;)
The Commentariat -- April 28, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Get Real. Yascha Mounk in the Atlantic: "The miracle of deliverance is not in sight.... Experts estimate that for a population to reach herd immunity, up to 80 percent of it would have to be exposed to the coronavirus. Even if the virus has a fatality rate of a little less than 1 percent, this means that letting it spread through the population of the United States would cause about 2 million deaths.... Plans to brave the virus by going back to normal remain in the realm of the stupid or the sociopathic.... The chances of finding a transformative treatment against COVID-19 that could be deployed very soon have dwindled considerably.... A vaccine is likely at least a year away.... It now seems less likely than ever that the United States will do what is necessary to reopen the economy without causing a second wave of deadly infections.... For all his blustering demands to get the country back to normal, the president is failing to take the steps that are required to reopen the economy without a horrific death toll."
A Grand Gift from the Fed. Jeff Stein & Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post: "A Federal Reserve program expected to begin within weeks will provide hundreds of billions in emergency aid to large American corporations without requiring them to save jobs or limit payments to executives and shareholders. Under the program, the central bank will buy up to $500 billion in bonds issued by large companies. The companies will use the influx of cash as a financial lifeline but are required to pay it back with interest. Unlike other portions of the relief for American businesses, however, this aid will be exempt from rules passed by Congress requiring recipients to limit dividends, executive compensation and stock buybacks and does not direct the companies to maintain certain employment levels."
Another Way the Haves Are Profiting from Covid-19. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "As American companies lay off millions of workers, some appear to be taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis to target workers who are in or hope to join unions, according to interviews with more than two dozen workers, labor activists and employment lawyers."
~~~ ** Veep Spits on Mayo Clinic Staff. Briana Bierschbach of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Vice President Mike Pence returned to Minnesota Tuesday to highlight Mayo Clinic's coronavirus research and testing efforts, calling them a 'whole of Minnesota approach.' But even as he praised Mayo's efforts to combat COVID-19, Pence ignored the clinic's request that all visitors don face masks to prevent transmission, including Gov. Tim Walz [D(FLP)] and others on the tour. In the face of growing commentary on television and social media, Mayo officials responded with a tweet as the tour was still underway: 'Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today.'"
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: Bloomberg reports that "'... Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to remain open, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply from the coronavirus outbreak, a person familiar with the matter said. Trump plans to use the Defense Production Act to order the companies to stay open during the pandemic, and the government will provide additional protective gear for employees as well as guidance, according to the person.'... His base hears 'meat shortage' and goes cuckoo, so Trump sees a chance to show them whose side he's on. And it's not the side of liberal elites, that's for sure. Nor is it the side of the brown-skinned people who mostly work in packing houses these days. However, I'm sure they'll be mollified by Trump's promise of 'guidance' to their bosses.... Trump is forcing everyone to stay open regardless of whether their meat is safe. And since there's no way to know which packing plant your meat comes from, you might just decide to avoid all meat."
Everything Trump Does Is Stupid and Petty. Matt Stieb of New York: "Despite evidence that COVID-19 may have jumped from bats to humans -- with a possible layover in the immune systems of pangolins -- Politico reports that President Trump is now cutting funding for researchers determining how bat coronaviruses can infect humans because the project is linked to a lab in Wuhan, China. On Friday, the National Institutes of Health told the sponsor of the study for the past five years, EcoHealth Alliance, that all future funding was off the table and that the nonprofit would stop spending the remaining $369,819 from its 2020 grant.... The revocation of just over $3.7 million is a paltry sum for the NIH.... Cutting 0.000094 percent of the budget in an apparent act of political posturing shows that the Trump administration continues to let its incoherent policy toward China obstruct important research that may help us fend off the next pandemic -- even as we're still in the heart of the current one." The Politico report is here.
~~~ ** The Cover-up Is Worse Than the Incompetence. Ryan Goodman & Danielle Schulkin in a New York Times op-ed: "The strongest critics of the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic point to its flat-footedness and the consequences of time lost. But the full account looks worse. Over the last five days of February, President Trump and senior officials did something more sinister: They engaged in a cover-up. A look at this window of time gives insight into how several members of the president's team were willing to manipulate Americans even when so many lives were at stake.... Senior officials knew the coronavirus was an extreme threat to Americans. Thanks to information streaming in from U.S. intelligence agencies for months, officials reportedly believed that a 'cataclysmic' disease could infect 100 million Americans and discussed lockdown plans. The warnings were given to Mr. Trump in his daily brief by the intelligence community; in calls from Alex Azar, the secretary of health; and in memos from his economic adviser Peter Navarro. The same day [Feb. 25] that Dr. [Nancy] Messonnier spoke [to reporters about the coming pandemic], the military's National Center for Medical Intelligence raised the warning level inside the government to WATCHCON1, concluding that the coronavirus was imminently likely to develop into a full-blown pandemic.... So the president's top advisers took to the airwaves with a united purpose: to deny the truth."
Mike DeBonis & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday the House was abandoning plans to meet next week, less than 24 hours after members were told to prepare to return to Washington on May 4 despite the spreading coronavirus pandemic. Hoyer said the change was made in light of advice from the congressional attending physician and in light of the continued spread of the virus in Washington and its suburbs. 'The numbers in the District of Columbia are going up, not down,' he said.... The decision by House Democratic leaders to stay home stands in stark contrast to the plan from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said this week the Senate will reconvene on Monday to confirm President Trump's judicial nominees and to start work on a new coronavirus relief bill." ~~~
~~~ Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "... Steny Hoyer on Tuesday announced that lawmakers won't return to Washington next week, abruptly reversing course after widespread backlash from members in both parties who warned the move would be unsafe."
Adam Raymond of New York: “The New York Times responded Monday night to Sean Hannity's demand for an apology and retraction over recent columns concerning his comments on the coronavirus. 'In response to your request for an apology and a retraction, our answer is "no,"' a Times lawyer wrote in a letter to Hannity's lawyer, Charles Harder, who had represented the Trump campaign in a previous lawsuit against the Times.... Earlier on Monday, Hannity and Harder threatened to sue the Times in a letter accusing the paper of 'blatant and outrageous disregard for the truth in mischaracterizing Mr. Hannity's coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.'"; Mrs. McC: Hannity is just trying to find a way to wiggle out of his responsibility for persuading his listeners that coronavirus was a hoax that would not endanger Americans' health.
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The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Trump, under growing pressure to expand coronavirus testing as states move to reopen their economies, unveiled a new plan on Monday to ramp up the federal government's help to states, but his proposal runs far short of what most public health experts say is necessary. Mr. Trump's announcement in the Rose Garden came after weeks of him insisting, inaccurately, that the nation's testing capability 'is fully sufficient to begin opening up the country,' as he said on April 18. Numerous public health experts say that is untrue, and Mr. Trump's plan may do little to fix it. 'These were not complaining people. They had everything they needed. They had their ventilators; they had their testing,' Mr. Trump said on Monday after a call with governors. 'We're getting them what they need.' In fact, governors have been complaining that they do not have nearly enough tests to give them the kind of information they need to make difficult decisions about reopening"
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: During the briefing yesterday, mike pence had a precious explanation for why he and Trump said way back in early March that "Anybody that wants a test can get a test" (-- Trump, March 6) & have repeated similar claims when that still isn't true: ~~~
~~~ Daniel Dale, et al., of CNN: "... Mike Pence accused a reporter of a misunderstanding about testing that Pence's own words had created weeks earlier.... A reporter [-- Jon Karl of ABC News --] ... asked Pence what went wrong before -- after his early-March claims that four million tests would be available by the following week. Pence responded Monday: 'I appreciate the question, but it represents a misunderstanding on your part and frankly the -- a lot of people in the public's part -- about the difference between having a test versus the ability to actually process the test.' Pence said 'the old system' was not able to process the tests at the necessary volume. When a reporter pressed him, asking if he had just been talking in March about tests being sent out, not actually being completed,' Pence said that was correct.... Here's what Pence said on March 9: 'Over a million tests have been distributed. Before the end of this week, another 4 million tests will be distributed. But as I said before, with the deployment of the commercial labs, we literally -- we literally are going to see a dramatic increase in the available -- availability of testing, and that's all a direct result of the President's leadership.' Pence did not add a caveat about how the system was currently unable to deal with the 4 million tests. And he specifically mentioned commercial labs...." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Dangling Man. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Let's say mike is up on a 20-foot ladder cleaning the gutters when the ladder begins to fall sideways & crash to the ground. mike is able to catch onto the eaves and is left dangling 20 feet above-ground. He hollers for mrs. mike to get him the ladder. She comes out of the house, surveys the scene, and says, "But, mike, you have a ladder." Then she goes back on in the house to watch the country craft shows on the teevee. Under the pence theory of availability, that should work for mike.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "To the surprise of exactly no one, President Trump resumed his daily coronavirus news briefings on Monday, just two days after tweeting that they were 'not worth the time & effort' and just hours after his own White House officially canceled the planned appearance.... For a president who relishes the spotlight and spends hours a day watching television, the idea of passing on his daily chance to get his message out turned out to be untenable despite his anger over his coverage. And so he was back, defending his handling of the pandemic and promising to reopen the country soon.... Even as he talked about the crisis that has killed almost as many Americans as the Vietnam War, Mr. Trump veered off to attack 'Sleepy Joe' Biden, complain about being persecuted and make some of his favorite false claims. He promoted his administration's record on responding to the pandemic despite widespread criticism, blamed China for not stopping the virus in the first place, suggested he was open to suing states for imposing restrictions embraced by his own public health advisers and predicted an 'incredible fourth quarter' of economic growth and recovery from the collapse of the economy."
Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "Governors, congressional leaders and public health officials have pressed for a robust testing plan from the federal government, insisting that frequent and widespread testing is crucial to ending the stay-at-home orders that have idled businesses across much of the country. President Trump responded Monday by announcing what the White House called a 'blueprint' for increasing testing capacity. But it leaves the onus on states to develop their own plans and rapid-response programs.... Trump insisted that the nation will have the necessary testing, but it was unclear how the plan would work.... Trump outlined the effort at a White House news conference where he was joined by some major retailers, who said they had ramped up the rate of testing and the production of medical supplies.... But a previous high-profile public-private initiative announced by the president in March -- partnering with companies to open up scores of testing sites on their properties across the country -- has been slow to materialize." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The WashPo description of the Daily Shitshow is generous. As the usually-circumspect John King of CNN put it, "The briefing was nothing but an opportunity for Trump to march a bunch of CEOs up to the podium to praise him; then he spent the rest of the time doing most of the talking." (Paraphrase.) ~~~
~~~ Nikki Carvajal & Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump said Monday that he takes no responsibility for any spike in people using disinfectants improperly after dangerously suggesting last week that ingesting it could serve as a coronavirus treatment. Asked about the increase during a White House news conference, Trump said: 'I can't imagine why.' When asked if he takes any responsibility for the spike, Trump answered: 'No, I don't.'" ~~~
~~~ Poor, Pitiful, Marvelous Me. Jeremy Peters, et al., of the New York Times: "The self-regard, the credit-taking, the audacious rewriting of recent history to cast himself as the hero of the pandemic rather than the president who was slow to respond: Such have been the defining features of Mr. Trump's use of the bully pulpit during the coronavirus outbreak. The New York Times analyzed every word Mr. Trump spoke at his White House briefings and other presidential remarks on the virus -- more than 260,000 words -- from March 9, when the outbreak began leading to widespread disruptions in daily life, through mid-April. The transcripts show striking patterns and repetitions in the messages he has conveyed, revealing a display of presidential hubris and self-pity unlike anything historians say they have seen before." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Greg Miller & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "U.S. intelligence agencies issued warnings about the novel coronavirus in more than a dozen classified briefings prepared for President Trump in January and February, months during which he continued to play down the threat, according to current and former U.S. officials. The repeated warnings were conveyed in issues of the President's Daily Brief, a sensitive report that is produced before dawn each day and designed to call the president's attention to the most significant global developments and security threats. For weeks, the PDB -- as the report is known -- traced the virus's spread around the globe, made clear that China was suppressing information about the contagion's transmissibility and lethal toll, and raised the prospect of dire political and economic consequences. But the alarms appear to have failed to register with the president, who routinely skips reading the PDB and has at times shown little patience for even the oral summary he takes two or three times per week, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity...."
The New York Times puts "What an Idiot!" right on the front page: ~~~
~~~ Lisa Friedman & Brad Plumer of the New York Times: "At a March visit with doctors and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the public health agency at the heart of the fight against the coronavirus, President Trump spoke words of praise for the scientific acumen in the building -- particularly his own. 'Every one of these doctors said, "How do you know so much about this?" Maybe I have a natural ability,' Mr. Trump said. It was a striking boast, even amid a grave health crisis in which Mr. Trump has repeatedly contradicted medical experts in favor of his own judgment. But a disregard for scientific advice has been a defining characteristic of Mr. Trump's administration.... The president's actions, [presidential historian Douglas Brinkley] said, have eroded one of the United States's most enviable assets: the government's deep scientific expertise, built over decades. Historians and foreign policy experts said the administration's disregard for scientific expertise -- combined with the nation's broader retreat from international trade agreements and cross-border defense alliances like NATO -- is diminishing the nation's status on the world stage."
Pete Williams of NBC News: "Attorney General William Barr directed the nation's federal prosecutors Monday to watch for restrictions imposed by state and local governments during the coronavirus pandemic that may go too far, violating constitutional rights.... He tasked the U.S. attorney in Detroit, Matthew Schneider, to help lead the effort.... Donald Trump, speaking later Monday at a news conference, backed Barr's efforts. 'He wants to see people get back to work,' Trump said. 'He does not want people to be held up when there is no reason for doing it.... The attorney general doesn't want rights taken away. There are some people, they are not allowed to open up their store. They're going to lose their livelihood. And, by the way, that causes death also....'"
Jordan Fabian & Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg, republished in Yahoo! Finance: "The White House is urging businesses to open their doors again in hopes of triggering a swift revival of the U.S. economy, despite warning signs that nationwide reopenings may be premature. Kevin Hassett, an economic adviser to ... Donald Trump, said Monday the White House has data showing that essential businesses over the past four weeks have begun to operate without major coronavirus flare-ups. He said it is likely safe for non-essential businesses to reopen as well.... Over the past two weeks, outbreaks have been reported at meatpacking plants, distribution centers and warehouses across the country that have remained open. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro nonetheless echoed Hassett's claims during a CNN interview, saying the performance of aerospace companies and other 'essential industries' shows the nation is ready to return to work -- albeit with social distancing and personal hygiene guidelines." ~~~
~~~ KSHB Kansas City, Mo.: "As meat-packing plants become a point of concern for the spread of COVID-19 across the country, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have joined forces to give employers and workers guidance. The agencies on Sunday released recommendations for those involved in processing beef, pork and poultry to reduce the risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus." Mrs. McC: Mind you, these are "recommendations," not mandates. ~~~
~~~ Shelly Bradbury of the Denver Post: "A fifth employee at the JBS USA plant in Greeley died Sunday after contracting the novel coronavirus, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7. Four workers at the Greeley beef plant have now died, as well as one person who worked at the JBS corporate office. The death of plant employee Way Ler, 61, comes two days after JBS reopened its Greeley plant after a nine-day closure prompted by the spread of the novel coronavirus among employees. The plant reopened Friday after the company installed a variety of protections for workers designed to slow the spread of the virus, and most employees will return to work Monday, despite ongoing concerns about worker safety and a lack of testing for employees. On Friday, JBS sent the union a cease-and-desist letter alleging that union president Kim Cordova violated the collective bargaining agreement between the workers and the company by speaking publicly about safety concerns at the plant.... At least 102 JBS employees have confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, although health officials believe the outbreak is larger...." ~~~
~~~ Natalia Navarro of Colorado Public Radio (April 24): "The JBS Greeley beef production facility is reopening Friday, April 24 without testing all employees for COVID-19, despite promises from the White House and plant management to do so. The plant was ordered to close April 10 to test all employees, disinfect and implement social distancing protocols in the facility. Vice President Mike Pence discussed JBS during a White House briefing and promised resources for testing. But the company confirmed to CPR that not all employees were tested."
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Monday are here. "Less than an hour after the Small Business Administration started taking requests for another $310 billion in emergency aid for small businesses on Monday morning, its computer system for processing the loan applications crashed.... It was a rocky start for the second round of funding through the Paycheck Protection Program, a stimulus measure that offers small companies a low-interest loan to cover their payroll and other costs. If borrowers comply with the program's rules, the loans will be forgiven." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Luke Darby of GQ: "Dallas billionaire Monty Bennett had a special hand in draining the first round of PPP money -- he's the single biggest recipient of PPP funds, with $96.1 million going to his businesses. Bennett is the the head of what the Dallas Morning News calls a 'hotel empire.' He's the CEO of Ashford Inc., a company that serves as the 'external advisor' to Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts, two companies where Bennett also serves as chairman of the board. As Popular Information reports, the three companies made $2.2 billion in revenue in 2019. But in March, when U.S. businesses started to feel the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the companies laid off 95 percent of their employees and hired lobbyists for the first time ever to make sure that they could get bailout money. That same month, Bennett personally donated $50,000 Donald Trump's reelection committee.... In a statement out Saturday, Ashford Inc. announced that unlike other publicly-traded, multi-million dollar companies, it would not be returning any of the funds it received." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Jessica Silver-Greenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "A company in Georgia paid $6.5 million to resolve a Justice Department investigation -- and, two weeks later, received a $10 million federally backed loan to help it survive the coronavirus crisis. Another company, AutoWeb, disclosed last week that it had paid its chief executive $1.7 million in 2019 -- a week after it received $1.4 million from the same loan program.... The loan program was meant for companies that could no longer finance themselves through traditional means.... The law required that the federal money -- which comes at a low 1 percent interest rate and in some cases doesn't need to be paid back -- be spent on things like payroll or rent.... But dozens of large but lower-profile companies with financial or legal problems have also received large payouts under the program.... Another dozen or so collected money even though they have recently reported being able to raise large sums through private means. Several others have recently showered top executives with seven-figure pay packages.... Instead of having the Small Business Administration, which is guaranteeing the loans, decide which companies get funding, the process was essentially outsourced to banks. The banks collect fees for each loan they make but don't have to monitor whether the recipients use the money appropriately." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ "Heads We Win, Tails You Lose." Dominic Rushe & Mona Chalabi of the Guardian: "Some of the richest people in the US have been at the front of the queue as the government has handed out trillions of dollars to prop up an economy it shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the billionaire class has added $308bn to its wealth in four weeks - even as a record 26 million people lost their jobs. According to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, between 18 March and 22 April the wealth of America's plutocrats grew 10.5%.... Eight of those billionaires have seen their net worth surge by over $1bn each.... The billionaire bonanza comes as a flotilla of big businesses, millionaires and billionaires sail through loopholes in a $349bn bailout meant to save hard-hit small businesses. About 150 public companies managed to bag more than $600m in forgivable loans before the funds ran out.... Fisher Island, a members-only location off the coast of Miami where the average income of residents is $2.2m..., has received $2m in aid. The banks that were the largest recipients of bailout cash in the last recession have also done well, raking in $10bn in fees from the government loans, according to an analysis by National Public Radio." ~~~
~~~ **The Great White Heist. Megan Cerullo of CBS: "Flaws in the Paycheck Protection Program are hindering small businesses owned by minorities and by women from securing federal coronavirus relief, according to lending experts and interviews with numerous owners.... 'Roughly 95% of Black-owned businesses, 91% of Latino-owned businesses, 91% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses, and 75% of Asian-owned businesses stand close to no chance of receiving a PPP loan through a mainstream bank or credit union,' the [Center for Responsible Lending, a non-profit group that combats abusive lending practices] warned on April 6 as the Paycheck Protection Program, or the PPP, was starting to take applications." --safari: This, right here, is exactly why the #MAGA cult exists.
** Angela Fritz, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added six symptoms of the novel coronavirus to its list, suggesting health experts are learning more about the growing number of ways physicians see the virus affecting patients. The symptoms, which the CDC reports could appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus, are: Chills, Repeated shaking with chills, Muscle pain, Headache, Sore throat [and] New loss of taste or smell. Previously, the CDC listed just three known symptoms: shortness of breath, cough and fever."
Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "In the early weeks of the coronavirus epidemic, the United States recorded an estimated 15,400 excess deaths, nearly two times as many as were publicly attributed to covid-19 at the time, according to an analysis of federal data conducted for The Washington Post by a research team led by the Yale School of Public Health. The excess deaths -- the number beyond what would normally be expected for that time of year -- occurred during March and through April 4, a time when 8,128 coronavirus deaths were reported. The excess deaths are not necessarily attributable directly to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They could include people who died because of the epidemic but not from the disease, such as those who were afraid to seek medical treatment for unrelated illnesses, as well as some number of deaths that are part of the ordinary variation in the death rate.... The analysis suggests that the deaths announced in the weeks leading up to April 4, based on reports from state public health departments, failed to capture the full impact of the pandemic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Burgess Everett of Politico: "In an interview on Monday, [Mitch McConnell] said it's 'highly likely' the next coronavirus response bill will aid local governments whose budgets have been decimated by lockdowns and now face spiraling deficits. But to unlock that money, McConnell said he will 'insist' Congress limit the liabilities of health care workers, business owners and employees from lawsuits as they reopen in the coming weeks and months.... In acknowledging that states like New York and New Jersey can count on more federal aid in the next massive relief bill, the Kentucky Republican is cracking the door to an agreement with congressional Democrats after taking a hard line with his recent suggestion that states go 'the bankruptcy route.'" Mrs. McC: I'm not sure even a federal law can protect me from highly irresponsible behavior: say, requiring employees to work in close quarters with no PPE when a threat of infection, illness and death exists. (But let's not ask Neil Gorsuch about that.)
Jack Healy, et al., of the New York Times: "Governors across the country forged ahead Monday with plans to reopen their economies, even as the nation hit a grim milestone of 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus and public health experts warned against lifting stay-at-home orders too quickly. Numerous states, including some of the largest, began the process of lifting shelter orders in what could be a pivotal stage in the U.S. response to the pandemic.... The moves came as President Trump promised to help the states ramp up testing and called on them to consider reconvening schools before the end of the academic year rather than waiting until the fall, as many districts have decided or are expected to do."
Arizona. Impersonate a Nurse! Kate Riga of TPM: "Dr. Kelli Ward, the far-right conspiracy theory-embracing chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, encouraged her Twitter followers to don scrubs and personal protective equipment while attending 'reopen' rallies to bamboozle the media.... 'If anyone's status as a health care professional should be questioned it's Dr. Kelli Ward's, considering her unwillingness to promote the advice of health experts,' said Matt Grodsky, spokesman for the [Arizona Democratic] party. 'Irresponsible, shameful tweets like this do nothing to help people afflicted with the virus or the health care heroes who are working to save lives.' Ward is a doctor of osteopathic medicine."
New York. Ali Watkins, et al., of the New York Times: "A top emergency room doctor at a Manhattan hospital that treated many coronavirus patients died by suicide on Sunday, her father and the police said. Dr. Lorna M. Breen, the medical director of the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, died in Charlottesville, Va., where she was staying with family, her father said in an interview.... Dr. Breen's father, Dr. Philip C. Breen, said she had described devastating scenes of the toll the coronavirus took on patients. 'She tried to do her job, and it killed her,' he said. The elder Dr. Breen said his daughter had contracted the coronavirus but had gone back to work after recuperating for about a week and a half. The hospital sent her home again, before her family intervened to bring her to Charlottesville, he said. Dr. Breen, 49, did not have a history of mental illness, her father said." ~~~
~~~ Alina Selyukh of NPR: "In a letter to Amazon obtained by NPR, the office of New York's [attorney general] Letitia James says the company may have ... broken the state's whistleblower laws for firing a warehouse worker who helped organize a protest in Staten Island. 'While we continue to investigate, the information so far available to us raises concerns that Amazon's health and safety measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are so inadequate that they may violate several provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act' and other federal and state guidelines, James's staff wrote in the letter, dated April 22.... Amazon's New York warehouses have been under extra scrutiny since the company fired Staten Island worker Christian Smalls, who helped stage a protest demanding that the facility be closed following several confirmed cases of the coronavirus among staff. Amazon has said Smalls was fired for violating quarantine and safety measures. New York officials write that their preliminary findings 'raise serious concern that Amazon may have discharged [Smalls] in order to silence his complaints and send a threatening message to other employees that they should also keep quiet about any health and safety concerns.' Notably, the letter says New York's attorney general is also investigating "other cases of potential illegal retaliation.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Worth noting: Between March 18 and April 22, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos increased his wealth by more than a billion dollars, according to the Guardian report linked above. But, you know, can't have those low-paid rabble-rousers demanding safe workplace conditions.
North Carolina. Jeff Reeves of CBS 17 Raleigh: "A leader of the ReOpen NC group revealed in a Facebook post that she tested positive for COVID-19. Audrey Whitlock posted to the ReOpen NC Facebook page early Sunday saying her two-week quarantine was ending. She described herself as an' an asymptomatic COVID19 positive patient.' Whitlock is one of the administrators of the ReOpen NC Facebook page -- which has helped organize two protests in downtown Raleigh calling for Gov. Roy Cooper [D] to lift his stay-at-home order. In Whitlock's post, she wrote about how the restrictions put in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic are violating her First Amendment rights as well as her 5th and 14th Amendment rights." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I read Audrey's Facebook manifesto (which appears -- partly illegibly -- at the bottom of the CBS 17 article). She believes she has a Constitutional right to sicken other people partly because her quarantine violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. That is, Audrey is so dumb she is comparing Covid-19 to, say, a spinal anomaly or hearing impairment.
Judy Fahys of Inside Climate News: "[I]n a sweeping plan to revive the domestic uranium mining industry unveiled Thursday, the Trump administration proposed ... to open the scenic and sacred areas [in the Grand Canyon] once again in the name of economic vitality and national security. Allowing more uranium mining on federal lands is just one of the suggestions that emerged from an eight-month review by the White House Nuclear Fuel Working Group. So are the creation of a federally funded, $150 million uranium reserve over the next decade, the easing of environmental regulations at mines and processing plants and the global expansion of U.S.-made nuclear technologies.... The new nuclear strategy is in concert with environmental policies that have become familiar in the Trump years." --s
Presidential Race
New York. Stephanie Saul & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "New York officials canceled the state's Democratic presidential primary on Monday, calling the vote a 'beauty contest' that the state could ill afford in the face of the coronavirus epidemic. The move by Democrats on the New York State Board of Elections followed the decision by Senator Bernie Sanders to concede the Democratic presidential nomination to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., rendering the primary unnecessary. Officials had struggled with the decision, which was certain to anger some supporters of Mr. Sanders, but they ultimately concluded that the risk of spreading the coronavirus was too great to justify holding an election with no real meaning. Because of the board's decision, voters in about 20 counties that had no other contests on their ballot will have no need to go to the polls on June 23.... Despite arrangements to encourage absentee voting, polling places are expected to remain open in about 42 counties for down-ballot races.... In a letter to the board on Sunday, Mr. Sanders's campaign had urged the board to keep him on the ballot and hold a primary in the interest of party unity, and the Sanders-aligned group Our Revolution had cautioned against the presidential primary's cancellation."
Rich McHugh of Business Insider: "In March, when a former aide to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden accused the candidate of sexually assaulting her in 1993, two people came forward to say that the woman, Tara Reade, had told them of the incident shortly after it allegedly occurred -- her brother, Collin Moulton, and a friend who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. Now two more sources have come forward to corroborate certain details about Reade's claims. One of them -- a former neighbor of Reade's -- has told Insider for the first time, on the record, that Reade disclosed details about the alleged assault to her in the mid-1990s.... [Lynda] LaCasse told Insider that in 1995 or 1996, Reade told her she had been assaulted by Biden. 'I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him,' LaCasse said. 'And he kind of put her up against a wall. And he put his hand up her skirt and he put his fingers inside her. She felt like she was assaulted, and she really didn't feel there was anything she could do.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Some allies of President Trump pointed Monday to new claims by a woman who said she was told about sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden decades ago, renewing attention to questions about the past behavior of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Apparent corroboration surfaced this week for elements of two accusations made by Biden's former Senate aide Tara Reade, one involving harassment and the second a sexual assault.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that the allegations against Biden deserve to be scrutinized as much as those against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who during his nomination hearings was accused of a past assault.... Trump has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual assault. He has denied all of the allegations. His son Donald Trump Jr. has repeatedly tweeted about the accusations against Biden in recent days. On Monday afternoon, he retweeted the Business Insider story [linked above].... Three of Reade's supervisors from the time, to whom Reade says she complained about Biden's behavior, have said they don't remember Reade or any complaints from her." Biden has, through a spokesperson, denied the accusations. An AP story is here.
Susannah Luthi of Politico: "The Supreme Court on Monday ruled the federal government owes health insurers massive payments from an Obamacare program shielding them from financial risks after the companies accused Washington of reneging on its funding promises. The 8-1 decision could open the floodgates for federal cash to the insurance industry. Insurers who accused the government of a 'bait and switch' claimed they're owed $12 billion from the Affordable Care Act program. The case concerned a temporary fund in the health care law intended as a buffer for health plans who had sicker customers than expected in the newly overhauled insurance marketplaces. Obamacare's drafters hoped the program would be funded by industry, but health plans quickly racked up losses when the marketplaces opened in 2014. The next year, Republican lawmakers approved the first in a series of annual appropriations riders barring HHS from using taxpayer dollars to bankroll the program, known as risk corridors. The high court agreed with insurers that the congressional spending restrictions didn't release the government from its original promise to fund the Obamacare program." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)"
Way Beyond the Beltway
Hunter Walker of Yahoo! News: "President Trump was asked about the widespread speculation surrounding the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a White House news conference on the coronavirus on Monday. Trump suggested he knew 'exactly' how Kim is doing, but declined to reveal that information. 'Yes I do have a very good idea, but I can't talk about it now,' said Trump when he was asked to provide an update on Kim's condition. 'I just wish him well.'"
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@Hattie: Thank you for remembering "... I am Marie of Romania." That made my day.
@Others:
“Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
a medley of extemporanea,
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
and I am Marie of Romania.” -- Dorothy Parker
This is what a top notch education looks like: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/its-time-to-return-to-globalization-but-this-time-lets-do-it-right/2020/04/27/b5e8b442-88b4-11ea-8ac1-bfb250876b7a_story.html. The Orange baboon has no such thing. When was the last time the world had such unity of situation as now? That's why we need to keep our eyes on the Turtle from Kentucky and keep good records of who is profiting from and monetizing this pandemic. And let's point unceasing light at the bastards the next 6 months.
"....the pence theory of availability..."
Great line, Bea.
The Plan
And now, ladies and gentlemen. Your complete attention please! The great and glorious president* of the red states will make known his wonderfully brilliant plan to governors of the states regarding the reopening of everything and the testing of, ahem, “everyone who wants a test”. This plan, if followed to the letter, should end all this coronavirus silliness and allow the country to get back to business. And now, president* Trump! All rise! (Blasting fanfare, Trump enters dressed golden raiment with 75 foot ermine cape hoisted by servants).
“People of America!...and democrat governors. Here is my plan: you take care of it.”
(Blasting fanfares. The great man turns on his heels and runs away as fast as his Royal fatness will allow.)
Gotta love the bald faced lying chutzpah of the Trump monkeys. Little mikey pence sniffs that people had tests. He didn’t mean you could do anything with them, though. I mean, whoever would think that?
“Hey, mikey. Thanks for the scooters, man. But hey, the wheels are flat and there’s no gas in the tanks. What good is that?”
“Shut up! I’m the vice president * and you’re not. You asked for scooters. You got scooters. No more impertinent questions, or I’ll get Momma after you. Mommaaaaa! They’re being mean to me again!”
Is this what winning is like?
@citizen625
You pushed me over the edge. My months-long intention to subscribe to the WAPO has been fulfilled. Thanks to your teaser, this morning I succumbed.
It really is all about the good of the few at the expense of the many, isn't it? Whether we're talking about the world order that has emerged since "the end of history" that has concentrated immense wealth in relatively few hands, or the tussle taking place here at home over the Constitutional "rights" of people to infect and kill one another in the name of freedom, the issues are the same.
The central question is is how eager we should be to get back to where we were, to a place where we were wholly unprepared, economically, politically, socially to deal with the virus.
And if we did such a poor job with that, a single and because it was easily identified, a relatively simple challenge, how can a splintered society meet and deal with the equally inevitable and far more intractable human challenges like climate change and resource depletion that don't scream their presence so immediately or so loudly?
I would add that persistent and growing economic inequality, mentioned in the Post op-ed, and the class differences that inequality perpetuates and reinforces, may not directly cause all the problems we face, but it sure gets in the way of recognizing and solving them.
@Akhilleus: Still trying to picture Trump running. Lumbering, plodding, shambling, slogging, trudging, waddling, maybe goose-stepping. But running? I can't get there. I even imagined there was a $100 bill as the prize at the end of a short track. Just couldn't see it.
I'm getting more and more the feeling that this whole Payment Protection Plan is monumentally inadequate for the economic damage being done, and the fact that huge percentages are getting doled out to the rich/politically connected, makes the whole exercise seem like a fart in a hurricane, except that robbing the Treasury for the rich will now be the focal point of hypocrites later calling for cutting public programs.
The vulture capitalists have all deployed their lobbyists and are all putting together their plans to pick the bones of Main Street, and you know people in charge of this failure are going to profit off of their failure. Failing forward defined.
Yesterday DiJiT returned to the soapbox in The Rose Garden ... and none of the Washington news programs aired it.
For over a week (we all notice that time is more difficult to judge these days -- maybe it is two weeks) the WMA (Washington Metropolitan Area, essentially Baltimore to Richmond and Appalachians to the Atlantic) broadcast network local affiliates have announced during the afternoon news that "President Trump will hold a Coronavirus Task Force briefing at 5, but we will not be airing it and will let you know if anything important comes up." The NBC local affiliate anchorwoman often adds something like "5 o'clock is usually 6 or 6:30, who wants odds?"
Yesterday, between 5 and 7 the remote control dominatrix here switched around between the various local news programs, and none of them were carrying the 5 o'clock Rose Garden Rope-a-Dope.
And I saw no clips or outtakes later in the day.
Clearly, the local channels in WMA have decided that there is no reason to give DiJiT soapbox time, and they are even joking about it.
Local newsrooms here are the seedbeds for national TV news, so maybe we are finally approaching broadcast journalism's ability to ignore the man babbling at the podium. Nice, if true.
I tried to think of a phrase for "broadcast journalism" that wasn't an oxymoron, but got distracted thinking of "hydroxy-moron."
@safari: The cunning of the connected aside, what could possibly be wrong with a plan that puts Steve Mnuchin in charge of a what is supposed to be sort of a charity?
And the robbers continue their lives' work. I feel bad for the TRUE ?small businesses who will fail to obtain help, but what IS a small business, anyhow? Fewer than 500-3000? What in gods' names is small about that? It is screwed to begin with.
I was intrigued by a link Krugman provided in his column yesterday to another piece whose author said our national debt was not so big a problem as many think because we never pay it off anyway.
To me, living as I do in 2020, that struck me as part happy talk.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/opinion/republicans-deficits-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
According to that author, we survived the massive WWII debt via 1) very high marginal federal tax rates that continued until the 1960's and 2) post WWII growth. And given those factors we never really "paid it off."
All true, but that's the past, and knowing that, I'm hardly comfortable in our very different present. We live in a world where far more then it did sixty and eighty years ago money calls almost all the shots, and big money these days does not wish to be taxed. Period.
Republicans have made a simple bargain. They pay off their donors by cutting their taxes and handing out hundreds of millions, these days billions, to their supporters in the form of corporate socialism . Tit for tat. It's free money, after all, all borrowed, handy to give to your friends.
Unless Democrats take the Presidency and both Houses (and though I wish they were, neither Trump nor McConnell or his Republican Senate is certain toast) there is no chance marginal tax rates will be raised, certainly not to the point necessay to make a dent in the Covid-created deficit piled on top of the huge 2017 Tax Scam. And real economic growth of the kind we had post WWII, that is in production and sales of goods dependent on the upward social mobility of the post war era, not in the funny money world of the financial markets, is unlikely to return anytime soon.
We know Democrats are not immune to money's strong gravitational pull either. The way the system works, they can't afford to be.
One more reason to give thanks to the slimy SCOTUS and their Citizens United decision, whose consequences have further tightened money's noose on the nation's neck year after year.
"It really is all about the good of the few at the expense of the many, isn't it? " YES, sir! you bet your bippy. And safari's comments--(love the "fart in a hurricane"–-thought on that for a moment and realized how perfect that was) brings all that goodness and love and caring by those "bone pickers" in order to make this country fair and balanced.
And THAT Mr. President, is what sarcasm looks like!
He just couldn't stay away from his daily Smorgasbord, just had to preen and flout his feathers because––without this masquerade he'd have to face the fact that he's a fat, old, insipid fool whose art of any deal is to enhance his chance at another four years of complete destruction. "So many people love me"–––this he tells himself like a prayer.
Mention here of the half-Pence today. I am still fascinated at this man's composure ––does he ever get rattled? angry? ––He has played Trump's Charlie McCarthy for so long I wonder without him would he just become a real dummy?
To ease MY mind this morning, I have listened to and sung along with Richard Harris singing Jimmy Webb's glorious songs from the album "A Tramp Shining"––took me far away from "A Trump Shambolic" –-at least for some moments.
As soon as reading about the Orange baboon running, I just started laughing. Picture him running! I'm laughing, again.
A long but good read.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/04/seattles-leaders-let-scientists-take-the-lead-new-yorks-did-not
Now that I have a WAPO account, I'll unhesitatingly link this one, and
let me say sans sarcasm that unlike the Pretender Milbank is funny.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/27/trump-is-very-subtle-comic-genius/
@Ken Winkes: One important thing about the debt that built up during the Great Depression of the 1930s & WWII, it was truly a "national" debt. That is, Americans held almost all of the IOUs. So the argument about "forcing our grandchildren to pay our debts" would not have meant much: after all, we were also "forcing our own grandchildren" to earn the interest on that debt.
Now, almost 40 percent of the public debt is held by foreigners or other governments so "our grandchildren" will be the beneficiaries of only about 60 percent of it. There is still a good reason to build up the debt in times of economic hardship, but there was no excuse for the Trump tax-break/debt-accumulation act. The debt should have been brought down then by making federal taxes far more progressive; instead, Republicans did the opposite. The GOP is the party of fiscal irresponsibility.
Good point, Bea.
We did own that debt, and the tradition of self-financing the debt continued through my youth.
I remember buying a few small denomination savings bonds from the paltry proceeds of my 7th grade paper route to add to a couple I received as gifts from grandparents. Cashed them in in the late sixties when I was in college. They didn't go far, as I remember, but a sense of patriotic satisfaction in the purchase was part of the eventual pay off.
And I bought those bonds at the USPS. We called it the USPO then.
How genuinely American was that?
Oh yes, I remember savings bonds, back in the days of S&H green stamps. I can still taste the glue.
A pity the good folks at Mayo Clinic Rochester didn't give Mikey the ultimatum: no mask/no entry. What is wrong with these people?
Trump v War. Trump wins!! Hurray for the Party of Death ☠️.
I see where the death toll for the Trump Virus in the US will soon eclipse the number of Americans who died in Vietnam. The first American was killed there in 1956, the last in 1975. This means that Trump, in around 60 days, has overseen, and in many cases, directly caused, the deaths of almost as many Americans who died over nearly a 20 year war. Even if you want to move up the date to 1964 or 1965, Fatty still matches a 10 year war time death toll in fewer than 10 weeks. Pretty soon he’ll have gone way beyond that number.
Heckuva job, Trumpy. You and the half pence keep up the good work setting great examples for Americans during this dark time. Oh, and don’t forget to stuff your pockets and take care of your rich cronies. Like that would ever happen.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: pestilence, war, famine, and death.
Who needs four when you have Fatty? All four rolled into one fat blob of cheeto-colored spray tan.
Behold a sickly orange horse. And on his breaking back sat a sneering fat man, and a malicious Turtle followed in his wake.
Listening to trump on the radio today, talking about giving meat processing plant owners "liability protection" and not saying anything about protecting the workers made me, just, well,
fucking bastard.
@Ken Winkes, @Mrs. McCrabbie: One of the problems with talking about the National Debt is that it's a misnomer, a misleading name. It's also the National Wealth. People buy Treasury Bonds because it's the safest way to store their money until they need to use it. The English invented this method of financing government operations back in 1670 by selling "perpetual bonds," which do not have a redemption date at all. After 1815 they had a "National Debt" of 250% of their GDP. They have never paid it off. The idea that now is different because "foreigners" own some of the debt is another misunderstanding. If you have "the world's reserve currency" then other countries MUST have some of that currency, so you MUST run a constant trade deficit so they can have dollars to keep buying things from you -- and from each other. If they have dollars, they will have to have a safe way to store those dollars until they need to use them, and they will have to buy U.S. Treasury Bonds. See also, https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080615/china-owns-us-debt-how-much.asp The current explanation of how this works is called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). You can search Google for it -- there's a lot of material about it out there now, but it's only been developed for about the last twenty years so it's not widely known. The main axiom is that a country which is sovereign in its own currency (like the U.S., Japan, England, but not the Eurozone) can never involuntarily default on debt in its own currency.
A book not about MMT, but a book I really recommend if you want to understand what's happening is The Predator State, by James K. Galbraith. Or read Thorstein Veblen.