The Ledes

Thursday, October 10, 2024

CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”

The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the Weater Channel's live updates.

CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.

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The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Washington Post: “Hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a spate of unusually strong and long-lived tornadoes touched down across the state, flipping tractor-trailers and ripping off roofs. The twisters surprised anxious residents, even as the storm’s eye still loomed. Authorities said there had been 'multiple' deaths after the intense and destructive tornadoes.” MB: I'm still on Florida's emergency-call list, and I received several calls from Lee County, urging me to shelter in place.

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a 'life-threatening' storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “Milton carved a path of destruction after crashing ashore Wednesday evening on Florida’s Gulf Coast, making landfall near Sarasota as the second powerful hurricane to pound the region in less than two weeks. The storm battered the state for much of the day, with heavy winds, pelting rain and a spate of tornadoes.... By around midnight, the storm had destroyed more than 100 homes, killed several people in a retirement community and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.”

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Wednesday
Mar042020

The Commentariat -- March 5, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** No Country for Women. Astead Herndon & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told her staff she was dropping out of the presidential race on Thursday, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall." The NBC News story is here.

Every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry, because I wish that were not true. I so wish that we had a woman president of the United States, and we came so close to doing that... I do think there's a certain element of misogyny. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at her weekly press conference Thursday

This Is Going to Be Painful:

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you think a debate between Joe Biden & Bernie Sanders is going to make Democrats look like the Party of the Future, you have another think coming. Also too, aren't these the two people in America most likely to get the coronavirus and get it bad?

Mistakes Were Made. Matt Yglesias of Vox, who is sympathetic to Bernie Sanders, assesses the Sanders campaign. ~~~

~~~ Bernie Suddenly Feels the Barack:

On the teevee, they're calling this "officially a two-man race." But Tulsi Gabbard!

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Thursday easily passed more than $8 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus, sending the measure to President Trump, who is expected to sign it. Senators voted 96-1 on the bill, which was finalized and cleared the House the day before.... [Sen. Rand] Paul [R-Ky.] was the lone senator to vote against the final measure Thursday." Mrs. McC: Of course.

Farah Stockman & Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Nurses in two states who are responding to the onslaught of novel coronavirus cases said in interviews this week that they lack protective equipment, training on how to use whatever equipment they have been given, and clear protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe. Some nurses in the two states, Washington State and California, said they have been asked to watch online videos -- rather than have in-person training -- about how to spot the virus and how to put on and take off hazmat suits. Others said they have had to beg for N95 masks, which are thicker and block out much smaller particles than surgical masks do. And still others said they have faced ridicule when expressing concerns about catching the highly contagious virus."

Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A top State Department official said Thursday that Russia is behind 'swarms of online, false personas' that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social-media sites, stressing the 'entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.' The latest warning came from Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government's Global Engagement Center, in testimony to Congress.... The Kremlin, in particular, 'seeks to weaken its adversaries by manipulating the information environment in nefarious ways, by polarizing political conversations, and attempting to destroy the public's faith in good governance, independent media, and democratic principles,' she said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As I was posting this link, I was listening to an MSNBC report about Trump's spreading misinformation about coronavirus. In addition, Romm writes that the State Department has added to the confusion of who's behind the misinformation inasmuch as "the State Department report on coronavirus ... did not mention Russia." So I guess I'd put it down to Trump, Trump toadies & Russia. It's one of those conspiracies where the actors don't necessarily speak to each another but reinforce one another as they work toward the same end.

~~~~~~~~~~

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, just over three months after he began a campaign that was fueled by his vast fortune and quickly grew to a sprawling political operation but failed to win the groundswell of moderate support he had sought. Mr. Bloomberg endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr., saying that he had the best shot to beat President Trump.... In an unprecedented effort to self-finance a presidential campaign -- which some rivals derided as an attempt to buy the White House -- Mr. Bloomberg's bid cost him more than half a billion dollars in advertising alone. He also spent lavishly on robust on-the-ground operations, with more than 200 field offices across the country and thousands of paid staff. His operation dwarfed those of Democratic rivals who ultimately won states in which he had installed many dozens of employees and spent heavily on radio, television and direct mail ads." A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Do not mess with Jill Biden's husband. She will slap you down:

     ~~~ Here's a WashPo story on Jill versus the Vegans. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Amber Jamieson of BuzzFeed News: "A vegan protester storming the stage of Joe Biden's victory speech on Super Tuesday got tackled by two unlikely linebackers: the candidate's wife, Jill Biden, and his senior adviser, Symone Sanders.... A security guard stopped the protester (Biden does not have Secret Service protection) and pulled her away as she chanted 'let dairy die.' Jill Biden immediately blocked her husband with her body. But then a second protester stormed the stage, and the women of the Biden campaign fought back.... Jill physically grabbed the protester by the wrists and pushed her away. Sanders ... ran after the protester, tackling her and dragging her offstage.... Another angle showed traveling press secretary Remi Yamamoto also helping Sanders drag the protester offstage."

~~~ Jeff Zeleny, et al., of CNN: "The Secret Service is scrambling plans to provide protection to presidential candidates after protesters stormed the stage of former Vice President Joe Biden's victory rally in Los Angeles late Tuesday in a harrowing scene. According to a Secret Service official, the agency is reconsidering the timetable for rolling out campaign bodyguards after the Los Angeles incident, which saw Biden's wife, a private security guard and several senior campaign staffers rush in to defend the candidate. On Wednesday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee [Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)] urged Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Security secretary, and four congressional leaders who compose the Candidate Protection Advisory Committee to begin considering dispatching the Secret Service protection, citing the protesters Tuesday night.... A candidate must typically ask for the protection to initiate an approval process that includes sign-off from congressional leaders and the Homeland Security chief, although federal guidelines allow the process to begin absent a candidate's request. As of Tuesday, the Biden campaign had not yet asked the government for the security, a law enforcement official said."

Stephen Colbert noticed what bothered me, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, the most about Biden's victory speech: he can't speak any more clearly than Trump can (not to mention, he mixed up his wife & his sister). This is going to be painful:

Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks surged on Wednesday as major victories from former Vice President Joe Biden during Super Tuesday sparked a massive rally within the health-care sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,173.45 points higher, or 4.5%, to 27,090.86. The S&P 500 jumped 4.2% to 3,130.12, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 3.8% to 9,018.09. The Dow posted its second-highest point gain ever, and it was the second time in three days that the 30-stock average swung 1,000 points or higher."

Charles Pierce: "It's plain now that, for the moment, anyway, a large part of the Democratic primary electorate is hungering for a president that it can ignore for four or five days a week." Pierce cites a speech Warren Harding gave a hundred years ago (and does grant "that the Harding precedent doesn't bode well for a possible Biden presidency):

America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality. (Also linked yesterday.)

How Do You Spell "Benghazi"? B-U-R-I-S-M-A. ~~~

~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump signaled Wednesday that he would make the dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine a 'major issue' during the presidential campaign should Biden win the Democratic nomination. 'That will be a major issue in the campaign. I will bring that up all the time because I don't see any way out,' Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Wednesday night. 'I don't believe they'll be able to answer those questions.'... Trump and his allies have amplified discredited allegations that Biden, as vice president, pushed for the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor in order to help shield his son, who at the time was working for a Ukrainian gas company Burisma, from scrutiny." ~~~

~~~ Benghaaazi! 2.0, Ctd. Andrew Desiderio, et al., of Politico: "Just hours after Joe Biden surged to the top of the Democratic presidential pack, Senate Republicans announced a new phase of their investigation targeting the former vice president and his son Hunter. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters on Wednesday that he is likely to release an interim report within one to two months on his panel's probe of Hunter Biden's ties to a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma.... Johnson's current posture marks a sharp departure from his position in 2016 when he and a bipartisan team of senators signed a letter supporting Biden's efforts in Ukraine to crack down on corrupt prosecutor Viktor Shokin.... Johnson insisted that the timing of his probe has nothing to do with the election calendar.... 'I am concerned to see that in the Senate there seems to be a renewed interest in furthering these bogus Russian narratives through the use of their investigative powers,' said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). 'I just think it's so deeply destructive to be effectively working in a concert with Russian propaganda artists.'"

Sydney Ember of the New York Times (from Wednesday's live updates): "... Bernie Sanders delivered a striking assessment of his campaign, admitting he was 'disappointed' with the results and acknowledging that he was falling short in inspiring young people to vote.... On the subject of young people, he said: 'Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in? And the answer is no.' Mr. Sanders said he had spoken with Elizabeth Warren, his chief ideological rival, several hours ago by phone and that she told him she was 'assessing her campaign.'... He declined to call on Ms. Warren to drop out, and pronounced himself 'disgusted' by the vitriol directed at her by some of his supporters." ~~~

~~~ German Lopez of Vox: "When Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about his presidential campaign, he emphasizes that it's a movement -- the start of a 'political revolution,' which he says will drive typically apathetic voters, particularly the young, to turn out and vote. But if Super Tuesday was anything to go by, Sanders's political revolution isn't happening -- and it's former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign, or perhaps general opposition to ... Donald Trump, that seems to be driving turnout." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Linskey & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Top surrogates and allies of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are discussing ways for their two camps to unite and push a common liberal agenda, with the expectation that Warren is likely to leave the presidential campaign soon, according to two people familiar with the talks. The conversations, which are in an early phase, largely involve members of Congress who back Sanders (I-Vt.) reaching out to those in Warren's camp to explore the prospect that Warren (D-Mass.) might endorse him. They are also appealing to Warren's supporters to switch their allegiance to Sanders, according two people with direct knowledge of the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss delicate discussions that are supposed to be confidential." ~~~

~~~ Astead Herndon & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren faced an uncertain path forward on Wednesday after a Super Tuesday performance that fell below her campaign's already lowered expectations, with her chances at the Democratic presidential nomination now a mathematical anomaly. Ms. Warren finished third in her home state, Massachusetts, and failed to crack the top two in any contest, leaving any possibility that she could win the nomination reliant on party chaos and not her own electoral prowess. Her campaign manager, Roger Lau, wrote in an email to staff members on Wednesday morning that Ms. Warren was assessing her options." ~~~

~~~ Jessica Valenti in Medium: "It's enough to make me feel, well, despairing: that we had the candidate of a lifetime -- someone with the energy, vision, and follow-through to lead the country out of our nightmarish era -- and that the media and voters basically outright erased and ignored her. Pundits will all have their theories; fears over 'electability' will likely be their #1 explanation. Don't tell me this isn't about sexism. I've been around too long for that." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There is no doubt that the serious female candidates in this year's race -- Warren, Klobuchar, Harris & Gillibrand -- each had some flaws. But none of them had flaws any worse than, or even as bad as, Sanders', Biden's & Bloomberg's. Yet the women were dismissed to such an extent that Mike Bloomberg pretended that Warren was out, or really didn't know that she was still a candidate (see yesterday's Commentariat), even though she had bested him in several states. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "And so, after all the tumult, the Democratic race has come down to this: two straight white septuagenarian men fighting over the soul of the party -- whatever that turns out to be.... For the party of progress, youth and diversity, a final face-off between two lifelong politicians born during World War II leaves much to be desired. And it says something depressing about the challenges women candidates still confront in their quest to shatter the presidential glass ceiling.... Last summer, a poll on perceived electability by Avalanche Strategies found that gender appeared to be a bigger issue than 'age, race, ideology, or sexual orientation.' When voters were asked whom they'd pick if the primaries were held today, Mr. Biden came out ahead. When asked whom they would make president with the wave of a magic wand, without the candidate needing to win an election, voters went with Ms. Warren. Women were more likely than men to cite gender as a concern."

Senate Race. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana is poised to reverse himself and run for the Senate, according to three Democratic officials, a decision that would hand the party a coveted recruit who could help reclaim a majority in the chamber. After months of insisting he would not challenge Senator Steve Daines [R], Mr. Bullock, who ran for president last year, has told Democrats in the last week he is now inclined to run in what would immediately become one of the marquee Senate races of 2020. Mr. Bullock has only a few days to finalize his decision: The filing deadline to run in Montana is Monday."


Caitlin Emma & Jennifer Scholtes of Politico: "The House on Wednesday passed an $8.3 billion emergency coronavirus package, just hours after congressional negotiators clinched a bipartisan deal to tackle the epidemic. The lower chamber approved the measure with an overwhelming 415-2 vote. It now heads to the Senate, which could clear the bill as soon as Thursday and send it to ... Donald Trump for his signature. The two nay votes were from Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Ken Buck of Colorado." Mrs. McC: Both Biggs & Buck are right-wing loons. ~~~

~~~ Gaetz Makes a Joke of a Deadly-serious Crisis. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz donned a gas mask Wednesday while he voted on a bill that would dedicate billions of dollars to combating coronavirus as concerns rise over the spread of the disease. 'Reviewing the coronavirus supplemental appropriation and preparing to go vote,' Gaetz tweeted with a picture of himself wearing a gas mask while looking at a piece of paper before the vote.... Gaetz later wore the mask onto the House floor, according to a photo tweeted by Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat.... Health officials have urged Americans to stop buying masks out of concern of a shortage for health care workers, and Vice President Mike Pence, whose office is in charge of coronavirus-related messaging, reiterated the point during a press briefing earlier Wednesday...."

Trump Continues to Lie about Coronavirus. Brian Stelter of CNN: "In a phoner with Hannity on Wednesday night, Trump reacted to the World Health Organization's data-driven assessment of the global death rate for the novel coronavirus -- 3.4% -- by saying 'I think the 3.4% is really a false number.... Trump continued by discarding his own administration's advice to stay home if you're feeling sick.'... Also on Wednesday: 'Trump falsely claimed that Obama administration slowed down diagnostic testing, experts say.'... Big picture from the NYT: 'He has dealt with the coronavirus, the first external crisis of his administration, by repeating a string of falsehoods rather than delivering reassurance....'" Mrs. McC: You kinda have to read Stelter's post to get how completely irresponsible Trump's freelancing is. "Message control"? Ha ha.

Roni Rabin & Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "Federal health officials announced on Wednesday that anyone who wants a coronavirus test may get one if a doctor agrees. But the nation's testing capacity is still so limited that experts feared clinics and hospitals could be overwhelmed by an avalanche of requests. Under the new criteria, patients who have fevers, coughs or difficulty breathing qualify for diagnostic testing, depending on their doctor's judgment. But with flu season in full swing, tens of millions of Americans already have respiratory symptoms, and doctors have no quick way to discern who should be tested. The Trump administration has repeatedly promised to expand the nation's testing capabilities by Friday, even as state laboratories estimated that it would be weeks before millions of American could be tested.... In the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors were encouraged to rule out other causes of respiratory illness and to take into consideration whether there are other local coronavirus cases before ordering a test.... The C.D.C.'s new criteria essentially relegate the decision to test to individual physicians who have little experience with, and scant scientific evidence about, coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ Erika Edwards of NBC News: "After a weekslong delay, thousands of coronavirus test kits are headed to state and local laboratories, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday. But questions remain about when, exactly, those promised test kits will arrive and how well they will work.... Federal health officials have been scrambling to increase access to coronavirus testing following a series of initial blunders, including limiting testing strictly to those with symptoms and those who had either come into contact with a known patient or had traveled from China. What's more, the test kits the CDC first sent labs in January proved to be faulty, giving inconclusive results. Such a large-scale snafu appears to be unprecedented." ~~~

~~~ Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic (March 3): "We know, irrefutably, one thing about the coronavirus in the United States: The number of cases reported in every chart and table is far too low. The data are untrustworthy because the processes we used to get them were flawed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's testing procedures missed the bulk of the cases. They focused exclusively on travelers, rather than testing more broadly, because that seemed like the best way to catch cases entering the country." ~~~

~~~ Farah Stockman of the New York Times: "When an employee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire showed signs of possible coronavirus last week, a medical worker who had examined him told him to avoid contact with others, pending further tests. Instead, he went to a mixer at a crowded music venue. Three days later, he was confirmed as the state's first coronavirus case. And now a second case has been confirmed -- a 'close contact' of the patient's -- raising new questions about what should happen when suspected coronavirus patients ignore requests to self-quarantine. The man, who had come down with flu-like symptoms after a trip to Italy, has now been officially ordered by New Hampshire's health commissioner to isolate himself at home.... New Hampshire officials have made clear in their public statements that they feel the patient acted irresponsibly. But he does not appear to have broken the law." Mrs. McC: IOW, your health is dependent upon how responsibly your neighbors behave. ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "A medical professional conducting coronavirus screenings at Los Angeles International Airport has tested positive for the virus, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Wednesday. The person began to exhibit coldlike symptoms on Feb. 29 and visited their primary care doctor for a COVID-19 test the next day. The test came back positive, DHS said in a statement."

According to Brian Williams of MSNBC, Donald Trump walked out of a coronavirus meeting Wednesday to go tweet about Democrats. No link.

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday declared a state of emergency after the first death from coronavirus in the Golden State.... The man, an elderly resident of Placer County with other underlying health conditions, died in isolation at a hospital in Roseville Wednesday morning after likely being exposed to the virus on a cruise from San Francisco to Mexico in February. The emergency proclamation includes anti-price gouging provisions as well as provisions allowing for health care workers to travel from out of state to provide assistance in health care facilities. It comes the day after Newsom announced the release of millions of N95 masks amid shortages caused by the virus. California has confirmed 53 cases of the virus as of Wednesday afternoon."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "There's a huge, huge story unfolding [with the coronavirus] -- many communities are already shifting behavior in major ways -- and yet we hear little of it from the federal government or to a significant degree even from the news media. One of the big things is restrictions on travel mandated by big companies.... We've seen news reports of many conventions and big public meetings being canceled.... When you put together the number of big companies drastically limiting business travel and many people canceling leisure travel, it seems certain that the travel and hospitality industries are already entering what can only be called a steep, steep recession." --s ~~~

~~~ From the Guardian coronavirus news blog: "Southwest [airlines], which basically created the budget airline model in the early 1970s, says customers demand has declined. It fears the crisis will wipe $200m-$300m off its operating revenues this quarter.... The global coronavirus outbreak could be as severe a blow to the airline industry as the global financial crisis a decade ago ... set to cost the airline industry at least $63bn of lost revenue -- or $113bn if the virus spreads 'extensively' across more countries.... Investment bank Goldman Sachs has warned that the coronavirus will push the UK economy to the 'brink of recession'.... Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, has collapsed into administration this morning as the economic damage caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis escalated...." --s

Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "When Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive last spring to oust Libya's internationally recognized government in Tripoli, he sought US support.... Within days, President Donald Trump placed a supportive call to Haftar. But overall, the US administration has remained largely cool to the warlord.... One of the most prominent [supporters] is Walid Phares, a right-wing pundit and adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign, who for years has spoken favorably about Haftar in public remarks and social media posts.... What Phares has not mentioned while touting Haftar is that Phares has explored business opportunities involving Haftar's son, Okba Haftar. The younger Haftar lives in Northern Virginia and works in real estate. According to people involved in US-Libya relations, Okba Haftar has also helped his father advance his interests in the United States." --s

Jeffrey Smith of Public Integrity: "When confronted by House lawmakers angered about ... Donald Trump's halt in aid to Ukraine last summer, Trump administration officials repeatedly said the hiatus was meant to allow them to conduct a policy review about the aid program. But the Pentagon's deputy general counsel [Edwin S. Castle] -- in an email kept secret by the administration during the House and Senate impeachment proceedings in December and January -- told his colleagues during the aid halt there was, in fact, no such policy review under way inside the administration." (Also linked yesterday.)

Colby Itkowitz & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "In a rare rebuke of a sitting member of Congress, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. criticized Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D) over remarks made from the steps outside the high court Wednesday that Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Neil M. Gorsuch would 'pay the price' for a vote against reproductive rights. 'Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,' Roberts said in a statement.... Schumer, speaking at a rally as the Supreme Court heard a pivotal abortion rights case over the legality of a Louisiana law that creates additional barriers for doctors who perform abortions, singled out President Trump's appointees by name. 'I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,' Schumer said. 'You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.'... Last week, Trump said that liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should 'recuse themselves' from any cases involving him or his administration. Roberts did not comment after Trump made those remarks." ~~~

~~~ Pete Williams of NBC News: "Schumer's spokesman said his remarks about Gorsuch and Kavanaugh referred to the political price Republicans 'will pay for putting them on the court.' It was a warning, the spokesman said, 'that the justices will unleash major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision.' Schumer's office later issued a second statement in which the senator criticized Roberts. 'For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing's deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes,' said Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman, referring to Trump's criticism of the two liberal justices and his call for them not to participate in any rulings involving him." ~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Wednesday morning's arguments in the biggest threat to abortion rights to reach the Supreme Court in nearly 30 years went so badly for Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, who was defending Louisiana's restrictive abortion law, that by the end even Chief Justice John Roberts appeared uncomfortable with her arguments.... Murrill's performance was so weak, and the liberal justices successfully exposed so many flaws in her argument, that it raised questions about whether Roberts might join his liberal colleagues to strike down Louisiana's law." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "Are the defenders of the law genuinely incompetent? Or is Roberts doing precisely what I predicted he'd do last fall when the Court agreed to take the case? I wrote at the time: '... does John Roberts really want GOP-appointed Supreme Court justices blamed for a sudden massive decrease in abortion availability a few months before a presidential election? I think this raises the possibility that Roberts will join with the Court's liberals to say, "Hey, this is just like the Texas law, so I'm going to shock you by upholding precedent and striking it down."'"

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, a reluctant compromise choice for United Nations secretary general, who astonished the diplomatic world by brokering peace agreements in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America as the Cold War thawed in the late 1980s and early '90s, died on Wednesday, according to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry. He was 100." An AP obituary is here.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Iceland. Andie Sophia Fontaine of The Reykjavík Grapevine: "There are now nine confirmed cases in Iceland of COVID-19 ... and 300 people remain in home quarantine.... Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir told RÚV that the government, management and labour unions have been in negotiations as to who will be paying who while under quarantine, but the main detail is that everyone agrees that no one should miss revenue on account of being under quarantine -- especially as such a quarantine is to protect the health of the general public." --s

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Tuesday
Mar032020

The Commentariat -- March 4, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Wednesday morning's arguments in the biggest threat to abortion rights to reach the Supreme Court in nearly 30 years went so badly for Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, who was defending Louisiana's restrictive abortion law, that by the end even Chief Justice John Roberts appeared uncomfortable with her arguments.... Murrill's performance was so weak, and the liberal justices successfully exposed so many flaws in her argument, that it raised questions about whether Roberts might join his liberal colleagues to strike down Louisiana's law."

Jeffrey Smith of Public Integrity: "When confronted by House lawmakers angered about ... Donald Trump's halt in aid to Ukraine last summer, Trump administration officials repeatedly said the hiatus was meant to allow them to conduct a policy review about the aid program. But the Pentagon's deputy general counsel [Edwin S. Castle] -- in an email kept secret by the administration during the House and Senate impeachment proceedings in December and January -- told his colleagues during the aid halt there was, in fact, no such policy review under way inside the administration."

Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday, just over three months after he began a campaign that was fueled by his vast fortune and quickly grew to a sprawling political operation but failed to win the groundswell of moderate support he had sought. Mr. Bloomberg endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr., saying that he had the best shot to beat President Trump.... In an unprecedented effort to self-finance a presidential campaign -- which some rivals derided as an attempt to buy the White House -- Mr. Bloomberg's bid cost him more than half a billion dollars in advertising alone. He also spent lavishly on robust on-the-ground operations, with more than 200 field offices across the country and thousands of paid staff. His operation dwarfed those of Democratic rivals who ultimately won states in which he had installed many dozens of employees and spent heavily on radio, television and direct mail ads." A Politico story is here.

Do not mess with Jill Biden's husband. She will slap you down:

     ~~~ Here's a WashPo story on Jill v. the Vegans.

Charles Pierce: "It's plain now that, for the moment, anyway, a large part of the Democratic primary electorate is hungering for a president that it can ignore for four or five days a week." Pierce cites a speech Warren Harding gave a hundred years ago (and does grant "that the Harding precedent doesn't bode well for a possible Biden presidency).:

America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.

German Lopez of Vox: "When Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about his presidential campaign, he emphasizes that it's a movement -- the start of a 'political revolution,' which he says will drive typically apathetic voters, particularly the young, to turn out and vote. But if Super Tuesday was anything to go by, Sanders's political revolution isn't happening -- and it's former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign, or perhaps general opposition to President Donald Trump, that seems to be driving turnout."

~~~~~~~~~~

State Democratic presidential primary results appear in the right column. Related stories linked below.

Matt Viser & Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post: "Joe Biden powered to a dominating sweep of the South and surprisingly strong showings in New England and the Upper Midwest on Tuesday night, as he sought to seize control of the Democratic presidential race and overtake Sen. Bernie Sanders as the delegate leader. Sanders was holding on to a lead in California, the state with the biggest delegate haul of the Super Tuesday primaries, as votes were slowly counted there. But Biden's victories ... threatened to at minimum erase the lopsided delegate advantage Sanders hoped to gain from the day's voting. The results set up a more vigorous fight ahead that presents the party with divergent choices, between a pragmatist vowing a return to normalcy and a populist promising a revolution." Politico's story is here.

The Guardian has the latest delegate count.

Fred Imbert & Thomas Franck of CNBC: "U.S. stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Wednesday as early results on Super Tuesday showed former Vice President Joe Biden notching key wins and reassuring investors of his place amid the top candidates in the Democratic pool. As of 7:35 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 726 points and indicated a rise of 702 points at the open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to solid opening gains. Still, the implied open could change as markets remain volatile. Biden's success early into Super Tuesday voting appeared to buoy U.S. equity futures...."

Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Former Vice President Joe Biden went into Super Tuesday with fewer financial resources than other candidates. But he will be in much better shape by the end of the night. Bundlers loyal to Biden are seeing dozens of new donors, several maxing out with the top allowable $2,800..., according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. These people declined to be named because these developments were yet to be announced. Biden fundraising events started to sell out early in the night, the people added."

Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "Lifted by a hasty unity among center-left Democrats disinclined toward political revolution, Mr. Biden has propelled himself in the span of three days from electoral failure to would-be juggernaut.... Yet any suggestion that Mr. Biden is now a risk-free option would appear to contradict the available evidence. He is no safer with a microphone, no likelier to complete a thought without exaggeration or bewildering detour. He has not, as a 77-year-old man proudly set in his ways, acquired new powers of persuasion or management in the 72 hours since the first primary state victory of his three presidential campaigns. In fact, Mr. Biden has blundered this chance before -- the establishment front-runner; the last, best hope for moderates -- fumbling his initial 2020 advantages in a hail of disappointing fund-raising, feeble campaign organization and staggering underperformance. When it mattered most, though, the judgment came swiftly from Sanders-averse Democrats. All right, we'll take him."

Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post suddenly remembers (satire): "Joe Biden is fine! He is the best hope. I know I said something about how his is the politics of the past and how his rallies put me into a state of abject gloom, that when he opens his mouth and starts to say things, you never exactly relax until he has put the microphone down, but, well -- that was all malarkey, and I guess I was a lying dog-faced pony soldier. Which, it turns out, is a good thing!"

Today. Sally Goldenberg & Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "Mike Bloomberg is weighing dropping out as early as Wednesday after losing a string of Super Tuesday states where he invested a fortune in advertising, according to several people familiar with his plans. While the multi-billionaire former New York City mayor was on track to win delegates, he was roundly beaten by Joe Biden, on whose collapse Bloomberg had been counting." ~~~

~~~ Yesterday. The Washington Post's live updates of Tuesday's developments are here. Mike "Bloomberg struck a defiant tone Tuesday as polls opened in 14 states, saying he planned to stay in the race until the Democratic convention in July despite no expectation of winning any state in his first ballot test. 'I have shown that I have the management experience to do it,' Bloomberg said of the presidency during a stop at a campaign office in [Miami's] Little Havana neighborhood. 'And no other candidate in the race do I think could beat Donald Trump or could run the country.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Tennessee. Adrian Sainz of the AP: "A judge has extended voting hours in Tennessee's second-largest county after four Democratic presidential candidates sued to keep Super Tuesday polls open after a tornado devastated the area, a Democratic party spokeswoman said Tuesday. A Davidson County Chancery Court judge ruled that polling locations in the county whose seat is Nashville must remain open until 8 p.m. Central time. Five so-called megasites, where anyone in the tornado-hit county can go to vote, will be open until 10 p.m. under the judge's ruling...."


The New York Times' liveblog of Super Tuesday developments is here. "In the Northern California county where a mysterious case of the coronavirus had been reported and dozens of people were quarantined, a top election official said the county bought gloves for poll workers and expanded curbside ballot drop-off points for Super Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

All Girl Candidates Are Alike. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a reporter Tuesday he 'didn't realize' that Sen. Elizabeth [Warren] (D-Mass.) was still in the primary race. His comments came in light of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Peter Buttigieg dropping from the race and consolidating support behind former Vice President Joe Biden.... 'If there's only 3 candidates, you can't do worse than that,' Bloomberg said, when asked if he would accept a third-place finish. The reporter reminded him that Warren, who currently has eight delegates, is still in the race. 'I didn't realize she's still in, is she?' Bloomberg asked." (Also linked yesterday.)

Senate Races

Alabama. Jane Timm of NBC News: "Former Sen. Jeff Sessions and onetime Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville were neck and neck in the Republican primary race for the Senate on Tuesday night and will face off in a runoff election later this month, NBC News projects.... Tuberville had 33.4 percent and Sessions took 31.6 percent, with 99 percent reporting.... On Wednesday morning..., Donald Trump trashed Sessions ... on Twitter, blaming Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation that wound up being led by former special counsel Robert Mueller. 'This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn't have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!' [Trump tweeted.]"

North Carolina. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham won the Democratic nomination for the Senate on Tuesday, setting him up to face off against Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in November. Cunningham prevailed over three other Democrats who were running for the party's nomination in the North Carolina Senate primary. Cunningham was viewed as the front-runner and won the endorsement last year of national Democrats, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.... The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a super PAC with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), poured money into TV ads during the primary to try to boost state Sen. Erica Smith (D)."


Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks fell sharply in volatile trading on Tuesday as an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to assuage concerns of slower economic growth due to the coronavirus outbreak.... The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 785.91 points lower, or nearly 3%, to 25,917.41; it rose more than 300 points earlier in the day. The 30-stock average gyrated between sharp gains and solid losses after the decision was announced. The S&P 500 fell 2.8% to 3,003.37 while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 3% to 8,684.09. Investors, in turn, loaded up on U.S. Treasurys, pushing the benchmark 10-year yield below 1% for the first time ever. Gold, meanwhile, jumped 2.9% to settle at $1,644.40 per ounce." ~~~

~~~ Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates on Tuesday as fears about the economic fallout of the coronavirus continued to mount, announcing its biggest single cut since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.... The central bank said it would cut interest rates by half a percentage point.... 'As usual, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve are slow to act,' [Donald Trump] wrote on Twitter Monday." CNBC's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday criticized the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point as insufficient, demanding 'more easing and cutting' in a tweet." (Also linked yesterday.)

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "One week after Trump returned home from India to confront an unfolding health crisis and tasked Pence with managing the government-wide response, the effort has been undermined by mixed messages, contradictions and falsehoods -- many of them emanating from the president himself, including this week when he repeatedly spread false information about just how soon a coronavirus vaccine would be available. The White House is handling the rapidly expanding coronavirus as a public relations problem as much as a public health crisis. Officials are insisting on message discipline among government scientists and political aides alike...." ~~~

~~~ You Cannot Teach Trump What He Doesn't Want to Know. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... on Monday when he held a coronavirus roundtable with his task force and the heads of several pharmaceutical companies..., [Trump] still appears rather clueless on the subject.... Trump peppered the drug companies with questions that were some variant of 'How fast can you get it done?' But despite this having been a focal point in recent weeks, he still didn't seem to process the fact that producing a vaccine means conducting months and months of trials before it can be deployed.... What's remarkable ... is that [Dr. Anthony] Fauci has explained all of this -- in front of Trump and publicly.... 'I don't think they know what the time will be,' Trump said [to a reporter later, ignoring everything he'd been told repeatedly]. 'I've heard very quick numbers -- a matter of months -- and I've heard pretty much a year would be an outside number.'... Fauci had said a year to 18 months." Mrs. McC: If you read Blake's full report, you'll wonder why no one in the meeting throttled that dumb lummox. His wilful ignorance is infuriating.

Do Not Upset Der Furor. Eric Schmitt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump's messaging on the growing health challenge, American officials said. Mr. Esper's directive, delivered last week during a video teleconference call with combatant commanders around the world, is the latest iteration of Mr. Trump's efforts to manage public fears over the disease, even as it continues to spread around the world.... Mr. Esper told commanders deployed overseas that they should check in before making decisions related to protecting their troops." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: "The Pentagon issued a sharp rebuttal Tuesday to a New York Times article saying Defense Secretary Mark Esper directed commanders to notify the Department of Defense (DOD) of their coronavirus responses to avoid surprising the White House, calling it a 'dangerous and inaccurate mischaracterization.'... The DOD disputed [the Times'] account, saying Esper instead directed commanders to take all force health protection measures and then notify their chain of command when actions are taken 'so that DOD leadership can inform the interagency -- including [Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security], the State Department, and the White House -- and the American people,' top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.)

Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "A White House lawyer and former counsel to the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes has been named senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, the latest instance of ... Donald Trump elevating a trusted loyalist to control the intelligence community. Michael Ellis, a deputy to White House lawyer John Eisenberg, started in the role on Monday, according to a senior administration official and a former national security official. Ellis left the counsel's office so won't be dual-hatted with his new job." Mrs. McC: Lillis's primary job: Telling Trump those conspiracy theories he heard on Fox "News" are real. (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "U.S. prosecutors say they have a witness who will directly implicate a Russian businessman known as 'Putin's chef' in schemes to carry out election interference overseas. The mystery witness is prepared to testify at a criminal trial set to open in Washington next month in a case ... Robert Mueller brought accusing three Russian companies and 13 Russian individuals of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a prosecutor declared at a recent court hearing. The anticipated testimony will focus on the most prominent Russian national charged in the indictment, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg restaurateur who enjoys close ties to ... Vladimir Putin and who has expanded his business empire to become a key contractor for the Russian military. Prosecutors say Prigozhin ran the Internet Research Agency, a Russian firm that allegedly sponsored and coordinated online troll activity during the 2016 U.S. election."

Alexandra Svokos of ABC News: "The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments for the latest landmark abortion case on Wednesday morning, which could change the landscape of abortion law in America -- and abortion access -- for years to come. June Medical Services v. Russo (previously v. Gee) is a challenge from Louisiana abortion providers to a 2014 state law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges with a nearby hospital, which allows a patient to go to that hospital if they need urgent care. Because abortion statistically has very low complication rates, the need for hospital care is extremely rare." The New York Times story is here.

Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: Chris Matthews' "casual sexism wasn't at the heart of why he had to go. One of the most prominent and well-paid hosts in the cable-news game didn't listen, didn't do his homework and treated politics as a game in which noisy confrontation was a necessity. The problem was less about greenroom boorishness and far more about what you could see and hear on the air.... Frequently described as 'bombastic,' and certainly an excitable yeller, Matthews had a tendency to ask a question, and then, just as his subject was beginning to answer, interrupt, asking it differently or inserting his own opinion. His interview with Elizabeth Warren last month was a memorable case in point. The topic was whether her rival presidential candidate, Mike Bloomberg, had really suggested to one of his employees that she 'kill it' when he found out she was going to have a baby.... But the 'Hardball' host apparently hadn't done the reading. He seemed to want a confrontational interview with Warren no matter what the underlying evidence might be."

Beyond the Beltway

Oklahoma. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "A college recruiter from Oklahoma Christian University is no longer working for the school after he told a group of high school students to line up organized by their skin color and hair texture, officials said on Tuesday. The recruiter, Cedric Sunray, visited Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma City on Feb. 24, and met with 110 juniors and four teachers in the gymnasium to talk about opportunities at the college, said the principal, Steven Stefanick. 'The recruiter asked the students to line up from darkest to lightest skin complexion, and then line up from nappiest to straightest hair,' Mr. Stefanick said in a telephone interview. As the students did as they were told, some of the teachers got up and left to report the request to school administrators, who intervened, he said.... [Sunray later] said the exercise was meant to be an 'icebreaker' and that he has made the same presentation dozens of times at other institutions.... He described himself ... as a member of a Native American tribe with a 'white racial phenotype.'"

Way Beyond

David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "Iran's growing stockpile of nuclear fuel recently crossed a critical threshold, according to a report issued Tuesday by international inspectors: For the first time since President Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran appears to have enough enriched uranium to produce a single nuclear weapon, though it would take months or years to manufacture a warhead and deliver it over long distances. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear capabilities and reports to the United Nations, also documented for the first time how Iran's leadership blocked its inspectors from visiting three critical sites where there was evidence of past nuclear activity."

News Lede

The New York Times' latest live updates on developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. "The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the global mortality rate for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, was 3.4 percent. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization's director general, said in a news conference in Geneva that Covid-19 was deadlier than the seasonal flu, but did not transmit as easily. 'Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported Covid-19 cases have died,' Dr. Tedros said. 'By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected.'"

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Monday
Mar022020

The Commentariat -- March 3, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

All Girl Candidates Are Alike. Edward Moreno of the Hill: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a reporter Tuesday he 'didn't realize' that Sen. Elizabeth [Warren] (D-Mass.) was still in the primary race. His comments came in light of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Peter Buttigieg dropping from the race and consolidating support behind former Vice President Joe Biden.... 'If there's only 3 candidates, you can't do worse than that,' said, when asked if he would accept a third-place finish. The reporter reminded him that Warren, who currently has eight delegates, is still in the race. 'I didn't realize she's still in, is she?' Bloomberg asked."

Do Not Upset Der Furor. Eric Schmitt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump's messaging on the growing health challenge, American officials said. Mr. Esper's directive, delivered last week during a video teleconference call with combatant commanders around the world, is the latest iteration of Mr. Trump's efforts to manage public fears over the disease, even as it continues to spread around the world.... Mr. Esper told commanders deployed overseas that they should check in before making decisions related to protecting their troops." ~~~

     ~~~ Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: "The Pentagon issued a sharp rebuttal Tuesday to a New York Times article saying Defense Secretary Mark Esper directed commanders to notify the Department of Defense (DOD) of their coronavirus responses to avoid surprising the White House, calling it a 'dangerous and inaccurate mischaracterization.'... The DOD disputed [the Times'] account, saying Esper instead directed commanders to take all force health protection measures and then notify their chain of command when actions are taken 'so that DOD leadership can inform the interagency -- including [Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security], the State Department, and the White House -- and the American people,' top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement."

The New York Times' liveblog of Super Tuesday developments is here. "In the Northern California county where a mysterious case of the coronavirus had been reported and dozens of people were quarantined, a top election official said the county bought gloves for poll workers and expanded curbside ballot drop-off points for Super Tuesday." ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Mike "Bloomberg struck a defiant tone Tuesday as polls opened in 14 states, saying he planned to stay in the race until the Democratic convention in July despite no expectation of winning any state in his first ballot test. 'I have shown that I have the management experience to do it,' Bloomberg said of the presidency during a stop at a campaign office in [Miami's] Little Havana neighborhood. 'And no other candidate in the race do I think could beat Donald Trump or could run the country.'"

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates on Tuesday as fears about the economic fallout of the coronavirus continued to mount, announcing its biggest single cut since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.... The central bank said it would cut interest rates by half a percentage point.... 'As usual, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve are slow to act,' [Donald Trump] wrote on Twitter Monday." CNBC's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday criticized the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point as insufficient, demanding 'more easing and cutting' in a tweet."

Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "A White House lawyer and former counsel to the House Intelligence Committee under Devin Nunes has been named senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, the latest instance of ... Donald Trump elevating a trusted loyalist to control the intelligence community. Michael Ellis, a deputy to White House lawyer John Eisenberg, started in the role on Monday, according to a senior administration official and a former national security official. Ellis left the counsel's office so won't be dual-hatted with his new job." Mrs. McC: Lillis's primary job: Telling Trump those conspiracy theories he heard on Fox "News" are real. ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

It's Super Thursday! (or Something Like That)

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is poised to win the most delegates when 14 states vote on this cycle's Super Tuesday, while former Vice President Joe Biden is looking to solidify his position as the centrist alternative. Sanders is headed for a top finish in California and Texas, the two largest states to vote. The progressive independent should win California in blowout fashion, and he's maintained a healthy lead in polls of Texas throughout the early voting period, when more than 1 million people cast ballots in the Democratic primary.... Sanders also appears headed for victories in Colorado, Utah, Maine and Vermont. With [Amy] Klobuchar out of the race, Sanders is the favorite to win Minnesota, and he’s pushing to win in Sen. Elizabeth Warren's home state of Massachusetts."

The youngest person still running for president is 70 years old. -- Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times, in a tweet

Unless you count Tulsi Gabbard. And let's not. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

This Is Going to Be Painful. We Hold These Truths, Yada Yada Yada. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "During his campaign rally speech in Houston, TX Monday, [Joe] Biden seemingly forgot the words to the Declaration of Independence. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created by the you know, you know the thing,' he said to a confused audience. In the same speech, Biden also mistakenly referred to Super Tuesday as Super Thursday. 'Look, tomorrow's Super Thurs... Tuesday,' he said, just catching himself in time...." Mrs. McC: Go Warren!~~~

~~~ Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "In a last-minute bid to unite the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg on Monday threw their support behind a presidential campaign rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., giving him an extraordinary boost ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries that promised to test his strength against the liberal front-runner, Senator Bernie Sanders. Even by the standards of the tumultuous 2020 campaign, the endorsements from Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg -- and their plan to join Mr. Biden at a rally in Dallas on Monday night -- was remarkable. Rarely, if ever, have opponents joined forces so dramatically, as Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg went from campaigning at full tilt in the South Carolina primary on Saturday to teaming up on a political rescue mission for a former competitor, Mr. Biden, whom they had once regarded as a spent force." An AP report is here. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Martin of the New York Times (in the Times' liveblog of campaign developments): "Former Representative Beto O'Rourke of Texas, who became a progressive star in his spirited race against Senator Ted Cruz before mounting a less-successful presidential campaign, will endorse Joseph R. Biden Jr. and appear with him in Dallas Monday night, according to two Democratic officials familiar with his plans. Mr. O'Rourke, who dropped out of the primary last fall, has returned to his native El Paso and largely stayed out of the campaign. But one night before the Texas primary, he will line up with his fellow former candidates, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, in their effort to coalesce behind Mr. Biden and slow the momentum of Bernie Sanders." The Hill has a summary report here. ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Pete Buttigieg ... said Sunday night he was dropping out of the Democratic race, following a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance with black Democrats signaled an inability to build a broad coalition of voters.... Mr. Buttigieg talked with [Joe] Biden and former President Barack Obama on Sunday night, according to a Democratic official familiar with the conversations." (A different version of this story was linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Nick Corasaniti & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who entered the Democratic presidential race with an appeal to moderate voters and offered herself as a candidate who could win in Midwestern swing states, has decided to quit the race and endorse ... Joseph R. Biden Jr., her campaign confirmed on Monday. Ms. Klobuchar will appear with Mr. Biden at his rally in Dallas Monday night." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Unless Warren can pull off a miracle, Trump just won four more years. If I were a bit younger, I'd buy a flat in Antibes & spend the last of my days staring out the window at the deep blue sea.

AND Away We Go! It's Benghaaazi! All Over Again. Felicia Sonmez & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is preparing to subpoena a witness tied to Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, in an escalation of the GOP probe of the firm that comes as former vice president Joe Biden's fortunes are rising in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.... If approved [by the Homeland Security committee he chairs], Johnson's move would mark the first subpoena Senate Republicans have issued in their probe into Biden and Burisma. Two other GOP senators -- Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) -- have also launched investigations into Hunter Biden." Mrs. McC: And bear in mind, though he's had months to do so, Joe Biden has yet to come up with a coherent response to the false charges against him.

Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Natalie Kitroeff of the New York Times: "Every year, hundreds of departing employees at Bloomberg L.P. are presented with a choice: Either leave the company empty-handed or accept a generous financial package and agree to never speak ill of the company. Many take the money. The result is that some employees at Michael R. Bloomberg's company are barred from publicly describing misconduct and what they perceived as an entrenched culture of bullying, where women are often objectified and sometimes face discrimination, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees, as well as lawsuits and internal corporate documents reviewed by The New York Times. Bloomberg is not unique. In corporate America, in order to receive severance payments, fired or laid-off employees generally must sign agreements that require them to keep quiet about their experiences."


Trump Impeachment Retribution, Ctd. Connor O'Brien of Politico: "The White House is withdrawing the nominee for a top Pentagon post, according to two Senate aides, following reports that she questioned the legality of the administration's efforts to freeze military aid to Ukraine. Elaine McCusker was nominated late last year to be the Pentagon's comptroller. She has been the acting comptroller since the summer and was the public face of the Pentagon's budget rollout last month, briefing reporters on the details of the Defense Department's $741 billion military spending request.... The move comes as Trump and his allies seek to root out members of his administration they view as disloyal following the president's acquittal.... McCusker featured prominently in emails, published by The New York Times and Just Security, that showed the acting Pentagon comptroller expressing concerns over the legality of White House moves on Ukraine aid."

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "... Donald Trump appears to have boxed in the Senate on the crucial question of who will lead the intelligence community in the months leading up to the November election.... Through a series of moves, Trump has presented senators with what many see as an unpalatable choice, multiple congressional aides of both parties told NBC News: Either confirm a conservative Texas congressman [as director of national intelligence] who misrepresented his background [Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas)], or leave in place as acting director a political firebrand with no experience in the intelligence world [Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell].

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Shortly after health officials in Washington state confirmed the second U.S. death from the novel coronavirus in as many days, President Trump retweeted an animated video Sunday night in which he again bragged about his accomplishments, laughed at his political opponents and critics, and smiled as Mount Rushmore was reshaped to feature only his face.... The video, which had been viewed more than 1 million times as of early Monday, was retweeted late Sunday amid reports that the Trump administration has scrambled to gain control of an American response to the global crisis, a response that has been 'defined by bureaucratic infighting, confusion and misinformation,' The Washington Post reported." (Also linked yesterday.)

CDC Clams Up. Brianna Ehley & Lauren Morello of Politico: "The CDC [Monday] abruptly postponed a press briefing on the coronavirus response .... and did not provide an explanation as to why or when it would be rescheduled.... The postponement of the briefing comes after a number of states reported new cases over the weekend and federal officials confirmed the country's first and second deaths from the virus.... The CDC [Monday] also removed information on its website that detailed how many people in the country had been tested for the virus." Mrs. McC: My guess is that mike pence was unhappy with the CDC's "messaging": "People are dying" does not align with Trump's "They're all getting better."

Sarah Owermohle of Politico: "Anthony Fauci..., the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases..., is in the thick of the race to contain coronavirus when the nation is deeply polarized and misinformation can spread with one tweet -- sometimes, from the president himself. 'You should never destroy your own credibility. And you don't want to go to war with a president,' Fauci, who has been the country's top infectious diseases expert through a dozen outbreaks and six presidents, told Politico in an interview Friday. 'But you got to walk the fine balance of making sure you continue to tell the truth.'"

Carla Johnson of the AP: "An increase in testing for the coronavirus began shedding light Monday on how the illness has spread in the United States, including in Washington state, where four people died at a nursing home and some schools were closed for disinfection. New diagnoses in several states pushed the tally of COVID-19 cases past 100, and New Hampshire reported its first case, raising the total of affected states to 11. Seattle officials announced four more deaths, bringing the total in the U.S. to six.... The deaths at a nursing home in suburban Kirkland, Washington, were especially troubling to health care experts because of the vulnerability of sick and elderly people to the illness and existing problems in nursing facilities. 'It's going to be a disaster,' said Charlene Harrington, who studies nursing homes at the University of California, San Francisco. Infection is already a huge problem in U.S. nursing homes because of a lack of nurses and training. In Texas, tension between U.S. and local officials brewed over the planned release Monday of more than 120 ex-passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine in San Antonio. Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared a public safety emergency in an attempt to continue the quarantine."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Fox News host Jesse Watters demanded a formal apology from China on Monday before pushing unproven rumors that the new coronavirus came from Chinese citizens 'eating raw bats and snakes.' With fears heightening around the virus as the death toll in the United States jumped to at least six on Monday, Watters began Monday's broadcast of Fox News chatfest The Five by lashing out at China, which has been the epicenter of the growing pandemic.... 'No, Jesse,' co-host Dana Perino pleaded as the other hosts could be seen face-palming."

Jason Leopold, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "The Justice Department and FBI have turned over to BuzzFeed News and CNN the latest cache of highly secretive interview summaries from ... Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and ... Donald Trump's attempts to obstruct the inquiry. The documents include interview summaries from Trump adviser Jared Kushner, former campaign chair Paul Manafort, former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, and former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon.... The summaries ... showed that senior advisers Stephen Miller and Kushner, along with former communications director Hope Hicks, sometimes drafted tweets for Trump, that Bannon didn't think the 'Putin stuff' was a big deal, and that former national security adviser Michael Flynn sought guidance from Obama administration officials Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes 'about how to do things.'" The article includes highlights & reproduces some of the heavily-redacted reports.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a third major case on the Affordable Care Act ... granting petitions from Democratic state officials and the House of Representatives in a case with the potential to wipe out the entire law. The court did not say when it would hear the case, but, under its ordinary practices, arguments would be held in the fall and a decision would land in the spring or summer of 2021. Democrats, who consider health care a winning issue and worry about possible changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, had urged the justices to act quickly even though lower courts had not issued definitive rulings. They wanted to keep the fate of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare, in the public eye during the presidential campaign and to ensure that the appeal was decided while justices who had rejected earlier challenges remain the court." The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Fred Imbert & Eustance Huang of CNBC: "Stocks rebounded sharply from their worst week since the financial crisis on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its best day in more than a decade. Expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut rates drove the gains, which accelerated aggressively into the close. The Dow closed 1,293.96 points higher, or 5.1%, at 26,703.32. The move on a percentage basis was the Dow's biggest since March 2009. It was the largest-ever points gain for the 30-stock average."

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "An official at the Interior Department embarked on a campaign that has inserted misleading language about climate change -- including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial -- into the agency's scientific reports, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. The misleading language appears in at least nine reports, including environmental studies and impact statements on major watersheds in the American West that could be used to justify allocating increasingly scarce water farmers at the expense of wildlife conservation and fisheries. The effort was led by Indur M. Goklany, a longtime Interior Department employee who, in 2017 near the start of the Trump administration, was promoted to the office of the deputy secretary with responsibility for reviewing the agency's climate policies.... The wording, known internally as the 'Goks uncertainty language' based on Mr. Goklany's nickname, inaccurately claims that there is a lack of consensus among scientists that the earth is warming." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Ha! Jason Abbruzzese of NBC News: "Chris Matthews, one of the longest-tenured voices at MSNBC, announced his retirement during Monday's night's airing of his talk show, 'Hardball.' Matthews, 74, said he and MSNBC had mutually agreed to part ways. The decision followed a series of events that resulted in criticism of the host's statements about Bernie Sanders, African-American lawmakers, and comments he had made to female journalists and coworkers. 'I'm retiring,' Matthews said. 'This is the last "Hardball" on MSNBC.'" ~~~

~~~ Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: Matthews "also acknowledged giving 'compliments on a woman's appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK. For making such comments in the past, I'm sorry,' Mr. Matthews said. His sudden signoff, though negotiated with senior network executives, came as a shock to some of Mr. Matthews's most prominent on-air colleagues. Steve Kornacki, the anchor tasked with hosting the remainder of Monday's 'Hardball' episode, appeared stunned as the show returned from a commercial break. 'Um, that was a lot to take in,' Mr. Kornacki said, his eyes wide. 'I'm sure you're still absorbing that, and I am, too.' The anchor and correspondent Katy Tur posted a note on Twitter about Mr. Matthews's departure and added the caption: 'Wait. What?'" ~~~

AND King of the Nuisance Suit, Ctd. Kate Irby of the Fresno Bee: "California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes on Monday filed his seventh lawsuit in 12 months alleging that he was the victim of defamation or conspiracy, this time suing The Washington Post. Nunes, R-Tulare, in a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia alleges a Feb. 21 news story describing an intelligence briefing given to members of Congress regarding Russia's perceived preference for ... Donald Trump's re-election was part of a long-running effort at The Post to damage Nunes' reputation.... Nunes is seeking $250 million in damages from The Post."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Israel. Aron Heller of the AP: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party on Monday emerged as the largest party in the country's third election in under a year, according to exit polls, but it was unclear whether the embattled Israeli leader could secure a parliamentary majority as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges later this month. Exit polls on Israeli TV stations indicated that Likud and its smaller ultra-religious and nationalist allies had captured 59 seats, two short of the majority required to declare victory." ~~~

~~~ Update. Gil Hoffman of the Jerusalem Post: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on track to win 59 seats for his bloc of right-wing and religious parties in Monday's election, down by one from the 60 predicted by the initial exit polls. The new prediction leaves him two short of a majority in the Knesset.... Netanyahu spoke to the heads of the parties in his camp immediately after the exit polls were announced and agreed to form a strong nationalist government as soon as possible."

News Lede

CBS News: "Tornadoes touched down across Tennessee Tuesday, killing at least 19 people and leaving an undetermined number missing, according to authorities. Tennessee is now under a state of emergency. The death toll was nine Tuesday morning but jumped to 19 by midday, as bodies were recovered from fallen buildings, according to Tennessee Emergency Management Spokeswoman Maggie Hannan, The Associated Press reports. There are a number of people still missing across the state, according to officials. They would not provide a number of the missing on Tuesday morning, as search and rescue crews are still working. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said at a press conference that the number of fatalities will likely increase by the end of the day."

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