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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Monday
Mar092020

The Commentariat -- March 10, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The House has a right to see secret grand-jury evidence gathered in the Russia investigation, an appeals court ruled on Tuesday in a victory for Congress's power to gather information for an impeachment inquiry. In a 2-to-1 decision, a panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower-court ruling that the House had a right to gain access to the information, which was gathered by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, using a grand jury and blacked out in the report on his investigation released last year. The Trump administration had appealed that ruling." ~~~

      ~~~ Politico's story, by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, is here. "Appeals from the Justice Department are all but certain, and the case could still face Supreme Court review."

Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's meeting with Senate Republicans on Tuesday ended without any concrete plan for crafting an economic package that might address the turmoil caused by the coronavirus epidemic, sparking fears that policy makers are far apart on how to deal with growing concerns that the U.S. could enter a recession. At the meeting, Trump discussed his proposal to extend a temporary payroll tax cut for a period of months. Some lawmakers also discussed the idea of targeted infrastructure spending. Both ideas could be used to try and lood the economy with more cash, but there was not a consensus over how to proceed.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has privately told several allies in recent days he personally opposes the payroll tax cut idea Trump has endorsed.... And House Democrats are busily assembling their own package.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have also been dismissive of the payroll tax cut idea, saying they were focused on addressing the coronavirus specifically. Top House Democrats said Tuesday they planned to move as soon as this week on a relief package that narrowly targeted individuals and families affected by the coronavirus outbreak. The measures floated by Pelosi and other leaders included an expansion of unemployment insurance, food stamps and other public assistance programs as well as allowing for greater sick and family leave."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "With Biden emerging as the likely Democratic nominee, Trump has launched a concerted, near-daily campaign to raise doubts about the 77-year-old's mental acuity. The president has been bolstered by a conservative echo chamber flooding social media with video clips highlighting Biden's gaffes. The effort provides a window into how Trump -- who's been dogged by questions about his own mental fitness -- regularly picks apart his political opponents. He has an unmatched ability to zero in on his foe'’s biggest vulnerability or insecurity, and through sheer repetition bake it into the public consciousness. Unfortunately for Biden, his performance on the campaign trail has given Trump plenty to work with."

Unfuckingbelievable. Monique Madan of the Miami Herald: "Immigration court staff nationwide were ordered by the Trump administration to take down all coronavirus posters from courtrooms and waiting areas. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which falls under the Department of Justice, told all judges and staff members in an email Monday that all coronavirus posters, which explain in English and Spanish how to prevent catching and spreading the virus, had to be removed immediately.... 'Per our leadership, the CDC flyer is not authorized for posting in the immigration courts. If you see one (attached), please remove it....' However on Tuesday morning -- just four hours after the Miami Herald published this story -- a Department of Justice spokesman contacted the Herald to say that the 'the signs shouldn't have been removed. It's now being rectified.'"

Dawn Kopecki, et al., of CNBC: "... a top CDC official ... Monday recommend[ed] that people over 60 and anyone with chronic medical conditions buckle down for a lengthy stay home. 'This virus is capable of spreading easily and sustainably from person to person ... and there's essentially no immunity against this virus in the population,' Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a conference call, citing World Health Organization data that studied more than 70,000 cases in China.... Most people won't develop serious symptoms, but 15% to 20% of the people who are exposed to the virus get severely sick, she said.... The odds of developing COVID-19 increase with age, starting at age 60. It's especially lethal for people over 80.... The CDC is recommending people with underlying conditions or who are over 60 to stock up on medications, household items and groceries to stay at home 'for a period of time,' she said." Emphasis added.

Fred Imbert, et al., of CNBC: "Stocks rallied on Tuesday as Wall Street clawed back some of the massive losses suffered in the previous session. Bets on government intervention to stem the economic downturn from the coronavirus lifted equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 600 points higher, or 2.6%. The S&P 500 climbed 2.4% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.6%." This is an update of a story linked below.

New York Times live market updates: "Buyers moved back into the markets on Tuesday, a day after the coronavirus and a battle among the world's biggest oil producers shook the global financial scene. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose more than 2 percent, rebounding from its steepest decline in more than a decade. European stocks also climbed, with many indexes more than 2 percent higher and Asian markets rose as well. Stocks were somewhat buoyed after President Trump on Monday night said he would work with Congress on measures to help the economy amid signs of a worsening outbreak in the United States, including a potential payroll tax cut." ~~~

~~~ Yes, but what if Trump made an empty promise about taking substantive measures to mitigate the economic impact of the virus? ~~~

~~~ Eamon Javers & Mike Calia of CNBC: “The White House is not ready to roll out specific economic proposals in its response to the widening impact of the coronavirus outbreak, administration officials told CNBC. The revelation comes as U.S. stock futures pointed toward a sharp rebound at the open Tuesday following the Dow's 2,013-point drop Monday and ... Donald Trump's suggestion that a payroll tax cut and other stimulus measures may be in the works to mitigate economic damage from the virus' spread. Trump has also invited Wall Street executives to meet at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the response. However, inside the administration, some officials were stunned by Trump's claim Monday that he would hold a press conference Tuesday to announce an economic plan. 'That was news to everyone on the inside,' one official said. The actual details of any plan remain up in the air. 'It's not there right now,' an official said.... The president's schedule for Tuesday includes a 5:30 p.m. ET media briefing for his coronavirus task force."

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump confronted one of the most perilous days of his presidency Monday by first erupting in a barrage of commentary that failed to calm the cratering financial markets, struggling to inspire confidence that his administration could stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. But by the time the sun set in Washington, Trump sounded momentarily chastened by the turbulence and previewed a raft of emergency measures to shore up the economy. 'We have a very strong economy,' the president told reporters, 'but this blindsided the world.'... Trump's overall handling of the converging crises -- while spreading misinformation and blaming others -- has unsettled many of his Republican allies on Capitol Hill and even inside the White House, where some aides acknowledged that the president is compounding problems with his grievances and conspiratorial mind-set."

Quinta Jurecic & Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare in the Atlantic: "Throughout the many disasters that have befallen the Trump administration, one theme has remained a constant: malevolence tempered by incompetence.... Now, however, the disease known as COVID-19 has upended this theme altogether. As the former Justice Department official Carrie Cordero declared on Twitter: 'To invert a @benjaminwittes formulation, the Trump administration #COVID19 response might be characterized as incompetence exacerbated by malevolence.'... The president can't pretend the virus does not exist. He can't suppress news of it, unlike the Chinese Communist Party [re: the severity of the coronavirus outbreak] or the Soviet government in 1986 [on Chernobyl]. But he can berate those who report on it honestly. He can deny its severity. He can lie about it -- all until the moment at which he can't anymore, the moment at which the malevolence no longer covers up the incompetence but amplifies it, at great human cost."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Six States Are Holding Democratic Presidential Primaries Today. Domenico Montenaro of NPR: "What we're calling 'Big Tuesday' offers 352 delegates among six states. That's about a quarter of the delegates that were at stake on Super Tuesday. Michigan is the biggest prize, with 125 delegates, followed by Washington (89), Missouri (68), Mississippi (36), Idaho (20) and North Dakota (14). Michigan, Washington and Missouri -- and their combined 282 delegates — make up 80% of the delegates at stake Tuesday." The article has brief descriptions of factors in each state and voting hours.

Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press: "Former Vice President Joe Biden, riding a wave of momentum from& primaries in South Carolina and Super Tuesday states, comes into Tuesday's Michigan primary with a 24-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders in a new Free Press poll. If Biden's 51%-27% lead in the poll, done by EPIC-MRA for the Free Press and its media partners, holds, it would guarantee him a signature victory in Michigan -- a battleground state that helped ... Donald Trump win the White House four years ago. It could also starve Sanders' formerly front-running campaign of delegates needed for the nomination and call into question how long his effort can remain viable." Mrs. McC: Looks like the primary race will be officially over by tomorrow night. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

But Can He Do Standup? Pete Buttigieg is hosting "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Thursday night. (Link is to a Vulture item; open in private window). (Also linked yesterday.)

Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "... Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence sought to reassure top Republican donors over the weekend that they have everything under control when it comes to the coronavirus outbreak. Trump, who attended a Republican National Committee donor retreat at his private resort at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, told financiers Friday that his administration is making public health and safety a No. 1 priority, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter." ~~~

~~~ Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "First lady Melania Trump has cancelled a California fundraiser she was to hold next week, the White House confirmed. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a text message that the first lady would not be holding a previously scheduled March 18 fundraiser in Beverly Hills. She said the decision was due to a 'scheduling conflict.' The move comes amid mounting concerns about the coronavirus. Los Angeles County, where the event was to be held, has declared a state of emergency over the outbreak." ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: Donald Trump's "re-election campaign canceled a 'Women for Trump' bus tour featuring his daughter-in-law [Lara Trump] and two top surrogates over concerns about coronavirus exposure related to the Conservative Political Action Conference. Trump has insisted he won't cancel his large campaign rallies, but none are currently scheduled, for the first time in months." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: According to the NYT report by Peter Baker & others, linked below, the White House cited "scheduling conflicts" as the reason for cancelling the bus tour & issued a non-denial denial when numerous reports cited coronavirus as the cause. So t's pretty fair to translate "scheduling conflict" as "prudent fear of contracting coronavirus, but we keep that secret to please the Dear Leader."

Danny Hakim & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "President Trump's campaign manager and a circle of allies have seized control of the Republican Party's voter data and fund-raising apparatus, using a network of private businesses whose operations and ownership are cloaked in secrecy, largely exempt from federal disclosure. Working under the aegis of Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, with the cooperation of Trump appointees at the Republican National Committee, the operatives have consolidated power -- and made money -- in a way not possible in an earlier, more transparent analog era.... By commanding the party's repository of voter data and creating a powerful pipeline for small donations, the Trump campaign and key party officials have made it increasingly difficult for Republicans to mount modern, digital campaigns without the president's support." ~~~

~~~ The Trump Campaign Is a Scam, Ctd. Peter Stone of the Guardian: "According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), Trump-allied political committees and the Republican party have spent a whopping $18.1m at Trump properties since he launched his 2016 campaign. Republican candidates, elected officials and Pacs have ponied up another $1.2m in the same period. Donald J Trump for President leads the pack, having spent a total of $14.5m since he began his 2016 campaign, with the Republican National Committee in second place at $1.8m and Trump Victory ranking third at $1.6m...." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's 2016 campaign was a scam which put money in Trump's pocket, but the re-election campaign -- as the Times & Guardian stories make clear -- is a mega-scam. Part of the rubes' contribution to Trump's re-election campaign are really just contributions to his & some of his friends' personal fortunes. It's Trump University on steroids.

"The GOP's Hunterghazi Probe Is about to Get Much Worse. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "By shocking coincidence, Senate Republicans are set to take a huge step forward with their efforts to investigate Hunter Biden -- at exactly the moment when Joe Biden is likely to cement his hold on the Democratic nomination.... On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will vote to subpoena someone Republicans view as a crucial witness against Hunter Biden: Andrii Telizhenko, a political consultant who represented Burisma in the United States.... Telizhenko has long played an active role in spreading the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine colluded with Democrats in 2016. Our intelligence services have told senators that this is central to Russian disinformation efforts. So Homeland Security Committee Democrats want all senators on the committee to get a classified briefing from the intelligence community on Telizhenko -- to demonstrate that intelligence officials don't view him as credible." GOP senators are not interested in that.

Senate Race. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) formally announced his 2020 Senate run on Monday, tweeting his first campaign ad.... The governor, who will challenge Sen. Steve Daines (R), announced his run on the filing deadline." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Yun Li & Silvia Amaro of CNBC: "Stock futures rallied back early Tuesday morning after the S&P 500′s worst day since the financial crisis. Around 6:15 a.m. ET Tuesday, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated an opening surge of 1,100 points on Tuesday. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures also pointed to a sharply higher open for the two indexes on Tuesday. Stock futures erased big losses in after-hours trading Monday and turned positive after ... Donald Trump floated the idea of 'a payroll tax cut or relief' to offset the negative impact from the coronavirus."

Dow's Biggest One-Day Drop Ever. New York Times liveblog of market developments: "It was Wall Street's worst day in more than a decade: Stocks plunged on Monday as a panic that began in the oil market made its way through the global financial system, adding to concerns from already rattled investors about the state of the global economy. The S&P 500, already down 12 percent from its late February high, fell more than 7 percent on Monday. The sudden downdraft meant that trading in the United States was automatically halted early in the day -- a rare occurrence meant to prevent stocks from crashing --; but it resumed after a 15-minute delay. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2,000 points." (An earlier version of this was linked yesterday.) The CNBC story is here.

Brian Sullivan of CNBC: "Vladimir Putin just sparked what could end up being one of the ugliest oil price wars in modern history, and American oil and gas companies may be the victims. This weekend Saudi Arabia dropped the oil bomb. It not only cut its forward crude price to Chinese customers by as much as $6 or $7 per barrel, but is also reportedly looking to raise its daily crude output by as many as 2 million barrels per day.... OPEC members laid out a proposal to further cut oil output quotas by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day..., but non-OPEC member Russia said 'nyet,' effectively killing it.... It was only three weeks ago that the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russian oil giant Rosneft for transporting Venezuelan oil.... Connect the dots. Putin reacting to Trump. The Saudis, led by Energy Minister and son of the king Abdulaziz bin Salman, reacting to Putin. And American oil and gas workers and investors are caught in the middle of this epic ego battle. It couldn't occur at a worse time."

Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Monday morning

Shorter Donald: What pandemic? -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Jeff Stein & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "White House advisers on Monday presented President Trump with a list of policy changes they hope could stem the economic fallout of the coronavirus, including paid sick leave and emergency help for small businesses, according to two senior administration officials. The meeting came on a day when the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 2,000 points and pressure rapidly builds on federal policymakers to address the growing economic impact of the outbreak. It was also not immediately clear if Trump had decided to act on any of the potential policy options.... The discussions have accelerated as congressional leaders said they are considering their own legislative remedies to address the economic turmoil. Congressional Democrats are discussing how to propose paid sick leave as part of new legislation, and a key Senate Republican is looking at changes to tax policy that could seek to address the heightened fears." An NBC News story is here.

Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Fissures between the White House and national health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have begun to expand as the coronavirus pandemic spreads to more American states, creating dissonance between ... Donald Trump and the professionals tasked with containing the virus further. The two sides have grown increasingly distrustful of one another, people inside both the CDC and the White House say, as officials on each side question decisions that either appear designed to downplay the growing crisis or to generate further concern.... While health officials have sought to present a realistic and cautious picture of the national situation, Trump and his political allies are hoping to relay an altogether different message: that the virus is contained, Americans face little risk, and life should proceed as normal." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tom Sykes of the Daily Beast: "Donald Trump hasn't been tested for the coronavirus, the White House said late Monday. The admission came hours after the similarly untested Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the administration's coronavirus task force, said in a press briefing that he had no idea if Trump had been tested or not."

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) returned to Congress on Monday, despite potentially being exposed to the coronavirus, saying he was advised by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) physician that going into self-quarantine isn't necessary. Gohmert said a House physician informed him that he could have been exposed to the virus at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in a Twitter statement posted Monday. The Texas representative said he was then contacted by a CDC physician who said he could go back to Washington." ~~~

~~~ Justin Wise of the Hill: "Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), President Trump's newest acting chief of staff, will self-quarantine at his home after learning that he may have come into contact with a person who later tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his office said. 'Out of an abundance of caution, Meadows received testing which came back negative,' Meadows spokesperson Ben Williamson said. 'While he's experiencing zero symptoms, under doctors' standard precautionary recommendations, he'll remain at home until the 14 day period expires this Wednesday.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "Two Republican members of Congress who have spent time with President Trump in the last few days ... put themselves into self-quarantine on Monday because of concern over exposure to coronavirus. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, who attended a party with Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate over the weekend and traveled with him from Florida to the capital on Monday afternoon, announced an hour after getting off the president's plane that he would remain out of contact with other people for two weeks.... Shortly after takeoff, Mr. Gaetz learned that he had been in touch with an infected person at the Conservative Political Action Conference late last month, according to two people informed about the situation. He then essentially quarantined himself, sitting in a section of the plane alone.... Representative Doug Collins, Republican of Georgia, who toured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta with Mr. Trump on Friday, likewise went into isolation on Monday after being told by the C.D.C. that it had found a photograph of him with the infected person at the conservative conference. Mr. Collins was on the tarmac when Mr. Trump landed in Atlanta on Friday and shook the president's hand before joining him on the tour of the C.D.C." ~~~

     ~~~ New Lede: "President Trump moved on Monday to curb widening fear over the spread of the coronavirus by announcing that he would work with Congress to bolster the economy through tax cuts and other measures.... Mr. Trump said he would meet on Tuesday with congressional leaders to discuss a 'very substantial' payroll tax cut and legislation intended to protect hourly wage earners who may have to miss work because of the spread of the virus. He said he would also discuss expanding loans by the Small Business Administration." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Wearing that gas mask for the House vote on coronavirus funding is looking less & less funny, isn't it, Matt? ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone: "... Gaetz's office claimed the congressman donned the gas mask as a sincere precautionary measure rather than as a stunt to get headlines, writing that he was simply 'demonstrating his concern.'... The idea that Gaetz brought out a mask out of a genuine concern about COVID-19 spreading through Congress is hard to believe, not only because of his penchant for publicity stunts and the ludicrousness of wearing a freaking gas mask on the House floor, but also because of an interview with Vanity Fair conducted at CPAC in which Gaetz joked about coronavirus. He even lamented how it was taking his name out of the news and that his office might need to find a way to get him infected[.]" ~~~

~~~ Nancy Cook of Politico: "During a rare appearance at the White House briefing room podium on Monday night, Trump said he intended to ask lawmakers for a 'big number' to give Americans relief.... Yet over the course of the day, top Republican senators indicated that they thought it was too early for these types of measures and some White House aides remained cool to the idea." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It's worth noting that after Trump gave a short spiel about the good job he'd done & how he would work with Congress to come up with a "big number" of tax cuts & SBA loans, he turned the podium over to mike pence and left the room.

Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "When the U.S. House passed an emergency $8.3 billion spending bill to battle the coronavirus epidemic last week, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona questioned the tremendous cost. But Gosar announced last night that he and his staff are going into self-quarantine after it was revealed that Gosar recently spent an extended period of time at last month's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with someone who's now hospitalized with COVID-19." Mrs. McC: Gosar is such a jerk, in 2018 six of his siblings cut an ad opposing his re-election & endorsing his Democratic opponent. ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Also probably worth noting: the right-wing event where these Congressmen came in contact with someone infected with the Covid-19 is the same right-wing event at which Mick Mulvaney, our new special envoy to Northern Ireland, said that the intent of the "exaggerated" media coverage of the virus was the result of the fake news' hope that they would "will bring down the president, that's what this is all about." Great plot, media! It seems to be working. ~~~

~~~ Confederates Surprised to Discover Their Leaders Don't Care about Them. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "A CPAC attendee infected with coronavirus attended multiple days of the conference on a gold-level VIP ticket as well as a Friday night Shabbat dinner associated with the event, according to people familiar with the situation. The infected attendee was a CPAC regular who made a hobby of meeting high-profile conference speakers and taking photographs with them. His gold-level ticket gave him access to a private lounge directly outside the green room for speakers on the conference's main stage. As of early Monday evening, event organizers have contacted 'just over a dozen' people who they have identified as having direct contact with the infected attendee, according to Ian Walters, spokesman for the American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The ACU's handling of the case has led to grumbling from some conferencegoers, who have complained of a two-tiered system: VIPs have been notified directly even to be told they did not interact with the infected man, while ordinary rank-and-file attendees have by and large been left to wonder, receiving only vaguer information in mass emails."

John Walcott of Time: "An annual intelligence report that has been postponed without explanation by ... Donald Trump's administration warns that the U.S. remains unprepared for a global pandemic, two senior government officials who have reviewed a draft of the report tell Time. The office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was scheduled to deliver the Worldwide Threat Assessment to the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 12 and the hearing has not been rescheduled, according to staffers and members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.... The final draft of the report remains classified but the two officials who have read it say it contains warnings similar to those in the last installment, which was published on January 29, 2019. The 2019 report warns on page 29 that, 'The United States will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.'"

Kylie Atwood, et al., of CNN: "The US aviation industry and the Trump administration are in a pitched battle over the response to the coronavirus pandemic, three sources familiar with recent calls between officials from several government agencies and US airlines have told CNN. In a series of contentious conversations, agency officials and aviation executives have clashed over the administration's demand that airlines collect new kinds of data from passengers to help officials track potential virus carriers. Airlines say they can't meet that demand right away -- a claim some administration officials say they don't believe...."

Paul Krugman: "... like so much of what is happening in America right now, the coronavirus crisis isn't just about Trump. His intellectual and emotional inadequacy, his combination of megalomania and insecurity, are certainly contributing to the problem; has there ever been a president so obviously not up to the job? But in refusing to face uncomfortable facts, in attributing all bad news to sinister conspiracies, he's actually just being a normal man of his faction. In 2020 we're relearning the lessons of 2008 -- namely, that America's right-wingers can't handle the truth."

A few things Preet Bharara (& others) find slightly wanting in Donald Trump. Mrs. McC: Clean up the list a bit & make it about a third of the ad buy for the Democratic nominee (Joe Biden). Is James Earl Jones still available for voiceovers? Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

AND Nero has a twitter account:

~~~ As Akhilleus mentioned in yesterday's Comments, Trump hasn't let Covfefe-19 interfere with his golf game: ~~~

~~~ Daniel Politi of Slate: "Around the world, leaders and health authorities were struggling to try to get a handle on the rapidly spreading coronavirus. But in the United States..., Donald Trump seems to have thought it would be a great time to hit the links with professional baseball players. On Sunday, the commander in chief played golf with current and former Washington Nationals players at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The White House doesn't normally release details about the president's golf outings, but on Sunday, pitcher Patrick Corbin posted a series of photos on his Instagram of the game with the president." Maybe a golf club is the new fiddle bow. (Also linked yesterday.)

Comments Off
Sunday
Mar082020

The Commentariat -- March 9, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Monday morning

Shorter Donald: What pandemic? -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

New York Times liveblog of market developments: "Five minutes into the trading day in the United States on Monday, the plunge in the S&P 500 hit 7 percent, triggering an automatic 15-minute trading halt known as a circuit breaker. The next trading halt would come if the S&P 500 falls 13 percent from Friday's close. Should stocks fall 20 percent, trading would end for the rest of the day.... It seemed to have helped on Monday: The S&P 500 recovered some ground soon after trading resumed, and was down about 6 percent by 10 a.m. in New York."

Kevin Liptak of CNN: "Fissures between the White House and national health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have begun to expand as the coronavirus pandemic spreads to more American states, creating dissonance between ... Donald Trump and the professionals tasked with containing the virus further. The two sides have grown increasingly distrustful of one another, people inside both the CDC and the White House say, as officials on each side question decisions that either appear designed to downplay the growing crisis or to generate further concern.... While health officials have sought to present a realistic and cautious picture of the national situation, Trump and his political allies are hoping to relay an altogether different message: that the virus is contained, Americans face little risk, and life should proceed as normal."

Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press: "Former Vice President Joe Biden, riding a wave of momentum from primaries in South Carolina and Super Tuesday states, comes into Tuesday's Michigan primary with a 24-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders in a new Free Press poll. If Biden's 51%-27% lead in the poll, done by EPIC-MRA for the Free Press and its media partners, holds, it would guarantee him a signature victory in Michigan -- a battleground state that helped ... Donald Trump win the White House four years ago. It could also starve Sanders' formerly front-running campaign of delegates needed for the nomination and call into question how long his effort can remain viable." Mrs. McC: Looks like the primary race will be officially over by tomorrow night.

A few things Preet Bharara (& others) find slightly wanting in Donald Trump. Mrs. McC: Clean up the list a bit & make it about a third of the ad buy for the Democratic nominee (Joe Biden). Is James Earl Jones still available for voiceovers? Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.

Pete Buttigieg is hosting "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Thursday night. (Link is to a Vulture item; open in private window).

AND Nero has a twitter account:

~~~ As Akhilleus mentioned in today's Comments, Trump hasn't let Covfefe-19 interfere with his golf game: ~~~

~~~ Daniel Politi of Slate: "Around the world, leaders and health authorities were struggling to try to get a handle on the rapidly spreading coronavirus. But in the United States..., Donald Trump seems to have thought it would be a great time to hit the links with professional baseball players. On Sunday, the commander in chief played golf with current and former Washington Nationals players at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The White House doesn't normally release details about the president's golf outings, but on Sunday, pitcher Patrick Corbin posted a series of photos on his Instagram of the game with the president." Maybe a golf club is the new fiddle bow.

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) formally announced his 2020 Senate run on Monday, tweeting his first campaign ad.... The governor, who will challenge Sen. Steve Daines (R), announced his run on the filing deadline."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Governments intensified their efforts Sunday to combat the global spread of the novel coronavirus, as Saudi Arabia followed Italy in enacting new travel restrictions, Iran suspended flights to Europe, and the United States, where the number of cases topped 500, warned citizens against cruise travel. Uncertainty continued to permeate the response effort, however, amid muddled directives from the Trump administration and reports of some patients unable to access testing. A virus-stricken cruise ship made its way to California to dock -- only for Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson to decline to discuss the details of the federal response plan during a national television interview. The Department of Health and Human Services said later Sunday that the Grand Princess cruise ship's more than 3,500 passengers, at least 21 of whom have tested positive for the coronavirus, will be quarantined in California, Texas and Georgia. Some White House officials privately believe the number of U.S. cases will double -- or more -- in the next 48 hours."

Yun Li & Eustance Huang of CNBC: "Stock futures tumbled Monday morning as investors braced for the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus, while a shocking all-out oil price war added to the anxiety. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated an opening drop of more than 1,300 points. The S&P 500 futures indicated a 5% drop at Monday's open. The sharp declines in the futures market signaled more turbulence ahead after a roller-coaster week that saw the S&P 500 swing up or down more than 2.5% for four days straight. The S&P futures trading was briefly halted overnight." The New York Times' live updates are here. ~~~

~~~ Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday announced that it will ramp up the amount of short-term loans it offers banks, an effort to keep cash flowing smoothly through the financial system as markets gyrate amid fears about economic fallout from the coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ Michael Bloom of CNBC: "With U.S. stocks set to plunge at the open, investors will be watching for additional market circuit breakers that could halt trading. Futures contracts hit 'limit down' on Sunday evening after CME-traded stock index futures contracts sank 5%, halting trading below that level and preventing futures from falling any further. According to the New York Stock Exchange, a market trading halt may occur at 'three circuit breaker thresholds' on the S&P 500 due to large declines and volatility. The exchange classifies this at three levels based on the preceding session's close in the S&P 500."

Darius Tahir of Politico: "The government's top infectious disease expert on Sunday said that the coronavirus outbreak is getting worse and warned elderly and sick people to think twice before traveling or circulating in crowds. The remarks from Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, signaled a change in tone from health officials representing the Trump administration, making it clear that the outbreak is past the point where it can be prevented from spreading or easily tracked. That contrasted with the more measured language from some Trump officials including Vice President Mike Pence." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "After Surgeon General Jerome Adams advised on State of the Union Sunday morning that older Americans and those with underlying medical issues should 'think very carefully' before taking long flights or going into big crowds, CNN host Jake Tapper noted him that all three men currently running for president -- Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump -- fall into that at least one if not both of those categories. 'Should those three stop traveling? Should they stop holding rallies?' Tapper asked. Without answering that question directly, Adams told Tapper that he has been reminding President Trump to wash his hands frequently. 'But speaking of being at risk, the president, he sleeps less than I do and he's healthier than what I am,' the surgeon general, who is in his mid-40s, insisted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Two Degrees of Separation. Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "A growing sense of concern and uncertainty about the reach of the novel coronavirus has begun to take hold in the White House, after an attendee at a recent political conference where President Trump spoke tested positive for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Trump was photographed shaking hands with Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union who confirmed that he had been in direct contact with the infected man during the Conservative Political Action Conference last month. The handshake at CPAC put Trump just two degrees of separation away from the virus that he has sought to minimize.... There is growing tension among Trump administration officials, who now see the rapidly spreading outbreak as a black swan event that could consume the president's fourth year in office, even as Trump remains reluctant to see much cause for concern.... The White House is ... being cleaned more regularly and people with flu-like symptoms are being urged not to come into the complex.... Trump, 73, had no campaign rallies scheduled as of Sunday evening, marking the first time this year that there were no such events on the books."

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "President Trump in an early morning tweet on Sunday accused the 'Fake News Media' of attempting to 'make us look bad' on the administration's coronavirus response. The president called the White House's plan to combat the growing outbreak in the U.S. 'perfectly coordinated and fine tuned.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Taylor Dolven of the Miami Herald: "The U.S. State Department is warning U.S. citizens not to take cruises, delivering what could be a major blow to one of South Florida's largest industries. In a travel advisory issued Sunday evening, the State Department said there is an increased risk of infection of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, on cruise ships. 'U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship.' The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has an equal warning, urging people to 'defer all cruise ship travel worldwide.' The announcements are direct contradictions of statements made Saturday by Vice President Mike Pence, who traveled to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale to reassure cruise company CEOs that cruising would continue, albeit with ramped-up screening and sanitizing protocols to be announced in the coming days." Mrs. McC: So much for message control.

The U.S. State Department is warning U.S. citizens not to take cruises, delivering what could be a major blow to one of South Florida's largest industries. In a travel advisory issued Sunday evening, the State Department said there is an increased risk of infection of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, on cruise ships. "U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship."

Rishika Dugyala of Politico: "Sen. Ted Cruz announced on Sunday that he is under self-quarantine after having interacted with the person who tested positive for coronavirus at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference. In a statement released on Twitter, the Texas Republican wrote that he was informed of the interaction on Saturday night, and that he had engaged in a brief conversation and handshake with the affected individual.... 'I'm not experiencing any symptoms, and I feel fine and healthy,' Cruz said in the statement. 'Given that the interaction was 10 days ago, that the average incubation period is 5-6 days, that the interaction was for less than a minute, and that I have no current symptoms, the medical authorities have advised me that the odds of transmission from the other individual to me were extremely low.' He added that physicians advised him that the interaction did not meet the CDC criteria for self-quarantine. However, 'out of an abundance of caution' for his constituents, Cruz said, he decided to remain in his Texas home for a full 14 days." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This could be the first responsible thing Ted has done in his public career.

Sandi Doughton of the Seattle Times: "Testing for the novel coronavirus in the Seattle area will get a huge boost in the coming weeks as a project funded by Bill Gates and his foundation begins offering home-testing kits that will allow people who fear they may be infected to swab their noses and send the samples back for analysis. Results, which should be available in one to two days, will be shared with local health officials who will notify those who test positive. Via online forms, infected people can answer questions about their movements and contacts, making it easier for health officials to locate others who may need to be tested or quarantined, as well as to track the virus' spread and identify possible hot spots.... The Gates Foundation recently announced it's committing $5 million for coronavirus response in the Seattle area, and much of that will go for the expanded testing and analysis."

Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "Columbia University announced on Sunday night that it was canceling classes on Monday and Tuesday and that classes would be taught remotely for the rest of week after a university community member was quarantined for exposure to the new coronavirus.... Barnard College, which is considered one of Columbia's four undergraduate colleges but is an independent institution, announced that it was taking the same precautions.... [The town of Scarsdale, N.Y.] N.Y., announced on Sunday that a middle school teacher had tested positive for the virus and that classes had been canceled for the week at all public schools there.... Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the number of coronavirus cases rose.

Chico Harlan & Stefano Petrelli of the Washington Post: "Italy on Sunday launched a complicated and urgent plan to restrict the movement of roughly 16 million people, a measure that unleashed confusion about how it could be enforced and whether it would be enough to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The plan to lock down large swaths of the north was the first major attempt by a democracy during the coronavirus crisis to radically halt the routines of daily life -- an effort that will have significant impacts on civil liberties. But in the hours before and after the measure became law, people continued to stream out of the northern hubs of Milan and Venice on trains and planes for southern Italy or elsewhere in Europe. Sunday, then, provided the first glimpse of a coronavirus lockdown, European-style...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Hope Yen & Will Weissert of the AP: "As the coronavirus hits more states, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday his campaign is gauging when it may become necessary to cancel the large campaign rallies that public health experts say could be breeding grounds to spread the potentially deadly illness. 'Obviously what is most important to us is to protect the health of the American people,' Sanders said as he appeared in a series of TV interviews. 'And what I will tell you, we are talking to public health officials all over this country.'"

Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign early Monday." ~~~

~~~ Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Mr. Booker's endorsement comes 24 hours after Senator Kamala Harris of California endorsed Mr. Biden, and the two senators will appear with him at a rally in Detroit on Monday night." ~~~

Sarah Mucha of CNN: "US Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Sunday she's endorsing Joe Biden for president, the latest in a series of high-profile announcements from Democrats backing the former vice president."

Ben Smith of the New York Times: "While [Bernie] Sanders's criticism of the media has more merit than most reporters like to acknowledge, the media has often gotten Mr. Sanders right, too. His weaknesses, from a rigid attachment to the battles of an earlier generation to his struggle to persuade older black Democrats to join his revolution, aren't media inventions. They're good, fair stories. And in 2020, far more than in 2016, the media has also captured his strengths: his consistency, his commitment to the poor, his deep popularity with young people."

Zak Cheney-Rice of New York: "Trump is going to try dampening black voter enthusiasm for Biden by contrasting the two men's criminal justice records. The framing will be simple: Trump signed a bipartisan criminal-legal reform bill, the First Step Act, and has been generous with his pardon powers toward unjustly imprisoned black people.... Trump's is not a meritless strategy. It has the benefit of a soft target.... While Trump's status as a self-styled reformer is laughable, Biden's record is grotesque. Most of its lowlights occurred in the 'tough on crime' 1980s and 1990s, when he was a senator.... Back then, he viciously characterized people who commit crimes as sociopathic 'predators' who are beyond rehabilitation.... He authored the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act..., which Biden liked to call the '1994 Biden crime bill' as recently as 2015. Its main legacy is cruelty: It expanded the death penalty, eliminated education funding for imprisoned students, created harsher sentencing guidelines for a wide range of crimes, and increased funding for local police departments and corrections departments.... Perhaps more than any other official of the era, he embodied the Democratic impulse to outflank Republicans from the right by locking more people in jails and prisons.... He said he was 'not at all' ashamed of his involvement as recently as 2016."

Twitter Knocks Trump's Fake News. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “Twitter applied its new 'manipulated media' label for the first time on Sunday to a deceptively edited video of former vice president Joe Biden. The video was shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino and retweeted by President Trump. The video was the first test of a new policy the social media company implemented on March 5 to label tweets that contain manipulated or synthetic media, ranging from edited videos to more sophisticated examples known as 'deepfakes' that can fabricate events that never happened. In this case, the altered video of Biden -- who has surged to the front of the Democratic race to oust Trump in November -- is based on a speech he gave in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday. It was then shared on Twitter by Scavino, only edited to make it appear as if Biden inadvertently endorsed Trump for reelection.... Twitter applied the ["! Manipulated media"] label to Scavino's tweet at about 5 p.m. on Sunday evening, about 18 hours after Scavino first shared the video."

Matt Steib of New York: "In an interview with Axios on HBO, [Donald Trump, Jr.,] challenged Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, to a nepotism contest. 'Let's talk about who profited off of whose public service,' the president's eldest son said.... 'I'm not going to say I haven't benefited from my father's last name, just like Hunter Biden did. That would be foolish to say But I haven't benefited from my father's taxpayer-funded office.' That too would be foolish to say: Trump Jr. is the vice-president of an organization that the president has fattened repeatedly while in office -- from bilking the Secret Service to reportedly requiring the U.S. military to spend taxpayer funds at his hotels. DJT also saw his book shoot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list only after the Republican National Committee purchased thousands of copies."


Amy Guthrie of the AP: "Women filled the streets of the world's largest cities Sunday to protest gender violence and inequality on International Women's Day, with the mothers of murdered girls leading a march in Mexico City and participants in Paris inveighing against the 'virus of the patriarchy.' While many protests were peaceful celebrations others were marred by tension, with security forces arresting demonstrators at a rally in Kyrgyzstan and police reportedly using tear gas to break up a demonstration by thousands of women in Turkey."

News Ledes

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. "Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy has extended restrictions on movement to the entire nation, banning public gatherings and telling eople not to travel except for work or emergencies."

New York Times: "Max von Sydow, the tall, blond Swedish actor who cut a striking figure in American movies but was most identified with the signature work of a fellow Swede, the director Ingmar Bergman, died on Sunday. He was 90."

Comments Off
Saturday
Mar072020

The Commentariat -- March 8, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Darius Tahir of Politico: "The government's top infectious disease expert on Sunday said that the coronavirus outbreak is getting worse and warned elderly and sick people to think twice before traveling or circulating in crowds. The remarks from Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, signaled a change in tone from health officials representing the Trump administration, making it clear that the outbreak is past the point where it can be prevented from spreading or easily tracked. That contrasted with the more measured language from some Trump officials including Vice President Mike Pence."

Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "After Surgeon General Jerome Adams advised on State of the Union Sunday morning that older Americans and those with underlying medical issues should 'think very carefully' before taking long flights or going into big crowds, CNN host Jake Tapper reminded him that all three men currently running for president -- Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump -- fall into that at least one if not both of those categories. 'Should those three stop traveling? Should they stop holding rallies?' Tapper asked. Without answering that question directly, Adams told Tapper that he has been reminding President Trump to wash his hands frequently. 'But speaking of being at risk, the president, he sleeps less than I do and he's healthier than what I amthe surgeon general, who is in his mid-40s, insisted."

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "President Trump in an early morning tweet on Sunday accused the 'Fake News Media' of attempting to 'make us look bad' on the administration's coronavirus response. The president called the White House's plan to combat the growing outbreak in the U.S. 'perfectly coordinated and fine tuned.'"

Chico Harlan & Stefano Petrelli of the Washington Post: "Italy on Sunday launched a complicated and urgent plan to restrict the movement of roughly 16 million people, a measure that unleashed confusion about how it could be enforced and whether it would be enough to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The plan to lock down large swaths of the north was the first major attempt by a democracy during the coronavirus crisis to radically halt the routines of daily life -- an effort that will have significant impacts on civil liberties. But in the hours before and after the measure became law, people continued to stream out of the northern hubs of Milan and Venice on trains and planes for southern Italy or elsewhere in Europe. Sunday, then, provided the first glimpse of a coronavirus lockdown, European-style -- a test of how the open-borders spirit of this continent might change as countries grapple with the scale and risks of the disease."

~~~~~~~~~~

Brian Resnick of Vox with "eight things to know about 'springing forward.'" Mrs. McC: One thing to know about daylight savings time, which I never knew: "... it's definitely called 'daylight saving time.' Not plural. Be sure to point out this common mistake to friends and acquaintances. You'll be really popular."

Brett Samuels & Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested 1,583 people for the coronavirus since the first cases were identified in the U.S. in January, health officials said Saturday. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn told reporters at the White House that figure would increase as more tests are shipped nationwide to address demand. But officials made clear that an individual could be tested only if it was approved by a doctor or public health official, contradicting President Trump's previous claims about test availability. Meanwhile, the CDC had recently shipped enough kits to public health labs to test 75,000 patients, Hahn said.... After facing criticism over the CDC's slow pace of testing in the U.S., the FDA made it easier for commercial labs to manufacture and perform their own tests. More than 2.1 million of those tests will be shipped by Monday to commercial labs, Hahn said, which would translate to roughly 850,000 people who could be tested because current CDC guidelines require two swabs per patient. However, Americans will not be able to get tested for the coronavirus unless it is ordered by a doctor or public health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Saturday. Azar's comments contradict President Trump's assertion a day earlier that 'anybody that wants a test can get a test.'..."

** Mike Stobbe of AP: "The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan this week as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed[.]" --safari: Only one source of the info., but believable. ~~~

     ~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump was harshly criticized following the [AP] report's publication, here's some of what people were saying[.]"

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're over the age of 60, see advice in the right-hand column under "Public Service Announcements" on how to avoid contracting the coronavirus (or other communicable illnesses, for that matter). The advice includes, uh, avoiding air travel.

Darlene Superville of the AP: "... Donald Trump says he isn't concerned 'at all' about the coronavirus getting closer to the White House after the nation's capital reported its first case Saturday. Maryland officials warned Saturday that a person who attended the recent Conservative Political Action Conference [CPAC] in the suburb of Oxon Hill had tested positive for the virus. Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the conference. The White House said Saturday there was no indication that either had met or were in 'close proximity' to the infected attendee. Asked if he was concerned about the virus getting closer, Trump said: 'No, I'm not concerned at all. No, I'm not. We've done a great job.'"

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "From the beginning, the Trump administration's attempts to forestall an outbreak of a virus now spreading rapidly across the globe was marked by a raging internal debate about how far to go in telling Americans the truth. Even as the government's scientists and leading health experts raised the alarm early and pushed for aggressive action, they faced resistance and doubt at the White House -- especially from the president -- about spooking financial markets and inciting panic." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Situation Normal -- All Fucked Up. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: The Trump Administration made "many preventable missteps and blunders in [its] handling of the coronavirus crisis -- the embodiment of an administration that, for weeks, repeatedly squandered opportunities to manage and prepare for a global epidemic that has killed thousands worldwide and at least 19 so far in the United States.... Public health experts and officials faced a deluge of challenges, almost from the beginning. First there were the problems with the initial coronavirus test kits, which contained an unspecified problem with a compound that prompted inconclusive results.... Infighting quickly materialized among agencies that have long had poor relationships ... and when the situation went awry, recriminations were swift.... Trump and many of his aides were initially skeptical of just how serious the coronavirus threat was, while the president often seemed uninterested as long as the virus was abroad." ~~~

~~~ Dan Diamond of Politico: "For six weeks behind the scenes, and now increasingly in public, Trump has undermined his administration's own efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak -- resisting attempts to plan for worst-case scenarios, overturning a public-health plan upon request from political allies and repeating only the warnings that he chose to hear. Members of Congress have grilled top officials like Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield over the government's biggest mistake: failing to secure enough testing to head off a coronavirus outbreak in the United States. But many current and former Trump administration officials say the true management failure was Trump's.... Interviews with 13 current and former officials, as well as individuals close to the White House, painted a picture of a president who rewards those underlings who tell him what he wants to hear while shunning those who deliver bad news."

David Nakamura of the Washington Post assesses Trump's performance at his CDC Atlanta visit Friday. Nakamura doesn't grade Trump, but his review reads like a "D-", at best. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Adam Rogers of Wired: "As a reporter, in general I'm not supposed to say something like this, but: The president's statements to the press were terrifying. That press availability was a repudiation of good science and good crisis management from inside one of the world's most respected scientific institutions. It was full of Dear Leader-ish compliments, non-sequitorial defenses of unrelated matters, attacks on an American governor, and -- most importantly -- misinformation about the virus and the US response."

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Do you have a nagging medical concern?... Well, fret no more. America now has a leading medical expert -- some say the best -- who will dispense diagnoses and prognoses to all -- for free! This bold new telemedicine initiative, 'Ask Dr. Trump,' will be offered on an unpredictable but highly frequent basis to all Americans (whether they like it or not). Dr. Donald J. Trump, of course, is the pioneering scientist who first determined that climate change is a hoax and, more recently, discovered that windmills cause cancer. In between, he proved that forest fires could be contained by 'raking' and identified a previously unrecognized tropical cyclone pattern targeting Alabama. Dr. Trump acquired what he calls 'a natural instinct for science' not through formal education but because 'my uncle was a great professor at MIT for many years.' Sadly, the elder Trump didn't live to see his nephew's greatest discoveries in the medical field: The flu shot is basically 'injecting bad stuff into your body' and exercise can shorten your life. Dr. Trump used his instinctive grasp of medicine to become 'the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency' with an innate life expectancy of 200 years." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Know-Nothing President*. Ctd. ... I didn't know people died from the flu.... And ... you had a couple of years where it was over a 100,000 people died from the flu. -- Donald Trump, Friday ~~~

~~~ Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "There have been several years where more than 100,000 Americans were killed by particularly nasty influenza strains. One of those episodes was ... 1918. That is the year Trump's paternal grandfather ... died of the flu.... Friedrich Trump was a successful, 49-year-old businessman, husband and father of three living in Queens, according to Gwenda Blair in her 2001 book 'The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire.' One day in May, he came home from a stroll feeling sick. He died almost immediately. He was a victim of the first wave of the Spanish flu pandemic. A second, deadlier wave hit in the fall. All told, the pandemic killed at least 50 million people worldwide and 675,000 in the United States, according to the CDC." ~~~

     ~~~ ** Kali Holloway of the Daily Beast has the story here. "The president's grandfather, in fact, was one of the first domestic casualties of the world's worst modern pandemic, which ultimately millions. The death toll was undoubtedly worsened by the efforts of President Woodrow Wilson's administration to talk down the health risk. Sound familiar?" Mrs. McC: Holloway's report on the 1918 Sedition Act should terrify you. What probably is saving us from a similar law now is House Democrats.

Not So Funny Now, Is It, Frat Boy? Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Days after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wore an enormous gas mask during a House floor vote on an emergency funding package for the coronavirus response, the congressman announced that a resident in his northwestern Florida district had died of covid-19." Mrs. McC: It doesn't take a stable genius to figure out that joking about a pandemic will not well-serve the joker, but perhaps he does have to extricate himself from the Trump Bubble to know that Covid-19 is not a "Democrat hoax" ripe for mocking.

Taylor Locke of CNBC: "Amtrak is canceling its high-speed Acela nonstop service between Washington, D.C. and New York through late May as consumer demand weakens amid concern over the coronavirus outbreak.... The Acela nonstop service will be temporarily suspended starting Tuesday, March 10 until Tuesday, May 26. Passengers can still take Amtrak’s slower, northeast regional trains between the two cities."

Lorenzo Tondo of the Guardian: "The Italian government is to lockdown the northern region of Lombardy, as it battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A draft decree would extend the quarantined areas, so-called 'red-zones', ordering people not to enter or leave the region.... Rome is also considering prolonging the closure of schools across the country until 3 April, while major sporting events, such as Serie A football games, will be played behind closed doors. The number of coronavirus cases in Italy leapt by more than 1,200 in a 24-hour period, the civil protection agency said on Saturday." According to the Wall Street Journal, the quarantined area also would include 11 surrounding provinces. (Via the Verge.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Italy's government early Sunday took the extraordinary step of locking down much of the country's north, restricting movement for about a quarter of the Italian population in regions that serve as the country's economic engine.... By taking such tough measures, Italy, which is suffering the worst outbreak in Europe, sent a signal that restrictive clampdowns at odds with some of the core values of Western democracies may be necessary to contain and defeat the virus.... More generally, the wobbly Italian government, which has had difficulty passing basic laws, was attempting a crackdown of historic scope in a continent fiercely protective of its personal liberties and in a country with a tendency to interpret laws as suggestions or hurdles to circumvent."


Igor Derysh of Salon: "President Donald Trump's properties have charged taxpayers nearly eight times more than previously claimed for Secret Service stays, according to new documents obtained by the watchdog group Public Citizen. Eric Trump has claimed that Secret Service agents 'stay at our properties for free -- meaning, like, cost for housekeeping.' He insisted last year that 'we charge them, like, 50 bucks.' But receipts ... show that Trump's properties have charged the Secret Service $396 per night for 177 rentals at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort since he took office.... The report found that taxpayers spent more than $471,000 on Trump properties, but the new receipts show that the Trump Organization charged Secret Service an additional $157,000 since 2017, bringing the total to more than $628,000." --s

Martyn McLaughlin of The Scotsman: "[A]n official European Union agency has issued a series of far-reaching decisions which experts believe will impact on the Trump Organisation's ability to enforce its rights over numerous products and services associated with the Trump brand.... Trump's company has been engaged in a fight with a little-known firm based in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since March 2018...,[producing] nearly 1,300 pages of evidence..., includ[ing] a series of statistical sets detailing a decline in golf custom at Turnberry, the US president's flagship international resort, since he bought it in 2014.... [T]he number of visitors booking use of golf facilities at the property ... has fallen from 11,835 in 2014 to 7,483 in 2018.... [T]he number of golf club members ... has dropped from 434 to 373 over the same period ... despite a sizable investment..., anywhere between £150m and £250m." --s

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: AND I guess we'll have to mention Melanie's Covfefe-19 Memorial White House Tennis Pavillion, since Anonymous raiseed the matter in yesterday's Comments: ~~~

~~~ Eliza Relman & Ellen Cramley of Business Insider: "... Melania Trump tweeted on Thursday about the construction of a new private White House tennis pavilion amid concern that the Trump administration isn't doing enough to contain the coronavirus outbreak. 'I am excited to share the progress of the Tennis Pavillion at @WhiteHouse,' she tweeted alongside photos of herself in a hard hat at the construction site. 'Thank you to the talented team for their hard work and dedication.' Critics were quick to condemn Trump's announcement.... The first lady pushed back against her critics in a tweet on Saturday morning.... 'I encourage everyone who chooses to be negative & question my work at the @WhiteHouse to take time and contribute something good & productive in their own communities,' she tweeted, adding the hashtag for her childhood wellness campaign, #BeBest." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr ... increasingly appears to be chiseling away at [Robert Mueller's investigation]. The attorney general's handling of the results of th Russia inquiry came under fire when a federal judge questioned this week whether Mr. Barr had sought to create a 'one-sided narrative' clearing Mr. Trump of misconduct.... In fact, Mr. Barr's comments then were but the first in a series of actions in which he cast doubt not just on the findings of the inquiry by the special counsel ... and some of the resulting prosecutions, but on its very premise.... Mr. Barr has assigned a federal prosecutor to investigate the [investigation] further and has suggested that the inquiry might conclude that the F.B.I. acted in bad faith.... Last month, Mr. Barr appointed another outside prosecutor to review a case that Mr. Mueller brought against the president's former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn for lying to the F.B.I. And in a second case that the Mueller team brought against Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump's longtime friend, the attorney general overruled career prosecutors to seek a more lenient prison sentence...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"All the Best People," Ctd. Daniel Lippman of Politico: "The White House has placed another college senior in an influential administration position.... Anthony Labruna, who starts on Monday, is not slated to graduate from Iowa State University until early May. In the meantime, he'll be deputy White House liaison at the Department of Commerce.... One person familiar with the matter said that Labruna was foisted on Commerce at the urging of 29-year-old PPO director John McEntee, who has been charged by the president with keeping his administration stocked with loyal officials.... The role is a sensitive one: The job of a White House liaison entails matching qualified people with political vacancies at the department, headed up by Secretary Wilbur Ross, and moving appointees in and out of those positions as needed." --s

How Low Will They Go? So Low, Can't Get Under It. Mark Mazzetti & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Erik Prince, the security contractor with close ties to the Trump administration, has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive intelligence-gathering operations that included infiltrating Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda, according to interviews and documents. One of the former spies, an ex-MI6 officer named Richard Seddon, helped run a 2017 operation to copy files and record conversations in a Michigan office of the American Federation of Teachers.... [Prince's sister Betsy] DeVos has been a vocal critic of teachers' unions.... Using a different alias the next year, the same undercover operative infiltrated the congressional campaign of Abigail Spanberger, then a former C.I.A. officer who went on to win an important House seat in Virginia as a Democrat. The campaign discovered the operative and fired her. Both operations were run by Project Veritas.... The Trump Foundation gave $20,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, the year that Mr. Trump began his bid for the presidency." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

~~~ Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times reports on SNL's cold open.

Presidential Race

Sarah Kendzior of the Globe and Mail: "On Super Tuesday, voters decided that the best people to determine the American future were old men who, statistically, will likely not live to see even the near-term outcomes of their efforts.... Americans do not know if they will live in a democracy or an autocracy, but they will undoubtedly live in a gerontocracy. A gerontocracy is dangerous in a time of profound existential threats. The Democratic nominee will be battling the climate crisis, rising autocracy worldwide and a global recession exacerbated by a pandemic. They will also be facing off against the Trump regime, whose flagrant corruption and decimation of institutions has put American democracy in unprecedented peril.... To capture their votes, Democrats must make a compelling case about how they will protect that future -- even though their presidential nominee will not live to see it." --s

An Aspirational Freudian Slip. Benjamin Fearnow of Newsweek: "Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar mistakenly told cheering Joe Biden supporters in Michigan Saturday that she's honored to join his 2020 'ticket,' before she quickly corrected the apparent verbal slip-up.... Klobuchar's brief suggestion immediately encouraged speculation about who is vying for the vice president role on a potential Biden ticket."


The Guardian has a live blog on activities commemorating International Women's Day. --s

Nice Company, Andy! Ryan Fahey of the (U.K.) Daily Mail: "Prince Andrew has recruited an extradition lawyer once used by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet after the FBI demanded an interview with the royal over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.... Claire Montgomery QC, known as the leading extradition lawyer in the UK, is said to be advising the 60-year-old Duke...."

Beyond the Beltway

Massachusetts. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "The US government has banned an electric shock machine that is used to zap children and young adults with special needs in a school outside Boston -- the only institution in the world known to practice the controversial punishment 'treatment'.... The ban brings to an end a decades-long battle against the use of electric shocks at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts.... More than 40 special needs residents of JRC, many with severe forms of autism, are understood to be on the electric shock regime." --s

Way Beyond

Poland. A PBS Network Even Trump Would Like. Vanessa Gera of the AP: "Poland's president has signed a bill earmarking nearly 2 billion zlotys ($510 million) to fund public television and radio, broadcast outlets that have become mouthpieces for the country's right-wing government and given the president positive coverage as he campaigns for reelection. President Andrzej Duda, who hails from the ruling Law and Justice party, signed the funding bill late Friday as he campaigns for a second five-year term in a May election.... In [signing the bill], he allowed a large injection of money to go into broadcasters that were already helping his campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ I am excited to announce the introduction of "Fifth Avenue," an educational entertainment show for the kiddies featuring Big Eagle, Barack the Grouch & a cast of beautiful, rich white people. Today's show stars the Letter "A" for "Abercrombie." Tune in tomorrow to meet the letter "B" for "Bergdorf." And the kids won't want to miss "C" for "Cartier" -- they'll all enjoy learning to tell time the old-fashioned way with this beautiful Cartier watch with fuchsia alligator strap for only $70,800.00 (free shipping!).

Saudi Arabia. David Kirkpatrick & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "The scope of a new roundup of Saudi royals widened on Saturday with word that a fourth senior prince has been detained under orders from the crown prince, according to two people close to the royal family, the latest step by the kingdom's de facto ruler to consolidate power. The wave of arrests has now ensnared a former head of army intelligence, Prince Nayef bin Ahmed, as well as at least three other senior princes, all detained on Friday. The full extent of the roundup is still not clear. The detentions raised questions about whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 34, would soon seek to take formal power from his aging father, King Salman, 84. They could also indicate that the crown prince was worried about discontent within the royal family as plummeting oil prices strained the country's budget and economy...."

News Lede

The New York Times' latest live updates on developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. "The Grand Princess cruise ship that has been held off the coast of California after 21 people onboard tested positive for the coronavirus will dock on Monday at the port of Oakland, the vessel's operator said. Passengers on the ship who require 'acute medical treatment and hospitalization' will disembark first and be taken to facilities in California, according to the boat's operator, Princess Cruises." ~~~

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