;)
The Commentariat -- March 12, 2020
Afternoon Update:
New York Times (from the paper's live market updates): "Stocks continued their plunge on Thursday, as President Trump's latest effort to address the coronavirus outbreak -- a ban on the entry from most European countries to the United States -- disappointed investors who have been waiting for Washington to take steps to bolster the economy. Trading was turbulent, with stocks staging a brief comeback as investors reacted to the Federal Reserve's decision to offer at least $1.5 trillion worth of loans to banks to help smooth out the functioning of the financial markets. But the selling picked up again by midafternoon. The S&P 500 closed down about 9.5 percent, its biggest daily drop since the stock market crashed in 1987, on what came to be known as Black Monday. The decline has left stocks in the United States firmly in a bear market -- a term that signifies a decline of 20 percent from the most recent highs. For the Dow Jones industrial average, the drop of 10 percent was also its worst since the 1987 stock market crash." ~~~
~~~ Pippa Stevens & Fred Imbert of CNBC: ";The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10%, posting its largest one-day percentage drop since the October 1987 crash. That day, the Dow collapsed by more than 22%. The S&P 500 joined the Dow in closing Thursday's session squarely in a bear market, down more than 20% from the all-time highs set just a month ago. The indexes also ended an 11-year bull run, the longest on record. It took the Dow just 19 trading days fall from a record high into a bear market. The S&P 500′s move was even swifter, taking the broad index just 16 trading days to tumble into a bear market. Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, said the economic damage is 'deep and profound' and that 'until we get to spring time when hopefully this goes away, we as investors are all flying blind.' The Federal Reserve announced extraordinary funding actions of more than $1 trillion to ease strained capital markets in the wake of the coronavirus sell-off. The news gave stocks a brief boost before they headed lower again."
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe it isn't a coincidence that the markets crash when a Republican is president: 1929, 1987, 2008, 2019. This time an "adjustment" was inevitable, but Trump's indifference & incompetence was the immediate cause for the past week's tumble. BTW, Mr. Bleakley there, with his brilliant belief that the virus will "hopefully go away in the spring, tra la," is suffering from a severe case of festering Trumpophilia.
Mike Stobbe & Matthew Perrone of the AP: "The U.S. lag in coronavirus testing is 'a failing,' a top federal health official said Thursday, and public health experts say they still don't have a good understanding of how widely the new virus has spread. The effort initially was hobbled by delays in getting testing kits out to public health labs, but the stumbles have continued, leading scientists to conclude that the virus has already spread far wider than government officials are reporting. U.S. health officials, for example, promised nearly a month ago to tap into a national network of labs that monitor for flu. That system is only just getting started. On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health agreed that the U.S. needs to improve how it's testing. 'The system is not really geared to what we need right now,' he said. 'That is a failing. It is a failing, let's admit it.'"
Eric Levitz of New York: "In response to this mounting [pandemic] crisis, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Congress to waste no time in commencing its previously planned vacation.... McConnell insisted that the Senate would not pass any legislation addressing the coronavirus emergency until it took a seven-day breather.... Hours later, however, McConnell changed course. After calls from multiple Senate Republicans to cancel the impending recess, the Senate Majority Leader announced that his caucus would work through next week on compromise legislation.... Even [if going ahead with the recess was] a bluff, McConnell's stance was insane. It's hard to imagine a more politically toxic talking point than, 'Democrats may want to take immediate action on this public health emergency, but the Republican Party believes it is entitled to a weeklong break before tackling such a demanding project.'"
Mrs. McCrabbie: Joe Biden just gave a speech on what is needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The contrast between Biden's remarks with Trump's robotic teleprompter performance last night was jarring. Biden's speech was fairly perfect. I hope Trump watched to get a glimpse of what it means to "be presidential." ~~~
** Washington Post Breaking News: "A Brazilian official who met President Trump and Vice President Pence at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday has tested positive for coronavirus. Fabio Wajngarten, a spokesman for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, tested positive for covid-19, Brazilian officials said. Wajngarten stood next to Trump and Pence, a photograph taken in Florida shows. Trump said he 'isn't concerned' about the development, according to a White House pool report." (From the WashPo's live updates for today.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump may be trying to pin the severity of the coronavirus pandemic on pence, but Mother pence has brought the calico curtains down from the attic & is embroidering "25th Amendment" into the hems.
Lucy Bayly of NBC News: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2,000 points Thursday morning after ... Donald Trump's long-awaited response to the coronavirus epidemic triggered a massive sell-off on Wall Street. The S&P 500 plunged by 7 percent, triggering a circuit breaker, which halts all trading on the New York Stock Exchange for 15 minutes. All three major averages sank after Trump's Oval Office address Wednesday night failed to satisfy traders who were hoping for more concrete steps to allay any economic slowdown from the viral outbreak."
Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that there has been 'irresponsible rhetoric' from people who have downplayed the seriousness of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. In an interview on the 'Today' show, Savannah Guthrie asked what message Pence sends to people who aren't afraid of the coronavirus and think it's just politics and hype, quoting from ... Donald Trump who said on Monday that the 'fake news media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything to inflame the coronavirus situation.' 'There's been some irresponsible rhetoric, but the American people should know President Trump has no higher priority than the health and safety and well being of the people of this country,' Pence said in response but it was not clear who he was referring to."
The Unflappable Nancy Pelosi. Heather Caygle & John Bresnahan of Politico: "... for all Trump's omnipresence on Twitter and cable TV, [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi remains the dominant figure on Capitol Hill when it comes time to actually getting something accomplished.... The [coronavirus] episode plays to her strengths as the longtime Democratic leader: Figure out your goals, move quickly, and build your support on the fly, while always keeping your eye on the magic 218-vote number. The sheer variety of national emergencies Pelosi has faced during her 17 years as House Democratic leader is stunning, and represents the turbulent nature of 21st century American life -- Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial crisis, the federal government shutdowns of 2013 and 2018-19, and Trump's recent impeachment, are among the highlights.... 'I've gone through a number of these crises with her as the leader and she is unflappable,' said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). 'The last thing we need is some kind of a hot-headed leader trying to figure out what we can do to hurt the other side,' he added. 'She don't play that game.'"
Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "The U.S. Capitol will cease all public tours through at least the end of March amid mounting fears of a widespread coronavirus outbreak, according to multiple people familiar with the decision. Speaker Nancy Pelosi informed members of the decision in a Wednesday afternoon meeting, which is intended to help prevent the spread of the virus across the sprawling Capitol campus, where many senior-aged lawmakers are already at higher risk. The restriction applies to all tours -- public, staff-led and member-led. By the end of the week, the Capitol complex will be restricted to official business only, people familiar with the decision said. The move -- which was made jointly by congressional leaders, Capitol security officials and medical staff -- comes amid mounting pressure from lawmakers and aides to restrict public access to the building."
Gary Fineout of Politico: "Joe Biden is in line to deliver a knockout punch to Bernie Sanders in Florida in Tuesday's Democratic primary, according to a new poll that gives the former vice president a staggering 44-point lead over his opponent. Biden is lapping Sanders in voter support, with support from 66 percent of likely Democratic primary voters to 22 percent for Sanders, according to a University of North Florida poll taken March 5-10."
~~~~~~~~~~
Travel Bans Я Us. Washington Post Breaking News: "In a Wednesday evening national address, President Trump announced [a] ban on travel between U.S. and Europe for 30 days, beginning Friday at midnight. The ban will not include travel to and from the United Kingdom. The president said he is directing the Small Business Administration to provide low-interest loans to affected small businesses, and calling on Congress to increase funding for this program by an additional $50 billion, and to provide 'immediate payroll tax relief.' He is also instructing the Treasury Department to defer tax payments without interest or penalties for certain individuals and businesses that have been impacted." An NBC News report is here. You can watch Trump deliver the address in a montone here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Worth noting: the U.K. has a higher number of coronavirus cases than the majority of European countries. But Anglo-Saxon, ~~~
~~~ AND. Laura McGann of Vox: "President Trump just used the powerful symbol of his office to attempt to divide us. Seated behind his desk in the White House Wednesday, Trump looked into the camera and warned Americans of an enemy who has infiltrated our borders. We are at war, he said, with a 'foreign virus.'... When he should have been calling on Americans to come together, he attempted to make us afraid of all of Europe.... Linking outsiders to germs, of course ... [has] been part of many dark chapters in world history.... And Trump's big announcement ignores the fact that the virus is already in the United States, spreading locally.... Medical experts reacted critically to Trump's ban by pointing out that it ignores the work that really needs to be done, such as testing to assess the full scale of the crisis and mass communication with the public about how to prevent the spread." ~~~
~~~ Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "The President's reference to the virus as 'foreign' echoes a tweet he shared earlier this week promoting a US southern-border wall as a way to protect Americans from the 'China Virus.' Trump, adding his own comment to the tweet, said, 'Going up fast. We need the Wall more than ever!' The post was met with fierce pushback from critics, including Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, who tweeted, 'A wall won't stop a virus. Racism won't stop a virus. Do your job.'" ~~~
~~~ AND a Xenophobia Dividend for Trump. Ryan Heath of Politico: "... Donald Trump's new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located." ~~~
~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday night blocked most visitors from continental Europe to the United States and vowed emergency aid to workers and small businesses as the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, stock markets plunged further and millions of people cut themselves off from their regular lives. In a prime-time address from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump outlined a series of measures intended to tackle the virus and its economic impact as he sought to reassure Americans that he was taking the crisis seriously after previously playing down the scope of the outbreak. He said he would halt travelers from Europe other than Britain for 30 days and asked Congress to support measures like a payroll tax cut. 'The virus will not have a chance against us,' Mr. Trump declared in his 10-minute speech, reading from a teleprompter in an uncharacteristic monotone." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This was as close to a hostage video as you'll witness a president* give. The guys with the guns surely were just off-camera. As far as the virus "not having a chance against us," Trump is depending on the kindness of strangers. Beating the coronavirus depends upon all Americans acting responsibly & making life-altering sacrifices. Yet Trump has trained his lemmings to follow his example of criminal self-interest. Are they now to turn around and become model citizens, often at great personal cost, while Trump swans around preceded by a band of servants bearing sanitary wipes? I don't think so. It isn't just that Trump has fucked up management of the official coronavirus response; he also has created an environment in which members of his "base" are ever-more disinclined to do their unofficial part. ~~~
~~~ Yo, Trump: No Country Is an Island. And that includes Australia, which looks a lot like an island. but where Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson, who are visiting the country, have announced they tested positive (because people can get tested there) for Covid-19. Both Hanks & Wilson are over 60 years old.
Jonathan Chait: “... Trump revealed in his Oval Office speech that he does not comprehend the most basic facts. Trump's speech had no mention of the central problem..., which is the lack of a functioning testing regime. Having falsely promised on Friday that everybody who currently wants a test can get one, Trump simply ignored the question altogether.... While he did urge the audience to wash their hands, he likewise ignored the question of public gatherings, which is being resolved without any apparent input from the administration.... His primary public health gesture was the announcement of a travel ban from Europe. The explanation for this measure was terrifyingly ignorant. 'We have seen fewer cases of the virus than are now present in Europe,' he boasted. This may not even be true. (It is possible that the U.S. only knows about fewer cases because of its atrocious testing regime.)... Perhaps most astonishingly, the White House had to retract two policy announcements that Trump erroneously made.... Trump announced his European travel ban would apply to 'trade and cargo,' before the White House announced this was an error. Trump also told his audience, 'I met with the leaders of health insurance industry who have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments and to prevent surprise medical billing.' The Insurance Industry quickly announced it had only agreed to cover testing, not treatment, for the coronavirus."
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments are here. A few "highlights" as of 8 am ET: "The European Commission, the governing body of the European Union, issued a scathing statement condemning [Trump's travel ban]. 'The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,' it said. 'The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.'... Tens of thousands of Americans in Europe scrambled to figure out what they needed to do before the 30-day travel ban goes into effect on Friday, many unclear on the scope of the ban and worried that their flights home would be canceled.... The coronavirus is increasingly altering American life, as churches shut their doors, large gatherings in some regions are forbidden and the N.B.A. suspended the rest of its season...." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates are here.
Fred Imbert & Thomas Franck of CNBC (at about 8 am ET): "Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes dove early Thursday after an address from ... Donald Trump failed to quell concerns over the possible economic slowdown from the coronavirus. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial average, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 all traded at the so-called limit down threshold, off by 5%. Dow futures implied a loss of more than 1,100 points at the open. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500, was down more than 5% in the premarket."
Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump, in an explosive tirade Monday, urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to encourage Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell to do more to stimulate the economy, three officials familiar with the exchange said, revealing the president's mounting fury as his administration struggles to corral economic fallout from the novel coronavirus.... During that tense Monday meeting in the Oval Office, Trump fumed that Powell never should have been appointed and is damaging the nation and his presidency. He then told Mnuchin, who had encouraged Trump to nominate Powell in 2017, to engage with the chair and ask him to take more dramatic steps to arrest the stock market's plummet.... Trump's ... also suggested to other officials that they call the Fed chair and ask him to consider further interest rate cuts, the officials said.... Trump has blamed Powell in the past for the stock market's poor performance, [for instance,] in 2018, when it was sliding because of anxiety about Trump's trade war with China...." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: To take a trip down memory lane, let us recall that Trump appointed Powell after he fired Janet Yellin because she was too short to lead the Fed. Of course, Trump would be blaming Yellin now for not doing the same things Powell is not doing. AND ~~~
~~~ Asawin Suebsaeng & Sam Brodey of the Daily Beast: "... negotiations around ... a [coronavirus economic] package have been complicated by the fact that ... Donald Trump can't stand the idea of negotiating one-on-one with ... Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Indeed, he suspects that she would use the moment to try to humiliate him. Two senior Trump administration officials described a president who, out of an intense bitterness toward the House Speaker, has shuddered at the prospect of being in the same room with her.... Instead, Trump has deputized some of his more prominent lieutenants to handle the delicate negotiations. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, in particular, has emerged as one of the administration's top envoys to Capitol Hill.... The president and the Speaker have not spoken at all in recent days, according to her office. The president has also not spoken to Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), according to his office." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Instead of listening to Trump's proposals to help himself & his friends, Democrats should force Republicans to use this crisis as an opportunity to pass legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for all workers. ~~~
~~~ BUT. Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post: "Democrats hoping to pass an emergency paid sick leave bill to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus were stymied by Senate Republicans on Wednesday. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) tried to speed the measure up for a vote on the Senate floor through a procedural maneuver, but an objection from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) prevented the bill from bypassing the Republican-controlled health committee.... Although the bill is bottled up for now, Democrats could try to attach the measure to another legislative package aimed at dealing with the virus. Democrats proposed the emergency legislation in both chambers last week." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Cristina Marcos & Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Democrats late Wednesday night introduced emergency legislation to help reduce the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak by providing financial backing to those most immediately affected, including an expansion of paid sick leave and unemployment benefits. A vote is expected Thursday, just before lawmakers leave Washington for a previously scheduled week-long recess. The bill is expected to pass easily through the House, though it remains unclear when -- or if -- the Republican-controlled Senate will take it up.... The legislation largely mirrors the principles laid out by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) earlier this week to ensure paid sick leave for all workers, bolster unemployment insurance, guarantee free coronavirus testing and expand federal food assistance for low-income families and children." Mrs. McC: Funny, innit, how the "do-nothing" Democrats are able to write, introduce & presumably pass effective legislation while Republicans, uh, do nothing but obstruct?
~~~ Anita Kumar of the Washington Post (March 11 @ 4:10 pm ET): "... Donald Trump is reluctant to declare an expansive emergency to combat the escalating coronavirus outbreak, fearful of stoking panic with such a dramatic step, according to three people familiar with the situation. Instead, the president is expected to sign within days what the White House calls a more limited designation to allow the federal government to cover small business loans, paychecks for hourly workers and delay tax bills, giving him a way to begin boosting the economy without waiting for Congress to sign off on an economic stimulus package.... There's no deadline for a decision, but one of the people familiar with the talks said Trump's aides will not give the president a final verdict until Jared Kushner ... talks to relevant parties and presents his findings to the president." Mrs. McC: Oh, great. ~~~
~~~ "It's All up to Jared Now." Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "We are doomed.... And the 'final verdict' rests on the shoulders of Jared Kushner, who hasn't proven himself competent at anything over the past three years, let alone matters of infectious disease control."
Ben Winck of Business Insider: "US stocks slid on Wednesday as investors mulled the timeline for the White House's stimulus measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak. All three major indexes tanked roughly 5%, erasing gains made during Tuesday's rebound. The drop ushered in another day of heightened volatility from coronavirus risks and the escalating oil-market war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.... The Dow Jones industrial average slid into a bear market -- or a more than 20% decline from its February 19 high -- ending the equity benchmark's longest period of expansion. Here's where major US indexes closed on Wednesday: S&P 500: 2,741.38, down 4.9%[;] Dow Jones industrial average: 23,553.53, down 5.9% (1,465 points)[;] Nasdaq composite: 7,952.05, down 4.7%[.]"
Jamie Ducharme of Time: "The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic, pointing to the over 118,000 cases of the coronavirus illness in over 110 countries and territories around the world and the sustained risk of further global spread. 'This is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector,' said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, at a media briefing. 'So every sector and every individual must be involved in the fights.' An epidemic refers to an uptick in the spread of a disease within a specific community. By contrast, the WHO defines a pandemic as global spread of a new disease, though the specific threshold for meeting that criteria is fuzzy." (Also linked yesterday.)
David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "Big cities are moving to shut down large public gatherings to protect against the coronavirus, but President Trump is scheduled to depart Washington on Thursday for a three-day visit to Las Vegas, where he will deliver remarks to an estimated crowd of 1,500 at the Republican Jewish Coalition national meeting. Conference organizers and the city's elected officials said the event is a go even though about one-quarter of those who signed up for the conference have dropped out. High-profile speakers, including former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, remain on the agenda. And Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are speaking at a preconference dinner with prominent Jewish Republicans on Thursday evening." Mrs. McC: I'm guessing members of the Republican Jewish Coalition are mostly elderly people from New Rochelle.
~~~ Update: According to MSNBC, the White House cancelled this event late Wednesday night.
Quint Forgey & Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "The nation's top health officials cautioned Wednesday that the U.S. will see more coronavirus cases as the domestic outbreak spreads, a stark warning that comes as Congress looks to head off the outbreak's economic impact and global health organizations declare it a full-blown pandemic. More than 1,000 people in the U.S. have already been diagnosed with the coronavirus in 38 states, leaving at least 29 people dead. But Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told members of the House Oversight Committee that 'we will see more cases, and things will get worse. How much worse ... will depend on our ability to do two things: to contain the influx in people who are infected coming from the outside and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country,' Fauci said.... Fauci ... not[ed] that it's 10 times more lethal than influenza, which kills nearly .01* percent of Americans who get it each year." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ * Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Blake (linked immediately below) cites this figure at 0.1 percent. I thought I'd better listen to the tape, which is here. Blake is right. So the common flu is ten times as bad as Politico reports, making the projected coronavirus mortality rate ten times as great, too. But still, only one percent (for coronavirus) by that calculation. However, it's worth noting that since older people & those with underlying health issues are more likely to contract coronavirus, the percentage of mortality in the elderly/ill population will be higher than that for the entire population. Update: AND, as Victoria pointed out at the end of yesterday's thread, the mortality rate for this at-risk population is higher than for the general population.
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Over and over again [during his testimony, Anthony Fauci] differed with President Trump’s talking points that play down the threat posed by the novel coronavirus, and he even differed with decisions Trump has made." Blake goes over a list of where Fauci's testimony disagreed with Trump's ignorant pronouncements. "... what Fauci said puts Trump in a box. Now when he trots out assertions such as the flu comparison, Fauci's comments will be right there as a counterpoint from a true health expert." Worth a read. ~~~
~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "During a House Oversight Committee hearing on the virus, Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) tried to get Dr. Anthony Fauci ... to say that the media was overhyping the dangers posed by the coronavirus." Cloud's attempt backfired, big-time. Includes video of the exchange. Mrs. McC: Cloud's questions are a good barometer of how right-wing media have so imbued even members of Congress, who should be capable of grasping an existential crisis occurring on their watch, that -- like Trump -- they have no idea of what's going on.
~~~ Noah Higgins-Dunn & Berkeley Lovelace of CNBC: "... Donald Trump has summoned top U.S. health officials to an emergency meeting at the White House Wednesday morning, cutting a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill short, said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. 'This morning we were informed that President Trump and Vice President Pence have called our witnesses to an emergency meeting at the White House. We don't know the details, just that it's extremely urgent,' Maloney, D-NY, said before opening a hearing on the nation's preparedness and response to the coronavirus outbreak that has swept across the nation." Mrs. McC: That's one way to muzzle top government health experts. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. AND Here's the CYA Move. Aram Roston & Melissa Taylor of Reuters: "The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government's response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials." Mrs. McC: So we'll never know if Wednesday's meeting had a purpose other than to shorten the Congressional hearing. The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus. Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said. 'We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,' one official said. 'These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha
Jeremy Peters & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Sean Hannity used his syndicated talk-radio program on Wednesday to share a prediction he had found on Twitter about what is really happening with the coronavirus: It's a' fraud' by the deep state to spread panic in the populace, manipulate the economy and suppress dissent. 'May be true,' Mr. Hannity declared to millions of listeners around the country. As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, denial and disinformation about the risks are proliferating on media outlets popular with conservatives. 'This coronavirus?' Rush Limbaugh asked skeptically during his Wednesday program, suggesting it was all a plot hatched by the Chinese. 'Nothing like wiping out the entire U.S. economy with a biothreat from China, is there?' he said. The Fox Business anchor Trish Regan told viewers on Monday that the worry over coronavirus 'is yet another attempt to impeach the president.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I was wondering what "expert" Hannity found to assert coronavirus was a deep-state fraud. Well, as the "expert" describes himself on his Twitter account, his name is Shiva Ayyadurai, and part of his "name" is "MIT Ph.D. Inventor of Email." It turns out Ayyandurai does have several degrees from MIT, including a Ph.D. But you probably won't be surprised to learn he did not "invent email." Plus, I always look forward to meeting people who introduce themselves by boasting about their real & invented accomplishments from several decades past.
Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "... now the mind-meld of Fox News and Trump is potentially lethal as Trump plays down the seriousness of the coronavirus and, hearing nothing but applause from his favorite information source for doing so, sees little reason to change. There's one person who could transform all that in an instant: Fox founder Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born media mogul who, at 89, still exerts his influence on the leading cable network -- and thus on the president himself.... Imagine if Murdoch ordered the network to end its habit of praising him as if he were the Dear Leader of an authoritarian regime and to instead use its influence to drive home the seriousness of the moment."
Presidential Race
Julia Manchester & Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "The coronavirus outbreak is hitting the presidential campaigns hard, forcing the cancelation of rallies and campaign events, and forcing a Sunday debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to play out before a nearly empty arena. The outbreak is canceling sporting events, closing schools and sending workers home, and it may also pose a challenge to the signature rallies of President Trump, who so far has insisted he will move forward with campaign appearances as he seeks to project confidence in his administration's handling of the virus.... [BUT] On Wednesday, the White House announced that Trump would cancel events scheduled for this weekend in Colorado and Nevada 'out of an abundance of caution' due to the coronavirus outbreak. Trump was expected to attend fundraisers and speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference on the trip." AND ~~~
~~~ Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump late Wednesday canceled campaign events in Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin as coronavirus infections spread across the country. 'Out of an abundance of caution from the Coronavirus outbreak, the President has decided to cancel his upcoming events in Colorado and Nevada,' White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for the Trump reelection campaign, later tweeted that Trump would also not make it to a Catholics for Trump event on March 19 in Milwaukee. Murtaugh cited an 'abundance of caution because of the coronavirus outbreak,' and said that it would be rescheduled."
(If the video doesn't start at 6:54 min. in for you, start it there):
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is how you accept your own defeat but not the defeat of your platform.
~~~ Sydney Ember, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders said on Wednesday that he was continuing his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination despite suffering big primary losses this week, and that he planned to attend the scheduled debate on Sunday against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Sanders, appearing at an afternoon news conference here, said he was not quitting the race and wanted to debate Mr. Biden, who handily defeated Mr. Sanders in four states on Tuesday." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) cancelled a vote scheduled for Wednesday afternoon on a subpoena stemming from his months-long probe into Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings. 'Out of an abundance of caution, and to allow time for you to receive additional briefings, I will postpone a vote to subpoena records and an appearance from former Blue Star Strategies consultant Andrii Telizhenko about his work for the lobbying firm,' Johnson said in a note to committee members...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Trump administration may continue its 'Remain in Mexico' policy for asylum seekers while lower-court challenges continue, after the federal government warned that tens of thousands of immigrants amassed at the southern border could overwhelm the immigration system. The justices reversed a decision of a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that had ordered the policy be suspended Thursday along parts of the border. As is usual in emergency rulings, the court's unsigned, one-paragraph order did not provide the majority's reasoning. Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted her dissent."
Chris Francescani & Aaron Katersky of ABC News: "Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years on sex crime convictions in New York on Wednesday. That sentence includes 20 years for criminal sexual assault in the first degree, which stems from an accusation from former "Project Runway" production assistant Mimi Haley, and three years for rape in the third degree, which stems from an accusation from Jessica Mann, who is now being named by ABC News as she told the district attorney's office after a verdict was reached she does not object to being named publicly. The sentences are set to run consecutively." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.
@Hattie: To write in the Comments section, "Trump tested positive for Covfefe-19," you have to type "<b>Trump</b> tested positive for <i>Covfefe-19</i>." This is true no matter what device you're using.
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Reader Comments (32)
The best laid plans...
My wife had cooked up the ideal plan: Run away to Sweden while Kitchen Armageddon happens at the end of the month. Can’t go to Sweden, but also can’t visit her mother in a nursing rehab center. Looks like she’s stuck with me and the dust.
Fatty’s “address to the nation” was another hostage video, except for the parts where he praised himself for being on top of things. Talk about instilling confidence. Scam artists hanging around convenience store parking lots asking if they can “borrow” twenty bucks for gas so they can get home to visit their sick mother seem more trustworthy. Certainly more engaged. Trump could just as easily have been calling out train departure times at Penn Station.
As I said to my wife, well, he sniffed his way (anyone count?) through another one, making as little sense as usual, but more coherently because someone else wrote it and he read it as best a stable genius can.
Thus Spoke Liar-in-Chief. Felt like I was watching Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil minus the fun factor (except when he’d haltingly enunciate “Corona Virus” as if stumbling with a foreign tongue).
Betcha didn’t know I’ve a talent for reverse-reading. With the reflecting window pane behind his prodigious posterior, I could discern the writing on his jacket:
I
REALLY
DON’T
CARE
DO
U?
Ken,
Clearly, someone else wrote it. The Orange Menace had to pull up a couple of times and squint at the prompter. Did he even bother to read it BEFORE going on national TV? And whoever did write this has no fucking clue what’s going on either. Please to be telling me what a travel ban will do? The virus is spreading internally. And with no details about this travel ban idea, the White House had to issue multiple clarifications almost immediately after Fatty finished mumbling through his hostage message. Presumably, by that time, he was pounding down his fourth Big Mac of the day while watching Fox morons praise his stable genius.
The whole idea behind an address to the nation in a time of existential crisis is to give the public the sense that someone who knows something is in charge. Had he been announcing a declaration of war it would have gone something like this:
So, we are at war with...(what does that say?), um, well, we’ll get back to that in a bit. Obama should have taken care of this but luckily I am here to announce that we will be using nuclear weapons to get this over with fast. Wait, what? No nuclear weapons? Well, it will be a Big Bang like no one has ever seen before.
Yeah, and like that. Just the way to let people know he’s in charge. Say we’re going right but point left. Idiot.
One more thing. As I mentioned earlier, there was not the tiniest sliver of a clue that this is a serious situation. Colleges and schools are closing. Kids being sent home. The NBA has suspended its season. The annual March Madness college basketball tournaments will be played without anyone in the stands. The markets are blowing up. Hospitals haven’t a clue what to do. Testing kits are apparently only available for GOP big shots. People are hoarding supplies, afraid to go out in public. It’s a disaster. But Fatty goes on TV to say it’s not that bad and he’s the best, so...so there.
What.The.Fuck?
Hard to believe he shut down travel between the EU because of a democratic hoax.
@safari: That's a "Democrat hoax."
Not to mention that if Europe really was nothing but a continental plague ship ready to infect poor king Donald’s kingdom with their nasty foreign virus then EVERYONE should be banned, no exceptions. What sense does it make to say that Americans abroad are cleared for re-entry, as well as anyone living near a king Donald golf resort? They could be infected too.
As usual, a half-assed idea carried out half-assedly. But at least the xenophobia is honest. From what I’ve been reading, super nationalist Nazi scum, Stephen Miller, came up with the plan AND wrote the half-assed speech.
Now we’re waiting on half-assed Young Jared to put his considerable medical and infectious disease control experience to work and give us the benefit of his one tenth assed wisdom.
All the best people.
I can not access Dr. John Campbell UK's information video except by going to his website on google today, for some reason.
BUT please go to his video today: Thursday 12 March.
It explains what "flattening the curve" means, and gets real about how very serious this is.
He has separated this video from his facts and data, which will come later in the day(and which I watch every day), so just experience him when he is only doing definitions.
If you have been concerned that everybody except Fauci is mushmouthed, this will be a frightening breath of fresh air.
.01 is 1 one-hundredth of one percent.
.1 is one-tenth of one percent.
That's a difference of millions of people.
Even if it actually is one percent, that would be about 3.28 million
people. If it's .1 percent, it's one tenth of that, and if it is .01 percent,
it's 1 one-hundredth of that.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
They seem to get the stock market percentages more accurate than
something that promises to kill us.
The Fatty "Solution"
Keep people from (only some) European countries coming to the US.
There. Problem solved, right? He's the best in'he?
But, as mentioned above, a semi-ban does nothing. Zero. If that's the solution (it isn't, at this point, but stay with me), then do it right.
They did it right 600 years ago in Venice. During the spread of Bubonic plague (aka the Black Death), which at one point wiped out 30% of Europe's population (which today would be about 250 million people), public health officials (yeah, they had those) in Venice, one of the biggest trading ports in the world at that time, automatically quarantined all shipping including cargo and sailors, on an island off the coast, for forty days (the word "quarantine" comes from the Italian word for forty). There were no exceptions. It wasn't like pals of the Doge coming from some plague infested region were allowed in, as Trump is doing. It wasn't like ships from places where the Doge owned golf courses were immune from the ban (as Trump is doing).
The plan worked amazingly well, sparing Venice, in large part, from the horrors going on in the rest of Europe.
So, to conclude, Venetians, 600 years ago, handled a pandemic far more effectively (and logically) than the fat man hiding in the White House, crying like a baby because he might have to see Nancy Pelosi who is trying to deal with the coronavirus pandemic (unlike the big baby who is trying to keep his polling numbers up and make sure he doesn't lose any money).
You know you're in trouble when medieval officials did a better job than a 21st century president*.
yes, Forrest.
scientists use "zero point one percent" so they don't get confused by decimal points: 0.1% is one tenth of one percent. This is what Fauci said.
Somehow people miss the fact that flu is 0.1 to 0.2% CFR; while
Corona is 2-4% CFR, not one percent. Failure to test is failure to know: this is why some people are underreporting the total and the fatalities.
So: covfefe is WAY more problematic. For humanity.
My math says you are not wrong, Forrest.
I think Victoria and my discussion of the Politico report numbers yesterday prompted Bea to go to the source and listen to the tape.
Politico, Bea reports, had it wrong. As far as the experts can now tell the Coffee-19 mortality rate is about one percent, ten times .1 percent, not the .01 Politico reported.
And yes, that's a lot of people.
From Marie's pal, Jim Fallows, on Twitter:
"The two themes of all Trump speeches:
- I am great, beyond comparison
- Other people and places are cheaters and to blame
Can those themes be applied to a speech about a pandemic?
Two minutes in, the answer is: Yes indeed!"
We need a better phrase than "ignorant asshole".
Forrest, Forrest, Forrest...
It sounds like you are spreading a Deep State notion involving MATH to confuse Trump.
C'mon man, you know Fatty doesn't do math. He hires OTHER incompetent assholes to misunderstand and misrepresent mathy stuff.
If you don't behave, Hannity will do a special on your nefarious conspiracy crap.
Forrest,
And sometimes math doesn't help.
As Victoria notes, the mortality rate as reported by others than Politico--with their ten times whatever-- is much higher, more in the range of 2-4 percent. Some have called it three.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/
Another case of GIGO, it seems.
It's curious to see why so many people are perplexed about the lack of testing and how Agent Orange hardly, if ever, mentions it. It's not hard to figure out, because as usual the Moron says the quiet parts out loud:
He doesn't want people tested. That's it. 'Cuz it makes him "look bad".
How many times has he "reassured" us that it will just "magically disappear"? That's literally his plan. Do nothing and let it "disappear", like we do with the common flu.
If it were up to him, he would probably ban all tests, but those nagging doctors keep insisting and he can only throw so many obstacles in the way.
All for reelection. That's right. The psychopath sitting in the Oval Office was ready and willing to let potentially millions of Americans die so he point to the flu and say no big deal.
MIDDLE SCHOOL MOUNTEBANK
Once upon a time something strange occurred in a U.S. middle school; nestled in a tree laded area in a D.C. area the student body had voted for a Donny T. as president of the 8th grade class ––overwhelmingly, I might add. Donny T. was full of charisma–-he was also full of shit, but because the former hid much of the latter, his fellow students were easily conned. One day Nancy, an extremely bright girl of exceptional vision, spotted Donny T. on her way home from school burying something in the nearby woods. Curious, she hid behind a tree and watched. It appeared to be a large box with some black magic marker writing on the top. When she got home she gave a ring-a-ding to her boy friend Chucky and that night they ventured into the woods, dug up the box and to their horror found remnants of human remains such as ears, fingers, toes, etc. Well, you can imagine–-or maybe not–-the scandal around this discovery: that Donny T. had been the actual serial killer of multiple murders of people who had tried to warn the town long ago of the ruthlessness of Donny's family who had ruined many a real estate business for their own advantage.
Shocked! were the townspeople and shocked were all those students who had voted for Donny T. as their esteemed leader. Like a virus that gets out of control, Donny managed to penetrate his poison into the hearts and minds of many but in the end it was he, who went down––whimpering, sniffing, and howling while still holding on to his black sharpie, saying:
"Hold on! hold on! I can fix this!!!"
and from the back of the court room the CNN reporter who he had dismissed as "fake news" rose to his feet and clapped––and then the whole room joined in.
The End––––or only the beginning?
It's been suggested that since MAGA hats were made in China
they may be infected with that Deep State virus and the wearers
of such hats should probably burn them. Removal from head
before burning is optional.
@Hattie, yesterday you wrote "(my italics never seem transfer onto RC)". I'm not sure what you mean by 'transfer'.
Sounds like you're creating messages using another text editor that allows you to embellish text and then copy-pasting into this text editor box. If so, that may be your problem, because only the text is getting pasted, not the embellishment.
You need to use some basic HTML tags here (listed below the comment-entry box.) What's listed are the Start tags. You also need an End tag to indicate where to stop. Most end tags are the same as the start but with a / in front of the tag name. Both are enclosed within < >.
The three most likely you'll use are <tag name>text to enhance</tag name>:
a - to create hyperlinks using href="website URL" attribute
b - to make bold
i - to make italic
Tags can also be nested or overlapped as long as they have a start and an end.
For additional info here's a good website that shows/explains the proper syntax. Have fun!
unwashed -
Thank you for your kind tech support!
(I remain pathetically LOW tech.)
And for solving the *mystery:
Often in transit on my cell (<= am I dangling here? lol) when RC-ing, I’ll type into a blank email. If I ever complete my thoughts (and can correct - or have auto-corrected - my atrocious spelling, idiosyncratic/ home-grown grammar and punctuation), I’ll *paste them into Comments. But even when typing directly (as now), I’m unable to **italicize.
Will check out your link. Perhaps I’ll learn a thing-or-thousand. **grazie mille
Hmm. Do my wife may avoid kitchen Armageddon after all. Sometimes a Total Travel Ban is really only travel restriction.
It appears that others are confused about decimals, percentages, and fractions of percentages.
If you hadn't seen it, this WaPo article is about Eric Drumpf's latest lie about how much profit the T.O. made and how much of a donation they were willing to make to US. (Yeah, right, with no ability to independently verify.)
In the article writers O'Connell and Fahrenthold write "Eric Trump issued a statement Monday saying that income from foreign governments makes up a very small portion of the company’s hotel business...".
It goes on "Of our hotels that had foreign government patronage in 2019, this business represented less than half of one percent (<.0048%) of those properties aggregate revenue..." Huh?
OK, 0.0048% is, in fact, "less than half of one per cent". Much less by a factor of 100.
So, they gave US back $105,465. Now for the algebra.
$105,465 = 0.0048 % x Total Profit. Moving the decimal point to get rid of the % is the same as:
$105,465 = 0.000048 x Total Profit. Therefore:
Total Profit = $105,465 / 0.000048 = $2,197,187,500.
Could they have made this much? Legitimately, anyway? $22M sounds more like it.
@unwashed: "Less than half of one percent," when the "less than half" is .48 percent, can be written "0.48%" or ".0048", but not ".0048%" just as "one percent" is "1%" or "0.01". I forget if that is sixth (6th!) or seventh (7th) grade arithmetic, but you have to know it to do simple calculations, like in "I gave the Secret Service guy a 48 percent room discount at Trump International."
@Hattie: Read what unwashed wrote, then check out the message I wrote at the bottom of today's page. Had to write it in the body of the Commentariat because the carets would "work" if I typed them in a Comment.
grazie mille Bea.
(‘fraid not working for me while your examples made so much sense)
I don’t want you / unwashed / anyone wasting precious time on my “learning / spacial issues”. merely inputting - and in lower case - took several minutes. hahahahaha)
not at all ungrateful.
just don’t wish to be a burdensome little creature.
~:>
As I indicated . . . (she laughs aloud at self with forehead smack)
Looks like I “got” the italics but couldn’t stop ‘em.
While somehow making bold the little creature.
Will practice.
But kindly - all - bear avec moi.
“... but Mother pence has brought the calico curtains down from the attic & is embroidering "25th Amendment" into the hems.”
Hahahaha. Good one, Marie.
Mother might have the chutzpah to invoke 25th amendment protection (she likely sees herself as Jesus’ First Lady, laying waste to the infidels), but I don’t call her lesser half the half-pence for nothing. Those teeny-weeny testicles have been packed away with other balls for the last three years. The moth kind. If she can find them (they’re in a lock box in the residence along with Graham’s and McConnell’s) she’d have better luck appending them to her own anatomy. But in truth, they were never much good anyway. What good are balls that shrivel up and disappear when confronted with a woman, unaccompanied by his mother
Where do they find these fucking losers?
All the best people.
Just received a cancellation notice re: my theater tix for late March.
This from USA Today:
“Coronavirus shutters Broadway, Metropolitan Museum of Art; White House tours canceled”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/03/12/coronavirus-cancellations-museums-landmarks-tourism-tours/5032712002/
“Keep Spreading The News”
FromThe New York Times -
“Broadway Will Shut Down After Governor Limits Attendance”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/theater/coronavirus-broadway-shutdown.html
“Give My Regards . . . “
I was waiting for Trump to instruct Mike Pence to stop the virus in its tracks by laying his hands on the afflicted, but then realized he could only "cure" half the population. Perhaps Mrs Pence could be persuaded to sit in on the laying on of hands on female Trumpians.