;)
The Commentariat -- April 7, 2020
Afternoon Update:
** Fair Winds! Jim Sciutto, et al., of CNN: "Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday, a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt 'stupid' in an address to the ship's crew, according to a US official and a former senior military official. The Navy and Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment. Undersecretary of the Army James McPherson has been tapped to succeed Modly, a US official and a defense official tells CNN. McPherson is a retired rear admiral and was the former judge advocate general of the Navy.... Late Monday night, Modly apologized in a statement for calling Crozier 'stupid' in his earlier remarks.... Defense Secretary Mark Esper [had] ordered Modly to apologize...."
John Kruzel of the Hill: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday sided with Texas over its bid to restrict abortion access amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court order halting the restrictions, saying the previous ruling had not adequately considered the temporary burden on abortion access in light of the measure's medical benefits.... Judges Stuart Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee, and Jennifer Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, sided with Texas. Judge James Dennis, a Clinton appointee, dissented."
William Wan & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "A leading forecasting model used by the White House to chart the coronavirus pandemic predicted Monday that the United States may need fewer hospital beds, ventilators and other equipment than previously projected and that some states may reach their peak of covid-19 deaths sooner than expected. That glimmer of potential good news came on the same day New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said his state may already be experiencing a 'flattening of the curve.' New York reported 599 new deaths Monday, on par with Sunday's count of 594 and down from 630 on Saturday. Experts and state leaders, however, continued to steel themselves for grim weeks ahead, noting that the revised model created by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington conflicts with many other models showing higher equipment shortages, deaths and projected peaks." Access is free to nonsubscribers.
Kaitlan Collins & Kate Bennett of CNN: "White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham is leaving the job without ever having briefed the press. CNN has learned she is returning to the East Wing as first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff as ... Donald Trump's new chief of staff Mark Meadows shakes up the communications team in the West Wing. Kayleigh McEnany, who served as Trump's 2020 campaign spokeswoman, will replace Grisham as White House press secretary, according to two sources familiar with the situation.Meadows is also tapping Alyssa Farah, the current spokeswoman for the Defense Department, to be the director of strategic communications, the two sources said. Ben Williamson, a Meadows staffer, will become the senior communications adviser." Thanks to Ken W. for the lead. Mrs. McC: The best thing to do during a completely mismanaged international crisis is have a major staff shakeup. This should set the sinking ship aright. ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times has more. "Ms. McEnany has been a vocal defender of Mr. Trump on television, the main role the president has long believed the press secretary should play, according to current and former advisers. Her hiring is the first major personnel move by the incoming White House chief of staff, former Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina." ~~~
~~~ Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast runs down some of McEnany's greatest hits like, "We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here," in response to Trump's travel ban, and "Trump has never lied to the American people."
Kyle Cheney & Connor O'Brien of Politico: "... Donald Trump has upended the panel of federal watchdogs overseeing his implementation of the $2 trillion coronavirus law, tapping a replacement for the Pentagon official who was supposed to lead the effort. A panel of inspectors general had named Glenn Fine -- the acting Pentagon watchdog -- to lead the group charged with monitoring the coronavirus relief effort. But Trump on Monday removed Fine from his post, instead naming an EPA inspector general to serve as the temporary Pentagon watchdog." Mrs. McC: Couldn't be any hankypanky afoot here, could there?
Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "If hydroxychloroquine becomes an accepted treatment, several pharmaceutical companies stand to profit, including shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president. Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine." Read on for more on the excellent "experts" upon whom Trump is relying.
Elise Viebeck, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hundreds of voters stood in lines that stretched for blocks in several Wisconsin cities Tuesday morning to cast their ballots amid fears about the spread of the coronavirus, a chaotic start to elections in the state that went forward only after a last-minute legal battle. Morning scenes at the polls across Milwaukee -- which was able to open only five polling locations, down from 180 -- underscored the near-unprecedented challenge facing election administrators one day after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers sought to suspend in-person voting in light of the covid-19 pandemic, an order that was quickly reversed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The decision was a victory for the state's GOP-controlled legislature, which had declined to postpone the election and filed a legal challenge to Evers's order, arguing it exceeded the governor's constitutional authority." ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Chait: "As House Democrats set to work on the next round of economic relief legislation, they face a more urgent choice than they seem to realize. If they send that bill to President Trump without measures guaranteeing voting rights during the pandemic, they are signing a death warrant for the 2020 election. A vision of the future sits before us in Wisconsin.... Trump may be able to win by following the Wisconsin Republican strategy of using the virus to suppress urban voting.... [But] once Republicans grasp that they need legislation to avert an economic catastrophe, Democrats will have leverage to force them to accept measures to protect voting."
Natasha Korecki of Politico: "... somehow in the midst of a deadly pandemic that has led more than a dozen states to delay their elections, Wisconsin is asking its citizens to come out and vote Tuesday. This is what the complete collapse of a state's political system looks like.... The scorched earth politics that led to this moment dates back long before the polarization of the Trump era. Hundreds of millions of dollars -- much of it from outside groups -- have poured into state races since 2010, when [former Gov. Scott] Walker's [R] first election as governor kicked off years of acrimony that infected the state's political culture at every level." Mrs. McC: "Pretty much a both-siderism take. Being as generous as possible to Republicans, I'd hold confederates 98% responsible for forcing this election in the midst of a pandemic.
Idaho. Give Me Liberty AND Give Me Death! Mike Baker of the New York Times: "In a state with pockets of deep wariness about both big government and mainstream medicine, the sweeping restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus have run into outright rebellion in some parts of Idaho, which is facing its own worrying spike in coronavirus cases. The opposition is coming not only from people like [Aamon] Bundy, whose armed takeover of the Oregon refuge with dozens of other men and women in 2016 led to a 41-day standoff, but also from some state lawmakers and a county sheriff who are calling the governor's statewide stay-at-home order an infringement on individual liberties.... Many of the latest claims about the Constitution have come from Idaho's northern panhandle, where vaccination rates for other diseases have always been low and where wariness of government is high."
~~~~~~~~~~
Confederates Will Do Anything & Everything to Disenfranchise Democrats
If you live in Wisconsin, your primary election is today.
Stupid AND Irresponsible. Molly Beck & Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstated Tuesday's election Monday, five hours after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called it off because of the widening coronavirus pandemic. In a brief 4-2 ruling, the court undid an emergency order that Evers issued that would have closed the polls. Their decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers. Monday's on-again, off-again election triggered chaos across the state as election officials told clerks to continue preparing for an election because they did not know whether the polls would open. Before the court acted, at least two local government leaders as of Monday afternoon issued their own orders to block in-person voting.... Four conservatives -- Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and Justices Rebecca Bradley, Brian Hagedorn and Annette Ziegler -- were in the majority. Liberal Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Rebecca Dallet were in dissent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Wait, Wait! It gets way worse! ~~~
~~~ Astead Herndon & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Wisconsin voters will face a choice between protecting their health and exercising their civic duty on Tuesday after state Republican leaders, backed up by a conservative majority on the state's Supreme Court, rebuffed the Democratic governor's attempt to postpone in-person voting in their presidential primary and local elections. The political and legal skirmishing throughout Monday was only the first round of an expected national fight over voting rights in the year of Covid-19.... In a 5-4 vote, the majority [of the U.S. Supreme Court] ruled [late Monday] against their attempt to extend the deadline for absentee voting in Tuesday's elections, saying such a change 'fundamentally alters the nature of the election.' The court's four liberal members dissented, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing that 'the court's order, I fear, will result in massive disenfranchisement.'... What happens in Wisconsin has far broader implications for both parties.... Many Democrats have advocated a universal vote-by-mail system in November. Republicans in several states and the president himself are pushing for as much in-person voting as possible." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It occurs to me that, in the short run, Republicans may be shooting themselves in their collective big foot. Republican voters are older voters, and it makes sense that, since the coronavirus poses the greatest danger to them, they are the voting bloc most likely to skip the trip to their polling places. ~~~
~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Supreme Court's Republican majority, in a case that is literally titled Republican National Committee v. Democratic National Committee, handed down a decision that will effectively disenfranchise tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters.... The decision carries grave repercussions for the state of Wisconsin -- and democracy more broadly. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg notes in her dissent, 'the presidential primaries, a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, three seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, over 100 other judgeships, over 500 school board seats, and several thousand other positions' are at stake in the Wisconsin election.... The April 7 election is shaping up to be a trainwreck. Most poll workers have refused to work the election, out of fear of catching the coronavirus.... Judge William Conley, an Obama appointee to a federal court in Wisconsin, ordered the deadline for receiving ballots to be extended to 4 pm on April 13. In response to this order, the Republican Party asked the Supreme Court to modify Conley's decision to require all ballots to be postmarked by April 7.... The Supreme Court's Republican majority granted the GOP this very specific request.... Tens of thousands of voters are not expected to even receive their ballots until after Election Day, effectively disenfranchising them through no fault of their own.... The Supreme Court's decision in Republican is the capstone of a weeks-long effort by the Republican Party to make it difficult for voters to actually cast a ballot in Wisconsin."
Congratulations! Great Job!
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments for Tuesday are here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here. "Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who warned that this week could be the 'Pearl Harbor' of the coronavirus, sounded a more optimistic note Tuesday, saying that deaths in the United States could fall under the range of 100,000 to 240,000 suggested by the White House. 'That's absolutely my expectation, and I feel a lot more optimistic again because I'm seeing mitigation work,' Adams said during an appearance on ABC's 'Good Morning America,' in which he highlighted the social distancing efforts of Washington state and California."
** You should say 'congratulations, great job,' instead of being so horrid in the way you ask a question. -- Donald Trump, to a female reporter Tuesday in response to a legitimate question about the dearth of coronavirus tests (video at the link is worth watching) ~~~
~~~ Brianna Ehley & Alice Ollstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday blasted his health department's watchdog for a new report revealing supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals responding to the coronavirus crisis, claiming the findings were inaccurate and politically motivated. 'It's just wrong,' Trump said during a briefing of the White House coronavirus task force, without providing evidence detailing what was incorrect. 'It still could be her opinion. When was she appointed? Do me a favor and let me know. Let me know now...,' the president said.... Trump's comments were directed at Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi Grimm and prompted by a report based on interviews with administrators from 324 hospitals and health systems between March 23 to March 27. Grimm was appointed to the post in January. The career official joined the inspector general's office in 1999.... The report found many hospitals lacked enough thermometers to monitor the temperatures of its own staff and a sufficient number of masks to protect their workers.... Hospitals also reported shortages of ventilators, IV poles, bed sheets, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other basic equipment.... HHS Assistant Secretary for Health [Mrs. McC: and Major Chickenshit] Brett Giroir refused to defend Grimm at the briefing.... Giroir also complained that he only learned about the findings from the media on Monday, suggesting that the inspector general's office was 'ethically obliged' to more quickly inform him of problems. The report casts a different light on conditions Trump administration officials have portrayed as improving thanks to their response to the pandemic." ~~~
~~~ Dan Diamond & David Lim of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday said that 3M would produce 166.5 million masks over the next three months, cementing a commitment from a company the administration had blamed for exacerbating a shortage for health workers responding to the coronavirus pandemic.... The new 3M masks are overwhelmingly N95 and KN95 masks and will go toward frontline workers, the official said. The White House and 3M had sparred in recent days over accusations the mask-maker was prioritizing sales to other countries. Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday in an effort to ramp 3M's production." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Wait a minute. I'm confused. Trump had to invoke the dreaded DPA to get 3M to produce more masks for American healthcare workers because there is a shortage in the U.S., but he "blasted" an inspector general for a report that said, in part, that there aren't enough masks for American healthcare workers?? Congratulations, great job. ~~~
~~~ Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has said he asked US pharmaceutical companies working on experimental coronavirus drugs to approach Boris Johnson's doctors and offer their help, after it emerged that the British prime minister was in intensive care. In an evening press briefing, Trump did not name the companies or the drugs, but earlier in the day he held a conference about therapeutic drugs with the heads of four US pharmaceutical and biotech companies: Amgen, Genetech, Gilead, and Regeneron." Mrs. McC: Trump could solve his problems with Dr. Anthony Fauci by sending Fauci to London to minister to Johnson.
~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump said Monday that he had a 'friendly' and 'warm' conversation with former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic frontrunner, regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak. 'We had a really wonderful, warm conversation,' Trump told reporters at a regular White House briefing Monday evening on COVID-19.... 'He gave me his point of view and I fully understood that. We just had a very friendly conversation,' Trump said, adding that the call lasted roughly 15 minutes. 'It was really good, really nice,' Trump continued. 'I appreciate his calling.'... 'We agreed that we weren't going to talk about what we said,' Trump said. 'He had suggestions. It doesn't mean that I agree with those suggestions.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Uh-Oh. Connor O'Brien & Lara Seligman of Politico: "... Donald Trump pledged Monday to 'get involved' in the Navy's decision to fire of the aircraft carrier commander who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of coronavirus on his ship. 'I'm going to get involved and see exactly what's going on there,' Trump told reporters. 'Because I don't want to destroy somebody for having a bad day.' The news that Trump may intervene in the case could spell trouble for acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who made the decision to fire Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, for broadly emailing a letter last week requesting assistance as more crew members tested positive for the coronavirus. Modly was already under fire on Monday after leaked audio revealed a profanity-laced speech to the Roosevelt crew on Sunday in which he called the former commander's decision to write the letter 'naive' and 'stupid.' A transcript, as well as the audio of Modly's remarks to the crew, were leaked to several media outlets Monday. Modly did not share his remarks with the White House or Defense Secretary Mark Esper's office ahead of time...." ~~~
~~~ Barbara Starr, et al., of CNN: "The Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly blasted the now ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as 'stupid' in an address to the ship's crew Monday morning, in remarks obtained by CNN. Modly told the crew that their former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was either 'too naive or too stupid' to be in command or that he intentionally leaked to the media a memo in which he warned about coronavirus spreading aboard the aircraft carrier and urged action to save his sailors. The acting secretary accused Crozier of committing a 'betrayal' and creating a 'big controversy' in Washington by disseminating the warning so widely....Modly's use of the word 'betrayal' is a loaded because saying an officer has betrayed the Navy is a court martial offense.A defense official familiar with Modly's remarks offered his opinion of Modly's address, saying the acting secretary 'should be fired. I don't know how he survives this day.'" Mrs. McC: Modly of course made his remarks before more-or-less the same crew that cheered Crozier as he left the ship. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "Like much in the Trump administration, what began as a seemingly straightforward challenge -- the arrival of coronavirus onboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier -- has now engulfed the military, leading to far-reaching questions of undue command influence and the demoralization of young men and women who promise to protect the country. At its heart, the crisis aboard the Theodore Roosevelt has become a window into what matters, and what does not, in an administration where remaining on the right side of a mercurial president is valued above all else.... In an emailed statement late Monday, Mr. Modly apologized 'for any confusion' his choice of words during his remarks to the Roosevelt crew may have caused. 'I do not think Capt. Brett Crozier is naïve or stupid,' Mr. Modly said in the statement. But his earlier remarks had echoed comments by the president, who on Saturday had lashed out at Captain Crozier as well."
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's see, you said Capt. Crozier was either too naive or too stupid, but we're all "confused" because that doesn't mean Crozier is naive or stupid. I think we understood you the first time. BESIDES, if anyone was "confused," you cleared that up earlier in the day, didn't you? ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Kheel of The Hill: "Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said on Monday he stands by [his] speech...'The spoken words were from the heart, and meant for them,' Modly continued. 'I stand by every word I said, even, regrettably any profanity that may have been used for emphasis.'" --s ~~~
~~~ CNN has the transcript as delivered of every word Modly meant, tho it leaves out at least one "fucking." If you wonder if this was a "political" speech delivered to our supposedly apolitical military, Modly said, "Vice President of the United States Joe Biden suggested just yesterday that my decision was criminal." In fact, what Biden said was that removing Crozier was "close to criminal" and that Crozier "should ... have a commendation rather than be fired."
** "When a Narcissist Runs a Crisis." Jennifer Senior of the New York Times: "Narcissistic personalities like Trump harbor skyscraping delusions about their own capabilities.... The grandiosity of narcissistic personalities belies an extreme fragility.... They're too thin skinned to be told they're wrong.... Narcissistic leaders never have, as Trump likes to say, the best people. They have galleries of sycophants.... Trump could have assembled a first-rate company of disaster preparedness experts. Instead he gave the job to his son-in-law, a man-child of breathtaking vapidity. Faced with a historic economic crisis, Trump could have assembled a team of Nobel-prize winning economists or previous treasury secretaries. Instead he talks to Larry Kudlow, a former CNBC host.... Narcissistic personalities love nothing more than engineering conflict and sowing division.... Trump is pitting state against state for precious resources, rather than coordinating a national response.... Every aspect of Trump's crisis management has been annexed by his psychopathology. As Americans die, he boasts about his television ratings. As Americans die, he crows that he's No. 1 on Facebook, which isn&r't close to true." Read the whole column. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mrs. McCrabbie: Over the weekend, former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson pointed out on MSNBC that one of the effects of Trump's late afternoon teevee show is to preempt many local news reports, which prevents viewers from hearing how many of their neighbors are sick & dying of Covid-19.
James Hamblin of the Atlantic: "Two weeks ago, French doctors published a provocative observation ... [that] six patients with COVID-19 [who took a cocktail of] ... hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin ... tested negative for the virus [after six days]. The report caught the eye of the celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, who has since appeared on Fox News to talk about hydroxychloroquine 21 times. As Oz put it to Sean Hannity, 'This French doctor, [Didier] Raoult, a very famous infectious-disease specialist, had done some interesting work at a pilot study showing that he could get rid of the virus in six days in 100 percent of the patients he treated.' Raoult has made news in recent years as a pan-disciplinary provocateur; he has questioned climate change and Darwinian evolution. On January 21, at the height of the coronavirus outbreak in China, Raoult said in a YouTube video, 'The fact that people have died of coronavirus in China, you know, I don't feel very concerned.' Last week, Oz, who has been advising the president on the coronavirus, described Raoult to Hannity as 'very impressive.' Oz told Hannity that he had informed the White House as much.... Over the course of these two weeks, the president of the United States has become the world's most prominent peddler of medical misinformation.... On Saturday, Trump ... said, 'so there's a study out there that says people that have lupus haven't been catching this virus. Maybe it's true; maybe it's not.' There is no such study." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~
~~~ The Plot Thickens??? Donald Shaw of Sludge: "It's unclear why Trump has been such a proponent of hydroxychloroquine, but one answer may lie with the millions of dollars in political support he has received from the founder of a pharmaceutical industry-funded group that has been pushing him to make the drug available. On March 26, Job Creators Network, a conservative dark money nonprofit, launched a petition, a series of Facebook ads, and a blast text message campaign calling on Trump to 'cut the red tape' and immediately make hydroxychloroquine available to treat patients.... The Job Creators Network was founded in 2011 by billionaire Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, a major GOP donor who spent more than $7 million through outside groups to help elect Trump in 2016. Marcus has said that he plans to spend part of his fortune to help re-elect Trump in 2020. Job Creators Network has been funded by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a drug industry trade that counts among its members leading hydroxychloroquine makers Novartis, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Bayer." ~~~
~~~ Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "It just so happens that one of the largest manufacturers of the drug, Novartis, previously paid Trump's now-incarcerated former personal attorney Michael Cohen more than $1 million for healthcare policy insight following Trump's election in 2016.... After details of the deal were leaked by the now-jailed Michael Avenatti..., the company&'s CEO issued a public apology saying Novartis 'made a mistake' in contracting with the president's personal attorney.... Cohen is currently in federal prison serving a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud. Novartis, on the other hand, just agreed to donate up to 130 million doses of the unproven drug to help fight COVID-19."
~~~ When Orange Trees Grow in Siberia. Jonathan Chait: "... [Trump's promotion of hydroxychloroquine] augurs more broadly about [his] disdain for public-health expertise.... Over the last two days, Trump has visibly balked at social-distancing guidelines and renewed his impatience to reopen the economy soon. His demand to produce a silver-bullet wonder drug right away seems both to grow out of his dissatisfaction with public-health authorities and is feeding into his skepticism of them.... Whether [Rudy] Giuliani and [Peter] Navarro are even qualified to advise the president in their stated areas of expertise -- law and economics, respectively -- is a matter of serious dispute. For both to emerge as self-styled medical authorities during a pandemic is beyond unnerving." (Related stories linked yesterday.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Chandelis Duster of CNN: "White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday said he was qualified to engage and disagree with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the use of an anti-malarial drug as a coronavirus treatment -- which is not yet proven as effective.... 'Doctors disagree about things all the time. My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I'm a social scientist,' he told CNN's John Berman on 'New Day.' 'I have a Ph.D. And I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it's in medicine, the law, economics or whatever.'" Mrs. McC: I don't think you do. ... Navarro reminds me of this car reservations clerk. (wherein I play the part of Jerry): (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
Navarro Is Sometimes Right. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A top White House adviser starkly warned Trump administration officials in late January that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death. The warning, written in a memo by Peter Navarro, President Trump's trade adviser, is the highest-level alert known to have circulated inside the West Wing as the administration was taking its first substantive steps to confront a crisis that had already consumed China's leaders and would go on to upend life in Europe and the United States. 'The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,' Mr. Navarro's memo said. 'This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.' Dated Jan. 29, it came during a period when Mr. Trump was playing down the risks to the United States, and he would later go on to say that no one could have predicted such a devastating outcome.... [The memo] reached a number of top officials as well as aides to Mick Mulvaney, then the acting chief of staff, they said, but it was unclear whether Mr. Trump saw it."
Mehdi Hasan of The Intercept brings all of the receipts in a bid to remember (and never forget) how monumentally reckless Republicans have been in this Covid-19 disaster. Read on. --s
Mrs. McCrabbie: Way back early yesterday morning, when I was still thinking I'd make my own face masks, it occurred to me that the black fabric I planned to use might make me look like a burglar. So what? thought I, nobody will really take an old lady for a robber. Not everyone has the luxury of "presumed innocence by reason of demography": ~~~
~~~ Aaron Thomas in a Guardian op-ed: "On Saturday I thought about the errands I need to run this week, including a trip to the grocery store. I thought I could use one of my old bandanas as a mask. But then my voice of self-protection reminded me that I, a Black man, cannot walk into a store with a bandana covering the greater part of my face if I also expect to walk out of that store. The situation isn't safe and could lead to unintended attention, and ultimately a life-or-death situation. For me, the fear of being mistaken for an armed robber or assailant is greater than the fear of contracting Covid-19."
Fred Imbert & Yun Li of CNBC: "Stock futures pointed to a Tuesday opening jump in early morning trade, building on a steep rebound in the previous session. At around 8 a.m. ET, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 762 points, pointing to a gain of more than 600 points at Tuesday's open. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures also pointed to strong opening gains.... Stocks surged on Monday as a slew of coronavirus headlines pointed to a potential stabilization in the U.S. The Dow soared 1,600 points, posting its third biggest point gain ever. The S&P 500 jumped 7% to its highest level since March 13. With Monday's rally, the S&P 500 bounced about 20% from its 52-week low on March 23."
Tia Mitchell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "U.S. Sen. David Perdue's financial portfolio saw heavy trading during the month of March, a period during which Congress passed three different spending bills to address the spread of COVID-19 and the markets took a turn for the worse.... Compared with the 26-month period before the coronavirus swept across America, Perdue&'s portfolio activity has increased nearly threefold.... For example, he made a number of purchases of stock in DuPont de Nemours, a chemical company that supplies personal protective equipment used by people trying to avoid exposure to the virus. That includes buying shares worth as much as $65,000 on Jan. 24, the same day that the Senate held a members-only briefing on the novel coronavirus." --safari: Even if the stock trading were legal, Perdue has clearly more concentrated on his own financial well-being than serving the public.
New York. Liam Stack of the New York Times: "The [Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Upper Manhattan, the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of New York], which describes itself as the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, said on Monday that its 600-foot-long nave and equally large subterranean crypt would be turned into an emergency hospital as part of the fight against the pandemic. Nine climate-controlled medical tents capable of holding a total of at least 200 patients will be erected inside the cathedral by the end of the week, said the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, the dean of the cathedral.... The field hospital will be staffed with personnel from Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, which sits next door to the cathedral complex...."
Michigan. John Bowden of The Hill: "Hundreds of staff at a Detroit-area hospital system have tested positive for coronavirus, the hospital's chief clinical officer said Monday evening. Nonprofit news site BridgeMI.com reported that Dr. Adnan Munkarah of the Henry Ford Hospital Campus confirmed 731 cases of the coronavirus among employees at the hospital, accounting for 2 percent of the hospital system's 31,600 employees. As many as 1,500 at another hospital system in the state have reported symptoms similar to coronavirus, though those numbers are not confirmed cases." --s
>Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "Major supermarket chains are beginning to report their first coronavirus-related employee deaths, leading to store closures and increasing anxiety among grocery workers as the pandemic intensifies across the country. A Trader Joe's worker in Scarsdale, N.Y., a greeter at a Giant store in Largo, Md., and two Walmart employees from the same Chicago-area store have died of covid-19 ... in recent days, the companies confirmed Monday. Though more than 40 states have ordered nonessential businesses to close and told residents to stay home to stem the spread of the virus, supermarkets are among the retailers that remain open. Thousands of grocery employees have continued to report to work as U.S. infections and death rates continue to climb, with many reporting long shifts and extra workloads to keep up with spiking demand. Many workers say they don't have enough protective gear to deal with hundreds of customers a day. Dozens of grocery workers have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks."
Capitalists Are Awesome. Jim VandeHei & Mike Allen of Axios: "Top CEOs, in private conversations and pleas to President Trump, are warning of economic catastrophe if America doesn't begin planning for a phased return to work as soon as May, corporate leaders tell Axios.... Several of these leaders told us they want to have a hard national conversation about tradeoffs involved in any widespread lockdowns beyond the middle of next month. They know most wouldn't return until June or later, but fear a lack of urgency on many going back sooner. They realize it sounds callous to talk about work when people are scared of death, but believe it's an urgent debate the nation needs." --s
Jason Wilson of the Guardian: "Neo-Nazi groups in the US are looking for ways to exploit the coronavirus outbreak and commit acts of violence, according to observers of far-right groups, law enforcement, and propaganda materials reviewed by the Guardian. The watchdog group the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) raised the alarm last week about opportunism from far-right so-called 'accelerationist' groups who believe sowing chaos and violence will hasten the collapse of society, allowing them to build a white supremacist one in its place." --s
Rowena Mason of the Guardian: British Prime Minister "Boris Johnson remains in intensive care but without the need for a ventilator, as [Foreign Secretary] Dominic Raab prepares for his first day in charge of the country, [Cabinet Minister] Michael Gove has said.... Hours after his comments, Gove said he [himself] was now isolating at home because a member of his family had been displaying Covid-19 symptoms since Sunday. He will not be able to take the government's daily press conference in No 10 but can still chair and attend meetings from home."
~~~ BBC News: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms 'worsened', Downing Street has said. Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise 'where necessary', a spokesman added. The prime minister, 55, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in London with 'persistent symptoms' on Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ New York Times live updates: "Earlier Monday, British officials had given assurances that [Johnson] was healthy enough to run the country, but some unease arose over a lack of information on his condition. Mr. Johnson wrote Monday on Twitter from a hospital in London that he was 'in good spirits,' and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is standing in for him, said Mr. Johnson was working from his bed and remained 'in charge' of the government. But Mr. Raab admitted that he had not spoken to the prime minister since Saturday, and some commentators expressed concern about the persistence of virus symptoms about 10 days after the prime minister's case was diagnosed.... Mr. Johnson was initially criticized for his slow response to the outbreak, but later moved to place Britain under a virtual lockdown, closing all nonessential shops, banning meetings of more than two people, and requiring people to stay in their homes, except for trips for food or medicine." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
Washington Post: "Authorities on Monday recovered the body of a member of the Kennedy family who, along with her young son, went missing in the Chesapeake Bay on Thursday, according to the Maryland Natural Resources Police. The body was identified as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40. Police said the search for her 8-year-old son, Gideon, will resume Tuesday. Police said McKean's body was found 2½ miles south of the waterfront home of McKean's mother in Shady Side, Md., where the McKean family had been staying to isolate from the novel coronavirus."
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Reader Comments (26)
I see where Dr. Fatty is offering Boris Johnson, another early right-wing denier now in intensive care suffering from the novel coronavirus (not a hoax after all I guess), some of his wicked great medical help.
Geez. Really? Isn’t that like a Luddite offering to come fix your computer? Besides, who’s he gonna send? Jared (These ventilators are MINE!) Kushner? Or maybe Peter (I have a PhD!) Navarro? How bout Snake Oil Rudy? Ol’ Boris would be better off consulting with the guy who played the doctor on “Downton Abbey” than letting either of those ignorant chiselers near him. At least he’d be more polite.
Really don't get this Wisconsin voting thing either.
My first take was that the Wisconsin court decision, beyond simple spite of which there is plenty, was aimed at the Dems because they have the only presidential primary that might count, so are more likely to feel compelled take the risk to vote.
One could argue that Biden is a lock, so their primary won't matter, which might Dem enthusiasm, but we know all the Republicans can stay home and it won't change their presidential primary result.
(Whether Republicans go to the polls or not, they're stuck with the Pretender, who today baldly suggested reporters induge in a little public up-sucking if they want a Pretender response. They must be sooo proud.)
That said, if the virus is still an issue in November, I take Bea's point.
It won't be kill the Dems. It'll be waste the R's.
And should it come to or near that, I'd predict a quick change of those just calling balls and strikes judicial hearts.
Morning eyes say "dim the Dem enthusiasm.." (See above)
And they also tell me (e-edition of local paper) schools here in Washington State will be closed for the rest of the school year....
Might start thinking of these notes as compulsive entries in our collective Journal of our Plague Year.
Have recently come across this purported quotation:
"Here I cannot but take notice that the strange temper of the people of London at that time contributed extremely to their own destruction."
Daniel Defoe
Haven't confirmed the source, but if genunine, it speaks across the centuries.
@ Ken
The WI election's big ticket is the Pres. primary, but voters will also be choosing a Supreme Court justice, electing judges and on a referendum on rights of crime victims. If Dems think Biden is a lock and stay home, history shows that conservatives will flock to the pools in droves if any court-packing is on the dock; liberals less so.
I expect Republicans will tighten their grip on the judicial branch in the state and if it comes at the cost of people's lives, well, better that than DemonRats (tip o' the hat to Jeanine Pirro).
https://elections.wi.gov/node/6524
The piece above by Jennifer Senior is not only an accurate assessment of how a narcissist like Trump operates in the capacity of President but her literary flair is apparent: Jared is described as "a man child of breathtaking vapidity"––"Every aspect of Trump's crisis management has been annexed by his psychopathology." She describes so very well the dangerous situation we find ourselves in when putting such a man like Trump in charge–-his pathology becomes the country's in the sense that it creates the chaos and confusion and utter hell, especially now in the time of this pandemic. It could have been otherwise. Let that sink in, people who think otherwise.
Dr. Oz? Really? Back in the saddle he appears after being skewered years ago by many in the Congress during a hearing looking into his bad practice of touting all sorts of cockamamie crap ––a type of coffee bean that restores hair loss or a type of honey when mixed with the seeds from an exotic African wild flower will give you the energy of a toddler–-no fooling. I remember that hearing and when Claire McCaskill addressed him with (I'm paraphrasing here} "You seem to me to be an educated man but you are shamelessly degrading any semblance of it; I think you are a danger to your viewers," there was a stunned silence and then a few claps from some in the audience.
Re: the voting in Wisconsin, the Republican's deviousness, the S.C.'s utter failure––is––"just as it ever was" sung loudly and forcefully.
Latest Randy Rainbow about Governor Cuomo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kydr2a7Uy4
Maybe not his best, but timely and amusing--
Thanks for the larger context, Safari.
PD, when I commented on the well-wrought Senior piece the other day preceded it here with this:
'This one says again and very well what we already know about the moral vacuity and the empty head of the Pretender.
It also coincidentally memorized Dr. Marvin Schwalb, who died one year ago next week (April 10) and who on this site taught me so much about what narcissism looks like and how it acts."
As I said, I commented on the Times column with Marvin firmly in mind.
Today I'm thinking about all the good doctor might have said about narcissism in plague times and how fortunate he might be for not having to watch this long and grisly episode of the Pretender's Corona Show.
Still, I miss him.
The WI vote problem? Easy. This is Little Johnny and the Dwarfs getting their hyper-partisan authoritarian chops ready for anything they might be called upon to do in coming to the aid of the Party of Traitors in this election season, including stopping vote counts and handing the election to the Orange Menace. Hey, they’ve already done it once and that went off fine. We’re still losing American lives and money in an unnecessary war stared by the guy they picked (even though, had all votes been counted, he would have lost). Democracy, schmemocracy. All that matters is that they win and Democrats die. Literally.
A LOCAL STORY:
Joe Pepe arose yesterday at the brink of dawn, donned his protective gear and headed for the early old folk's time at Stop and Shop. He reports that cashiers are now behind a plastic barrier. After this stop he hot foots it over to Lowes to purchase three different kinds of spark plugs: for his tiller, lawn mower, and weed wacker. A large man in charge of these plugs says, sorry, buddy, but we got none of these. Pepe goes across the highway to Home Depot and gets the same scenario. Pissed he is but on his way to the dump––so many errands he has to do––he spies a small hardware store––stops in and sure enough a Mr. Fazzino whose name is on that store front–-says he has all three of those spark plugs; oh, happy day, says Joe who now drives to the dump with a song in his heart. Dum de dum de dum he sings and at the dump he finds he is able to purchase his refuse tickets there instead of having to go into the Senior Center where the virus hovers like old lovers longing for attention. To top off Mr. Pepe's excellent excursion he finds that gas is now 1.89 a gallon.
Upon returning home he wipes down the groceries, puts his clothes in the furnace room, and while in the shower sings something that sounds like a song but I couldn't be sure because he can't carry a tune, but it doesn't matter, the man is happy. His time out in the wild was a success.
Amen
@PD
I'd add another level to your analysis that the President*s "pathology becomes the country's in the sense that it creates the chaos and confusion and utter hell"...
It can be argued that the United States Supreme Court, as well as Wisconsin's, has just added a new layer to the average American's pathology of "what the f#ck is going on right now". Not only do we have the country's surgeon general on teevee telling us to prepare for this generation's 'Pearl Harbor' unfolding this week, Agent Orange warning of 'lots of death' (American carnage?) imminent in our future, and the nation's top doctors telling us we all need to wear masks if we go outside, but now we also have some of the highest courts in the land requiring the citizens of Wisconsin to go stand in hours-long lines next sardined next to other potentially sick people if they want to practice their francise.
Equating this moment to Pearl Harbor is obviously a bad metaphor, but given that more Americans are going to die from this pandemic than most of the deaths caused by wars we've fought, I don't see how average people (myself included) can wrap their heads around the absurdity of what's unfolding in Wisconsin.
@Ken––yes, I read your post about Marvin –-thanks for that. I miss him, too. I think we know what he would say about the mess we're in.
"But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it" Thucydides
@PD Pepe: Good for Stop & Shop for protecting its workers & its customers. The last time I went to a grocery store, there was no such protection -- no masks, no nuthin' for workers -- but that was a while ago. I'm hoping the chains in my parts follow Stop & Shops example.
I think it is time for Dr. Fauci to resign and take his credibility to CNN or another major network and give his own daily afternoon update. Standing on that stage dominated by an ignoramus does not allow him to stress his important message. Maybe Dr. Birx could go with him although I wonder about her courage to withstand the inevitable pushback.
The anticipated departure of Grisham, who like the ghost in the verse below, was never there.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/stephanie-grisham-out-as-white-house-press-secretary-after-eight-months-during-which-she-held-no-regular-news-briefings/2020/04/07/6d93b7aa-75bd-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html
Brought this to mind (oh, the things that rattle around in our heads…):
“Antigonish”
"Yesterday, upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today.
Oh how I wish he'd go away!"
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away…
William Hughes Mearns (1899)
Maybe it doesn’t directly apply because Mearns was writing about a ghost, but there more than a hint of haunting in Pretenderland, too .
Our Hannaford (upstate NY) was also equipped with plexiglas cashier protectors and strips of tape on the floor near checkout, along with a WAIT HERE sign. I think my son said their Brooklyn (don't get me started...) Whole Foods had tape strips every six feet everywhere.
Bea,
Yeah. That EPA, which though there rivals enough for the title might be the most corrupt arm of the administration, is doing such a credible and creditable job of stopping in its tracks the avalanche of hanky-panky in its own ranks.
Grisham departing without once doing her job is a perfect synecdoche for the entire Trump Debacle. There’s not a one of these fuckers who does their job. The biggest collection of con men, grifters, moochers, liars, shysters, and shitheads one could imagine.
Oh, and Ken, always loved that poem. The Coen brothers did a movie loosely based on the idea of a man who wasn’t there. Unfortunately for us, Fatty IS there. He’s just not doing anything. Well, anything good, that is.
As for this bullshit about Pearl Harbor, people should remember that Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack. As FDR put it, the country was “suddenly and deliberately attacked” by a “surprise offensive”.
There was no surprise about the coronavirus. None. Fatso lied to the country about what was coming. He was given a plethora of warnings. Instead of doing his job, he held “I Love Me” rallies and pooh-poohed the incipient danger, preferring instead to be sure the spotlight remained on his imaginary wonderfulness. If Trump had been president when Pearl Harbor was attacked, instead the Infamy speech, we’d have gotten the “What about ME?” speech.
You know, now that I think of it, there is at least one thing that connects the current crisis with Pearl Harbor. FDR, in the wake of this deadly sneak attack, let the country know that...”the...(lying) government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope...”
Yes. It was Trump who convened the sneak attack on this country, by deliberately deceiving tens of millions of people into thinking that he cared about their lives and the welfare of their families more than he cared about his poll numbers. He didn’t. He still doesn’t.
Infamy, indeed.
And thanks, Ken, for reminding us of our old friend and RC comrade, Marvin. Marvin pinpointed the inoperable personality disorder that has condemned thousands of Americans to death. He could always be relied upon for good advice and sound opinions. I miss that guy.
On the lighter side, here's a good Trumpvirus™ version of "Pinch Me" by The Bare Naked Ladies.
I, too, went to Stop & Shop during the early morning "senior" time. It was a surreal experience having not been there since 3/12. There was an odd mix of what was there versus not there. It seemed to be more like desirable versus undesirable. Most people had masks of some sort. The arrows on the floor to direct one-way traffic didn't mean anything to a few. It's back to plastic bags at checkout. Fortunately, I was able to get most of what I went for.
In my store's case I wonder about three causes of the scarcity since I last went.
1. How much were people buying? Heaping carts? Mine certainly wasn't.
2. The large influx of people from NJ/NY. The stock of rental housing is all used up. Complete families moved. Per a local realtor, he got calls with people willing to make deals, for places sight unseen, costing $3K-45K (yes, 45) per month, over the phone. Money was wired within minutes. What's my town's new population now that we're full at once, rather than having a normal seasonal flow in occupancy?
3. A distribution system that's all fucked up right now. Stuff's not moving because people's not moving. Even so the cow's gotta get milked.
I don't know, but I try to resist the urge to flip off a lot more cars now.
Now that Stephanie (I never once did my job!) Grisham has departed for the Grey Havens of I Really Don’t Care land, her position (imaginary though it is) will be filled by this Kayleigh McEnany person, formerly a something, something, something with the Fatty Election Stealing campaign.
I’m sure lightness, truth, and transparency will follow in her wake (gackkk!).
My local Winn-Dixie has red circles every six feet at all the check out lines. Pretty close to a customer and a shopping cart. You're pretty much on your own throughout the rest of the store. Pork and chicken are relatively plentiful but beef has gotten scarce. It looks a bit like hurricane season with one major difference: the beer section is restocked regularly. Gott sei danke! as Opa would say.
Dire predictions of a very bad recession are appearing with depressing regularity. So here’s how that will play out. If Fatty steals the election (or cancels the election and declares himself president for life, like any self-respecting, democracy-hating authoritarian), and the recession hits, it will somehow be the fault of the deep state, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and maybe James Madison, to boot. If he loses, Biden will be saddled with cleaning up after Trump’s mess (same as Obama had to do after The Decider wrecked the place), but he will be attacked from all sides by Fatty and the confederate media machine for not fixing everything within 24 hours of his inauguration. The MSM will meekly go along, natch. “Joe Biden. Is he good enough?” the headlines will scream by early February.
Dr. Oz is advising Trump on coronavirus. Every time I see Dr Oz I can't help but be reminded of John Oliver's take downs of the quack.
“And Fox & Friends,” The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona added. “Last week, Dr. Oz said he emailed the White House coronavirus task force, asking them to consider a policy recommendation from Brian Kilmeade.” If that does not merit a doctor's license being pulled I don't know what does.
RAS,
Along with loss of license, I’d say it merits commitment to some kind of institution for quacks and the morally enfeebled.
It's disappointing, but expected for the Roberts Court to make the ruling they did. Number one, the Wisconsin Republicans wanted the election to go on to get their man on the bench. And number two, I'm sure Neil "The Trucker Freezer" Gorsuch made an excellent argument about how the serfs have had a long enough run and should be grateful for all the life that has been granted to them.
It's getting on to the time to request UN observers at the polls for this years elections.