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted as a U.S. state? It's an answer that requires approval from U.S. Congress and a question that outraged the island's small group of independence supporters and members of the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which supports the status quo. But it's a gamble that members of the governor's pro-statehood party are confident will pay off given that Puerto Rico has struggled to obtain federal funds for hurricanes Irma and Maria, a string of recent strong earthquakes and the coronavirus pandemic amid growing complaints that the island does not receive fair and equal treatment."

The Commentariat -- May 16, 2020

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Lim & Zachary Brennan of Politico: "... Donald Trump formally announced the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline and a general in charge of Army readiness will lead the government's effort to speed the development of potential coronavirus vaccines. Moncef Slaoui, who left GlaxoSmithKline in 2017, will be chief scientist of what the administration has deemed Operation Warp Speed. "That means big and it means fast," Trump said, comparing the operation to the Manhattan Project, a program to develop an atomic bomb that employed more than 100,000 people. Army Gen. Gustave Perna will be the chief operating officer for the project." Mrs. McC: I watched a few minutes of Trump's self-congratulatory press event (yes, I know that's redundant). I don't know if he needs glasses or has dyslexia or what. He reads like a second-grader. A child stumbling over new words is not at all remarkable; an adult stumbling again & again is disconcerting. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Carolyn Johnson, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump formally unveiled an initiative Friday afternoon aimed at making hundreds of millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine broadly available by year's end — a goal that many scientists say is unrealistic and could even backfire by shortchanging safety and undermining faith in vaccines more broadly. The Rose Garden news conference added to a week of confusing and contradictory remarks about the prospects and timeline for a vaccine, which is seen as the key to returning to normal life. A day earlier, a former top U.S. vaccine official testified before Congress that he was doubtful about the 12-to-18-month time frame frequently touted as a goal. The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases testified Tuesday that 12 to 18 months was possible but there was no guarantee a vaccine would work at all.... Outside scientists said it was dangerous to set public expectations that a vaccine could be available by any deadline, given the many scientific unknowns and the fact that the first candidates are just now being injected into humans." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

M-Beep Beep. Daniel Dale & Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "When blaring truck horns intruded on ... Donald Trump's Friday speech in the White House Rose Garden about the search for a coronavirus vaccine, Trump [falsely] claimed that this was the sound of a pro-Trump protest. 'And you hear that outside, that beautiful sound -- those are truckers that are with us all the way. They are protesting in favor of President Trump, as opposed to against,' Trump said. 'There's hundreds of trucks out there, and that's the sign of love. Not the sign of your typical protest. So I want to thank our great truckers. They like me and I like them.' At another Rose Garden speech later in the day, Trump said, 'Those are friendly truckers. They're on our side. It's almost a celebration, in a way.' Trump had made a similar claim about the protesters in an interview he taped Wednesday with Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo.... 'Well, they're not protesters. They're supporters of me.'... All three of Trump's claims were false. The truckers who have lined streets near the White House since May 1 are indeed protesters, not people holding any kind of celebration -- and they are protesting a variety of issues affecting their jobs, not protesting in favor of Trump.... 'This is a protest,' [trucker Greg] Anderson said. 'Mr. Trump elaborated that we were here to support him. Our message to him would be this is a protest against bad regulation, broker transparency, truck insurance, so on and so forth. This is not here to support Trump. We're here to get resolution and bring awareness to our problem and fix our problems.'" ~~~

~~~ A Few Other Odd and/or Untrue Things Donald Trump Said During the Briefing.

We think we're going to have a vaccine in the pretty near future. And if we do, we're going to really be a big step ahead. And if we don't, we're going to be like so many other cases where you had a problem come in, it'll go away.

The vast majority, many people don't even know they have it [Covid-19]. They have it or they have sniffles or they have a very minor sign and they recover. Not only recover, they probably have immunity, whether it's short term, long term, but they have probably immunity. And I think people have to understand that. That's why I think the schools should be back in the fall.

Scientists at the NIH began developing the first vaccine candidate on January 11th, think of that, within hours of the virus's genetic code being posted online. So January 11th, most people never even heard what was going on January 11th. And we were out there trying to develop a vaccine, not even knowing what we were up against.

We have a great plan to prevent the spread, but that doesn't mean we're going to close our country for five years.

Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: "Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Friday the White House still has confidence in a rapid COVID-19 test it has been using despite new data suggesting the test may return false negatives. The head of the Food and Drug Administration [Steve Hahn] said Friday his agency has provided new guidance to the White House after data suggested that the test used by ... Donald Trump and others every day may be inaccurate and provide false negatives. The test by Abbott Laboratories is used daily at the White House to test Trump, key members of his staff as well as any visitor to the White House complex who comes in close proximity to the president or Vice President Mike Pence.... White House officials on Friday continued using the Abbot ID Now test.... FDA commissioner Steve Hahn said that if a person is suspected of having the disease caused by the coronavirus, 'it might be worth, if the test is negative, getting a second confirmatory test. That's what our guidance is about.' Hahn, asked on CBS on Friday whether he'd continue to recommend using the test at the White House, said, 'That will be a White House decision.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Recently people on the right have started pushing a ludicrous pseudo-scandal they're calling Obamagate. It holds that investigations by Barack Obama's administration into Russia's attack on the 2016 U.S. presidential election were a form of illicit sabotage of Donald Trump and his team. The story doesn't really make sense, which is why, when asked about Obamagate, President Trump couldn't describe it.... But Obamagate is also a way to distract at least some segment of the country from a very real and very grave scandal: Trump's calamitous mishandling of the coronavirus crisis.... On Thursday, as Trump was on Twitter asking Senator Lindsey Graham to drag Obama before Congress, [Dr. Rick] Bright testified before a House subcommittee.... He described months of government lassitude early in the coronavirus outbreak, and an administration that has yet to even formulate -- never mind execute -- a plan for containing the pandemic....The real scandal of a looted government leaving citizens prey to death and destitution will fuel ever more histrionic fake ones." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lenny Bernstein, et al., of the Washington Post: "The meager guidelines for safely reopening the country released this week are the latest sign of the Trump administration's efforts to sideline >the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the increasing tension between the White House and the world-renowned public health agency. With Americans waiting for expert advice on how to resume a semblance of normal life during the pandemic, the CDC released just six short 'decision trees' Thursday while the rest of its lengthy proposal remains under review at the White House, where it has been for weeks. Instead of assuming its traditional lead role in a public health crisis, the 73-year-old agency has become just one of many voices providing often contradictory instructions to a confuse and imperiled public.... Some in the White House, including coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah L. Birx and Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, have begun to take aim at the leadership and communication skills of the CDC's director, Robert Redfield." ~~~

~~~ Perhaps this is the kind of "communication skill" that irks Birx & Meadows: ~~~

     ~~~ Susannah Luthi of Politico: "The United States is heading toward more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths by June 1, with leading mortality forecasts still trending upward, CDC Director Robert Redfield tweeted on Friday. His assessment cited 12 different models tracked by his agency and marked the first time Redfield has explicitly addressed the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths, even as the Trump administration turns its strategy toward reopening the economy.... 'As of May 11, all [12 models] forecast an increase in deaths in the coming weeks and a cumulative total exceeding 100,000 by June 1,' he tweeted.... The CDC director has been mostly sidelined in the government's public-facing response to the Covid-19 pandemic."

Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) halted a coronavirus testing program promoted by billionaire Bill Gates and Seattle health officials pending reviews. The program sought to send test kits to the homes of people both healthy and sick to try to bring the country to the level of testing officials say is necessary before states can begin safely reopening. The program, which had already gone through thousands of tests, found dozens of cases that had been previously undiagnosed. The Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN) said on its website that the FDA had asked it to pause testing while it receives additional authorizations, but maintained its procedures are safe.... The pause is emblematic of the fractured national response to the coronavirus, with federal officials proposing guidelines but leaving much of the implementation and administering of tests to states and localities.... An FDA spokesperson told The New York Times, which was the first to report on the pause, that the home testing kits raised concerns over safety and accuracy of the results." ~~~

~~~ Mike Baker of the New York Times: "... the Seattle program ... has wide backing, including from public health leaders, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Mr. Gates, whose foundation has been deeply involved in fighting the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also provided an in-person technical adviser to the project.... The Seattle partnership that is conducting the testing, the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, said in a statement that it had been in conversation with the Food and Drug Administration about its program for about 10 weeks and submitted data a month ago."

Calling Dr. Trump. Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "For two months, President Trump repeatedly pitched hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective treatment for coronavirus, asking would-be patients 'What the hell do you have to lose?' Growing evidence shows that, for many, the answer is their lives. Clinical trials, academic research and scientific analysis indicate that the danger of the Trump-backed drug is a significantly increased risk of death for certain patients. Evidence showing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating covid-19 has been scant. Those two developments pushed the Food and Drug Administration to warn against the use of hydroxychloroquine outside of a hospital setting last month, just weeks after it approved an emergency use authorization for the drug. Alarmed by a growing cache of data linking the anti-malaria drug to serious cardiac problems, some drug safety experts are now calling for even more forceful action by the government to discourage its use. Several have called for the FDA to revoke its emergency use authorization, given hydroxychloroquine's documented risks."

Erica Green of the New York Times: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is using the $2 trillion coronavirus stabilization law to throw a lifeline to education sectors she has long championed, directing millions of federal dollars intended primarily for public schools and colleges to private and religious schools.... She has directed school districts to share millions of dollars designated for low-income students with wealthy private schools. And she has nearly depleted the 2.5 percent of higher education funding, about $350 million, set aside for struggling colleges to bolster small colleges -- many of them private, religious or on the margins of higher education -- regardless of need.... On the Senate floor this week, Senator Chuck Schumer ... accused Ms. DeVos of 'exploiting congressional relief efforts.' He said she had been 'using a portion of that funding not to help state or localities cope with the crisis, but to augment her push for voucherlike programs, a prior initiative that has nothing to do with Covid-19.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

** Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The House on Friday approved the most radical change to its rules in generations, allowing its members to cast committee and floor votes from afar -- the culmination of a months-long struggle to adapt the 231-year-old institution to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite bipartisan frustrations with the virus's effect on the legislative process, the changes, which include temporarily authorizing remote committee work and proxy voting on the House floor, were adopted along party lines. The vote was 217 to 189. Democratic leaders pushed forward with the changes this week after failing to come to terms in two weeks of negotiations with Republicans, who firmly opposed several key measures in the proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and top Democrats said the changes were temporary and tailored to the current crisis...." A Hill story is here.

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Democrats on Friday passed a $3 trillion tax cut and spending bill aimed at addressing the devastating economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak by directing huge sums of money into all corners of the economy. But the White House and Senate Republicans have decried the measure's design and said they will cast it aside, leaving uncertain what steps policymakers might take as the economy continues to face severe strains. The sweeping legislation ... passed 208-199. Fourteen Democrats defected and opposed the bill, reflecting concerns voiced both by moderates and liberals in the House Democratic caucus about the bill's content and the leadership-driven process that brought it to the floor. The bill won support from just one Republican: Rep. Pete King of New York." A Politico story is here. Update: the New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House on Friday evening defeated a Republican effort to prevent undocumented immigrants from retroactively receiving stimulus payments amid the coronavirus pandemic. Thirteen Democrats broke party lines and voted in favor of the GOP effort to strip language about the payments from Democrats' $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The effort to amend Democrats' broader HEROES Act at the eleventh hour failed in a 198-209 vote."

Maggie Severn of Politico: "The insider trading investigation stemming from Sen. Richard Burr's sale of stocks ahead of the coronavirus pandemic highlights the North Carolina Republican's long record of investing in companies with business before his committees, according to a Politico review of eight years of his trades. While Burr sat on committees focused on health care, taxes and trade, he and his wife bought and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in an array of health care companies, banks and corporations with business overseas. At times, Burr owned stock in companies whose specific industries he advanced through legislation. Those trades are entirely legal, as long as he can prove that he didn't act on private information. But the co-mingling of legislative responsibilities and personal financial dealings has long worried ethics specialists, who insist that such trading amounts to a serious conflict of interest, even if it doesn't reach the level of insider trading."

Sapna Maheshwari & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "J.C. Penney, with its budget-friendly clothing for families and reliable home furnishings, was for years a cornerstone of American malls and an undeniable success story. What started as a humble dry goods store in Wyoming in 1902 was a century later a national chain with a household name and more than 1,000 locations. But on Friday, the company filed for bankruptcy protection after a prolonged decline over the past 20 years, becoming the latest and largest retailer to fall during the coronavirus pandemic, which has devastated the industry. The chain has more than 800 stores and nearly 85,000 employees."

Covid-19 Is a Message from God. Elana Schor & Hannah Fingerhut of the AP: "The coronavirus has prompted almost two-thirds of American believers of all faiths to feel that God is telling humanity to change how it lives, a new poll finds." Mrs. McC: But will there be pilgrimages to Wuhan? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Your Friday Night News Dump. Trumpists Euthanize Another Watchdog. Meredith McGraw & Nahal Toosi of Politico: "State Department Inspector General Steve Linick has been fired, according to a senior administration official and a congressional aide. Linick, a Justice Department veteran appointed to the role in 2013 by then President Barack Obama, is the latest of a slew of inspectors general to be ousted in recent months.... A State Department spokesperson said that Amb. Stephen Akard, a former career Foreign Service officer, 'will now lead the Office of the Inspector General at the State Department,' noting that Akard was previously confirmed by the Senate as head of the department's Office of Foreign Missions." ~~~

~~~ Update. Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump continued his purge of inspectors general late Friday, moving to oust Steve A. Linick, who had served in that post at the State Department since 2013, and replacing him with an ambassador with close ties to Vice President Mike Pence.... The decision to remove Mr. Linick, first reported Friday night by Politico, is the latest in a purge of inspectors general whom Mr. Trump has deemed insufficiently loyal to his administration, upending the traditional independence of the internal watchdog agencies whose missions are to conduct oversight of the nation's sprawling bureaucracy.... The removals of the inspectors general -- and their replacements by allies of the president's -- are part of an aggressive move by Mr. Trump and his top aides against who he considers to be 'deep state' officials in many key agencies and who he believes are opposed to his agenda.... 'The late-night, weekend firing of State Department IG Steve Linick is an acceleration of the President's dangerous pattern of retaliation against the patriotic public servants charged with conducting oversight on behalf of the American people,' [Speaker Nancy Pelosi] said in a statement on Twitter.... In his statement, [Rep. Eliot] Engel [(D-Mass.), chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs,] said that he had learned that Mr. Linick's office had opened an investigation into [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo. Mr. Engel said that 'Mr. Linick's firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.'"

Evan Perez & David Shortell of CNN: "Before the Justice Department moved last week to drop the charges against Michael Flynn..., department officials and the FBI were in sharp disagreement over whether prosecutors and agents had improperly withheld documents relevant to the case. Behind the scenes, a set of documents produced late last month in a review of the case ordered by Attorney General William Barr, including notes handwritten by a senior FBI official and emails between investigators, divided the officials who handled them and argued over their importance, multiple US officials briefed on the matter said.... When the motion to dismiss was filed last week, the signatures of career prosecutors who had handled the case for months were conspicuously absent, and one prosecutor had withdrawn from the case entirely. Justice Department officials say the career prosecutors didn't support the legal theory ultimately cited to toss the case.... Now, some of the lawyers involved in the matter believe the department has left open the prospect that prosecutors and agents who oversaw the Flynn case could face disciplinary action."

Burr's Revenge. Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "In a final act before stepping down as chairman, Sen. Richard Burr R-N.C., has asked the Trump administration to quickly declassify the last portion of the Senate Intelligence Committee's bipartisan report on Russian election interference, a 1,000-page volume on the committee's 'counterintelligence findings.'... The executive branch gets to decide what is and isn't classified, and some Democrats immediately expressed skepticism that the Senate volume report would be made public before November.... A joint announcement with ranking Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia ... said [the committee had] prepared what they have deemed to be an unclassified version of the report, which, in theory, they could release on the Senate floor whether or not the DNI [Trump lackey Richard Grenell] agrees. Under the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause, lawmakers may not be prosecuted for things they say as part of the legislative process. In 1971, an Alaska senator entered 4,000 pages of the classified Pentagon Papers into the Congressional record."

Presidential Race

Mike Memoli of NBC News: "... Joe Biden said Thursday that he would not pardon ... Donald Trump if elected and insisted any prosecutorial decisions would be left to a more independent Justice Department. Answering questions in a virtual town hall-style event on MSNBC Thursday..., Biden, while not speaking to any specific potential charge, committed to ensuring that any prosecutorial decisions would be dictated by the law, in contrast to what he called the 'dereliction of duty' by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr. 'It's hands off completely. The attorney general is not the president's lawyer. It's the people's lawyer,' Biden said. 'We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Over the past decade, [Tara] Reade[, who has accused Joe Biden of sexually abusing her,] has left a trail of aggrieved acquaintances in California's Central Coast region who say they remember two things about her -- she spoke favorably about her time working for Biden, and she left them feeling duped. As part of an investigation into Reade's allegations against Biden -- charges that are already shaping the contours of his campaign against a president who has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by multiple women -- Politico interviewed more than a dozen people, many of whom interacted with Reade through her involvement in the animal-rescue community.... A number of those in close contact with Reade over the past 12 years ... laid out a familiar pattern: Reade ingratiated herself, explained she was down on her luck and needed help, and eventually took advantage of their goodwill to extract money, skip rent payments or walk out on other bills. The people quoted in this article provided ... [documentation]. Politico also reviewed dozens of public records.... Many of those who knew her well in recent years said she frequently lied or sought to manipulate them...." ~~~

~~~ Daniel Bush & Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour: "The PBS NewsHour spoke with 74 former Biden staffers, of whom 62 were women, in order to get a broader picture of his behavior toward women over the course of his career, how they see the new allegation, and whether there was evidence of a larger pattern. None of the people interviewed said that they had experienced sexual harassment, assault or misconduct by Biden. All said they never heard any rumors or allegations of Biden engaging in sexual misconduct, until the recent assault allegation made by Tara Reade.... Many said that her sexual assault allegation was at odds with their knowledge of Biden's behavior toward women. The interviews revealed previously unreported details about the Biden office when Reade worked there, such as an account that she lost her job because of her poor performance, not as retaliation for lodging complaints about sexual harassment, as Reade has said.... Overall, the people who spoke to the NewsHour described largely positive and gratifying experiences working for Biden, painting a portrait of someone who was ahead of his time in empowering women in the workplace.... Ben Savage, who said his desk was next to Reade's in the Biden mailroom, disputed her charge that she was forced out of her job in retaliation for a sexual harassment complaint she claims to have filed.... 'Of all the people who held that position, she's the only one during my time there who couldn't necessarily keep up or who found it frustrating,' said Savage, who worked in the office for three years, from 1993 to 1996."

Now, here's an effective & honest way to report out Trump's fake Obamagate conspiracy theory:~~~

     ~~~ Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "Mediaite founder and ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams went on a tear during his SiriusXM show Friday calling the idea of the 'Obamagate' scandal '100 percent bullshit.' 'Fox News and conservative media have been talking about it incessantly, and yet then you get the left media or the middle media sort of ignoring it because they don't think it's worthy of addressing...,' Abrams said. 'There's some coverage of it, but it doesn't allow you to really dig in and understand what's going on.... This is a really important thing to focus on because it now appears it's going to be a central part of President Trump's arguments going forward.'"

Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "Even by President Trump's standards, it was a rampage: He attacked a government whistle-blower who was telling Congress that the coronavirus pandemic had been mismanaged. He criticized the governor of Pennsylvania, who has resisted reopening businesses. He railed against former President Barack Obama, linking him to a conspiracy theory and demanding he answer questions before the Senate about the federal investigation of Michael T. Flynn. And Mr. Trump lashed out at Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic challenger. In an interview with a supportive columnist, Mr. Trump smeared him as a doddering candidate who 'doesn't know he's alive.'... That was all on Thursday. Far from a one-day onslaught, it was a climactic moment in a weeklong lurch by Mr. Tru​mp back to ​​the darkest tactics that defined his rise to political power​. Even those who have grown used to Mr. Trump's conduct in office may have found themselves newly alarmed by the grim spectacle of a sitting president deliberately stoking the country's divisions and pursuing personal vendettas in the midst of a crisis that has Americans fearing for their lives and livelihoods." The reporters go on to describe Trump's re-election "strategy," one he often steps on with his weird outbursts & off-message remarks.

Stephen Colbert interviews John Lithgow about his upcoming illustrated book of poems, Humpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link:

Tom Sykes of the Daily Beast: "Hackers who broke into the networks of a celebrity law firm have doubled their ransom demand to $42 million and threatened to reveal 'dirty laundry' on Donald Trump in a week if they are not paid in full. On Thursday, the hackers of Grubman, Shire, Meiselas & Sacks posted a new message, saying 'The ransom is now $42,000,000.... The next person we'll be publishing is Donald Trump. There's an election going on, and we found a ton of dirty laundry.' They added, 'Mr. Trump, if you want to stay president, poke a sharp stick at the guys, otherwise you may forget this ambition forever.... Grubman, we will destroy your company down to the ground if we don't see the money.' It is not clear why the hackers connected Trump to the firm as he has never been a client, [the New York Post's] Page Six says."

News Lede

Hollywood Reporter: "Fred Willard, the clever comic actor who played clueless characters to perfection on Fernwood 2 Night, Everybody Loves Raymondand as a member of a great ensemble in several Christopher Guest mockumentaries, has died. He was 86. Willard died Friday night in Los Angeles of natural causes, his agent Michael Eisenstadt told The Hollywood Reporter." Willard's New York Times obituary is here.