Good morning! Here is your news for Wednesday March 25, 2020
THE DAILY SIGNAL
Mar 25, 2020
Good morning from Washington. As President Trump says he’d like to see the nation “reopen” by Easter, the left keeps finding reasons to attack his response to the coronavirus. But did Trump really ax a pandemic office? Here are the facts. On the podcast, some homeschooling tips from an expert. Plus: bagging the ban on plastic bags, better test scores in cities with conservative administrations, and reflections on COVID-19 from an EMT’s wife. On this date in 1774, the British Parliament passes a bill to close the port of Boston and demand payment for tea dumped into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party three months earlier.
Obama administration officials and leading Democrats accuse President Trump of shutting down a White House office on pandemics that might have stopped COVID-19 from spreading.
Leigh Bortins, founder of Classical Conversations, offers practical advice and resources to parents who suddenly find themselves overseeing their child’s education.
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Hospitals are emptying out, elective surgeries are canceled, and staff are preparing for the worst. The only visitors allowed are in end-of-life situations, and a woman in labor may bring only one support person. Read more
Three Republican senators are calling for the creation of a new task force to counter Beijing’s escalating disinformation campaign against the United States surrounding the CCP virus. Read more
Ford Motor Co. announced March 24 that it would be joining other major U.S. manufacturers to produce thousands of ventilators and other equipment needed for critically ill patients, in response to President Donald Trump’s call for companies to repurpose some of their production capacity to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
New York state is 14 to 21 days from the peak of COVID-19 infections, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on March 24, as he asked the Trump administration to give the state all 20,000 ventilators in the national stockpile. Read more
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced a bipartisan resolution in Congress that seeks to condemn the Chinese regime for intentionally downplaying the CCP virus outbreak through censorship and disinformation, thus allowing it to morph into a global crisis. Read more
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) are using the national emergency caused by the CCP virus to shift control of elections from states to the federal government, according to an Illinois Republican congressman. Read more
Over the objections of the Trump administration, the Supreme Court has made it easier for federal courts to review deportation orders made against immigrants convicted of serious crimes. Read more
Is your retirement safe from Coronavirus market panic? Experts warn your 401(k) or IRA could be at SERIOUS risk. U.S. stocks plunged recently on fears of a global economic slowdown which led to the Dow Jones losing 2,000 points, its largest ever single-day drop. If that doesn’t get your attention—what will? Retirement accounts, savings accounts, and financial portfolios will be at the mercy of global turmoil. Goldman Sachs, however, has identified one asset class that it deems virus-resistant—Gold. Gold continues to dramatically outperform other safe havens in 2020 and has now officially become, “the currency of last resort.” Don’t wait until it’s too late—Get Your Free Copy: #1 Retirement Playbook
$5 Trillion Down the Drain
By Stephen MooreIn the face of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone should read Robert Higgs’ economic classic “Crisis and Leviathan.” The critical warning of this masterpiece is that the government always uses a crisis to expand power… Read more
The Great Fall of China?
By James GorrieChina’s economy was in deep trouble before it launched its viral pandemic upon the world. The trade war tariffs had diminished exports, and supply chains were moving out of China. But now… Read more
The Game of Corporate Tax Avoidance
By Frank Yu
(May 22, 2013)Apple has a lot of cash. What people don’t know is that most of it is stashed overseas, not taxed by the U.S. government. This is why CEO Tim Cook appeared in front of Congress this week to testify on corporate strategies to avoid U.S. taxes. Apple, however, is not alone. Read more
In this episode of American Thought Leaders, we sit down with Daniel Di Martino to discuss how socialism took hold in his home country of Venezuela, why he left, and how he sees the democratic socialism movement in the United States.
From the story: The unprecedented economic rescue package would give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home. One of the last issues to close concerned $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries, including a fight over how generous to be with the airlines, given that Democrats wanted them to abide by new carbon emissions restrictions. Hospitals would get significant help as well (Fox News). From Guy Benson: I’m sure we’ll learn about tweaks and language changes — but major top lines of the “deal” are more or less THE SAME as the bipartisan framework Democrats agreed to then filibustered for 3 days (Twitter). Apparently, the bill nearly failed as Democrats wanted money for Planned Parenthood included (Washington Examiner). From Pete Peterson: Please tell me why @PPFA is within 900 miles of Congressional deliberations about a #coronavirus bill? (Twitter). From another story: Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the price tag of economic stimulus amounts to roughly $6 trillion, which includes $2 trillion for direct assistance, and roughly $4 trillion in Federal Reserve lending power. Kudlow said this will be the single-largest such Main Street financial package in the history of the country (CBS News). One story notes “almost one third of Americans say they or someone in their close family is unemployed as a result of the coronavirus” (Daily Caller).
2.
Coronavirus Patients Getting Younger
The sample from China isn’t quite the same as the rest of the world. While most are still elderly, young adults are very much at risk (Buzz Feed). Meanwhile, three sailors aboard a Navy ship tested positive for the coronavirus (Washington Examiner).
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3.
Different States Responding with Different Restrictions
This looks at how each compares to the others with several helpful maps. While some states restrict all gatherings, others restrict none. Most states have closed schools, a few have not (Politico). Georgia governor Brian Kemp ordered bars and nightclubs closed this week (Washington Examiner). Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti announced they will shut off water and power to business that don’t comply with the stay at home order (KTLA). A look at progress in areas that acted quickly (Twitter). The Democratic governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak, banned a helpful drug from coronavirus patients even though there are clear signs it shows promise, a fact not noted in the story (Las Vegas Sun).
4.
Despite Economic Downturn, Many Businesses are Hiring
From the story: Retailers are scrambling to hire new employees to handle our needs, whatever they may be. From stockers working overnight to keep the shelves replenished with food and cleaning products, to drivers tasked with delivering food and other essentials to your doorstep, the demand is real. When consumers are told to stay at home to avoid coming in contact with others who may be COVID-19 positive, it is only logical that online purchasing is the way to go for a large part of the American population (Hot Air). Waffle House closed hundreds of restaurants due to the coronavirus. Now it’s getting serious (Business Insider).
Jake Tapper Jumps on Biden for Coughing Into His Hand
Explaining “you’re supposed to cough into your elbow” (Twitter). Of Biden, one story notes “Hardly anyone is paying attention to him, even in his own party. That may help him politically” (National Review).
8.
Your Phone Is Telling on You for Not Practicing Social Distancing
And one company has revealed where social distancing is going well, and where it is being ignored.
Medical Consultant for Pandemic Movie Has Coronavirus
From the story: The medical consultant on the hit pandemic thriller “Contagion” has tested positive for coronavirus. Ian Lipkin, the consultant who also leads Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity, revealed his diagnosis Tuesday.
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— Breaking overnight: The White House and Senate leaders of both parties announced agreement early Wednesday on unprecedented emergency legislation to rush sweeping aid to businesses, workers and a health care system slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here.
— There are 1,467 total Florida cases, as of 6 p.m. last night. Two people from Pinellas and Lee counties died Tuesday who had tested positive for COVID-19. New Florida cases include 55 additional positive COVID-19 cases (49 Florida residents and six non-Florida residents) reported to the Florida Department of Health.
— More than 400,000 people worldwide have been infected, and over 18,000 have died, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
— President Donald Trump said he is hoping the country will be reopened by Easter, as he weighs how to refine nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job amid the coronavirus outbreak. Read more here.
Donald Trump wants the U.S. economy to be “opened up” by Easter.
— Some experts don’t rule out a downturn in the United States that rivals the magnitude of the 1930s Depression. Read more here.
— New York City hospitals have become the war-zone-like epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. with a “cacophony of coughing” in packed emergency rooms, beds squeezed in wherever there is space, and overworked, sleep-deprived doctors and nurses rationed to one face mask a day. Read more here.
— The International Olympic Committee announced a first-of-its-kind postponement of the Summer Olympics that were to have been held in Tokyo, bowing to the realities of a coronavirus pandemic that is shutting down daily life around the globe and making plans for a massive worldwide gathering a virtual impossibility. Read more here.
— Confusion rippled through Britain a day after a three-week halt to all nonessential activity to fight the spread of the new coronavirus was imposed. Streets were empty, but some subways were full. Hairdressers were closed, but construction sites were open. Read more here.
Top stories
“Coronavirus stayed on surfaces for up to 17 days on Diamond Princess cruise, CDC says” via David Oliver of USA TODAY — A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report indicates the strength of the novel coronavirus to live on surfaces for more than two weeks. The CDC found traces of COVID-19 on surfaces in the cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship — 17 days after passengers had left the cabins. Of note, the cabins had yet to be disinfected. While the data doesn’t show if transmission occurred from surfaces, the CDC report recommends exploring that further. The report outlines the responses on board several high-profile cruise ships, including both the Diamond Princess and Grand Princess. Between the ships, there were more than 800 COVID-19 cases that led to 10 deaths.
The Diamond Princess had traces of coronavirus lasting 17 days.
“Florida’s budget to take big hit as sales taxes collapse” via Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel — Florida’s finances are about to get hit. Hard. That’s because some of the industries that have been forced into near-complete shutdowns as part of the effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus are also some of the same industries that Florida leans upon most heavily to prop up the state budget. Restaurants, hotels and admissions — from venues like theme parks, movie theaters and sporting events — account for 20% of state sales tax collections, according to data from the Florida Department of Revenue. And the economic shock from COVID-19 has already radiated far beyond tourism and hospitality businesses. Commercial landlords, the state’s fourth-largest source of sales tax receipts, have seen tenants stop paying rent.
Tweet, tweet:
“Betsy DeVos halts collection of defaulted federal student loans” via Michael Stratford of POLITICO — The Education Department is putting a stop to collecting on defaulted federal student loans amid the coronavirus pandemic and ordering private collection firms to stop pursuing borrowers “until further notice,” according to a memo to the companies. The department plans to make the policy retroactive to March 13, the day Trump declared a national emergency, the official said. The new executive actions provide a reprieve for the more than 9 million federal student loan borrowers who are in default on their debt. The decision to halt the debt collection comes as congressional Democrats, labor unions and consumer advocacy groups urged Education Secretary DeVos to hit pause during the pandemic on the sweeping powers that the federal government has to pursue borrowers.
Situational awareness
—@HillaryClinton: Please do not take medical advice from a man who looked directly at a solar eclipse.
—@NYGovCuomo: We are not willing to sacrifice 1-2% of New Yorkers. That’s not who we are. We will fight to save every life we can. I am not giving up.
—@Rob_Bradley: I fully support the balanced approach that @GovRonDeSantisis taking to #COVIDー19. A “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work for Florida in this situation. Floridians need to continue to practice social distancing and wash hands regularly. We can do this!
—@MikeGrunwald: A DC source asked what it’s like in a state full of moron spring breakers & Fox News-watching seniors & new immigrants who don’t get local news & MAGA’s who think social distancing is liberal bullshit & a Trumpy governor who’s been slow all along. It’s a little scary!
Tweet, tweet:
—@NHannahJones: It seems to me that this crisis has forced us to rethink our social hierarchy in radical ways. The people treated as invisible, as doing unimportant work, are now the most essential workers in America. Our lifelines are the grocery clerks, food delivery drivers, mail carriers.
Tweet, tweet:
Tweet, tweet:
Days until
Walt Disney World scheduled to reopen — 6; Quibi launches — 15; Easter — 18; Florida Schools reopen (maybe) — 21; First quarter campaign reports due — 21; Universal Orlando rescheduled to open — 25; Last day of federal candidate qualifying — 28; NFL Draft — 29; Mother’s Day — 46; Last day of state candidate qualifying — 75; “Top Gun: Maverick” premieres — 93; Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee begins — 109; Federal taxes due — 111; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” premieres — 113; Florida primaries for 2020 state legislative/congressional races — 146; Republican National Convention begins in Charlotte — 152; First presidential debate in Indiana — 188; First vice presidential debate at the University of Utah — 196; Second presidential debate scheduled at the University of Michigan — 204; Third presidential debate at Belmont — 211; 2020 General Election — 223; Florida Automated Vehicles Summit — 237; “No Time to Die” premieres — 245.
Corona nation
“Donald Trump sets Easter as possible date for lifting restrictions” via William Cummings, Ledyard King and Maureen Groppe of USA TODAY — Trump would like to have the government restrictions on travel and social gatherings eased by Easter, which comes on Sunday, April 12. “We’re going to be opening relatively soon,” Trump said. “I’d love to have it open by Easter … It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’ll make an important date for this too. I would love to have the country, opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” Asked if it’s possible to return to normal by Easter, Trump said: “I think it’s absolutely possible. Now, people are going to have to practice all the social distancing and things we’re doing now. … But we have to get our country back to work.”
Is Donald Trump hoping for an Easter miracle? Image via AP.
“The struggle to argue for opening the economy without sounding as if you’re OK with more people dying” via Amber Phillips of The Washington Post — Here’s a massive messaging problem facing Trump as he indicates he wants to curtail his administration’s social-distancing recommendations as soon as next week: How do you argue for reopening the economy when science says doing so will cost lives? Trump’s comments have driven to the forefront of a public debate over whether and when to put people back together in public. Those who think we should, and soon, are struggling with how to articulate that in a way that doesn’t sound callous. They haven’t been successful. The chief example of this is Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is 69, old enough to be in a high-risk category for the virus. He literally said he would be willing to risk his life to go back to work.
“Hopes for united fight against coronavirus recession hurt by nations’ go-it-alone style” via David J. Lynch of The Washington Post — The United States and other major governments have made little progress coordinating their spending, trade and tax policies in response to the coronavirus pandemic, instead bowing to nationalist sentiments as a global economic downturn intensifies, according to economists and former government officials. On Tuesday, there was a sign that might be changing with a joint statement by the finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven nations that promised “whatever is necessary to restore confidence and economic growth” and urged all countries to take steps to offset the deepening economic decline. Yet more than three years of Trump’s uncompromising “America First” approach is taking its toll on crisis-fighting efforts.
“Congress, White House close in on $2 trillion stimulus deal to blunt coronavirus fallout” via Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Jeff Stein of The Washington Post — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin — the top White House negotiator — all said they expected resolution imminently. However, lawmakers were still reviewing details, and the situation was fluid and could quickly change. The package would extend extraordinary — and unprecedented — taxpayer assistance to potentially millions of American and foreign companies that have been hammered by the fast-moving economic crisis. It would extend one-time cash payments to most Americans, aimed at flooding the economy with money. The bill is being rushed through Congress without public hearings or formal review, and it’s unclear how effective the measures would be in arresting the economy’s sudden fall.
“Nancy Pelosi proposal would ban corporations receiving coronavirus aid from lobbying” via Theodoric Meyer of POLITICO — House Democrats drafted the bill, the text of which is circulating on K Street, even as Pelosi also negotiated with Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Schumer this weekend on a separate package that McConnell is trying to pass through the upper chamber. A procedural vote to advance the Senate bill failed. While McConnell’s bill includes some restrictions on how much companies that receive coronavirus relief loans, Pelosi’s proposal goes much further. House Democrats’ bill would ban corporations from paying bonuses to their executives or paying any compensation to fired executives until the corporations repay their coronavirus relief loans to the federal government.
“Trump will use Defense Production Act to secure thousands of test kits” via Quint Forgey, Sarah Owermohle and Megan Cassella of POLITICO — FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said the Trump administration would formally implement the Defense Production Act to secure medical equipment sorely needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. “So, just a little while ago, my team came in, and we’re actually going to use the DPA for the first time today,” Gaynor told CNN. The FEMA Administrator said triggering the act would help access “about 60,000 test kits,” and added that the administration would insert “DPA language” into the mass contracts for the federal government’s order of 500 million personal protective masks.
“Health care workers might get coronavirus shots this fall, vaccine company CEO says” via Arthur Allen of POLITICO — By the fall the FDA would at best have only initial data on the vaccine’s safety and its ability to produce antibodies and shape an immune response. The vaccine by then might have been tested in a few hundred people who probably wouldn’t have been exposed to the disease. By the fall, the FDA would at best have only initial data on the vaccine’s safety and its ability to produce antibodies and shape an immune response. The vaccine by then might have been tested in a few hundred people who probably wouldn’t have been exposed to the disease.
“Volunteers sew masks for health workers facing shortages” via Tammy Webber, Dee-Ann Durbin and Anne D’Innocenzio of The Associated Press — Scores of people are answering pleas from hospitals, doctors and nurses so desperate for personal protective equipment amid the viral pandemic that they’ve turned to the public, saying do-it-yourself face masks are better than nothing. And for those sitting at home worrying as the virus strains hospitals and the economy teeters, sewing masks makes them feel less helpless. Deaconess spokeswoman Pam Hight said the hospital system realized it could face a shortage if local infections skyrocket like they have elsewhere. So officials produced and posted a how-to video that has been shared across the country.
“Key medical glove factories cutting staff 50% amid virus” via Juliet Linderman and Martha Mendoza of The Associated Press — Malaysia’s medical glove factories, which make most of the world’s critical hand protection, are operating at half capacity just when they’re most needed. Health care workers snap gloves on as the first line of protection against catching COVID-19 from patients, and they’re crucial to protecting patients as well. But medical-grade glove supplies are running low globally, even as more feverish, sweating and coughing patients arrive in hospitals by the day. Malaysia is by far the world’s largest medical glove supplier, producing as many as three out of four gloves on the market. The industry has a history of mistreating migrant workers who toil over hand-sized molds as they’re dipped in melted latex or rubber, hot and exhausting work.
“Coronavirus in N.Y.: ‘Astronomical’ surge leads to quarantine warning” via Alan Feuer and Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times — Federal and state officials expressed growing alarm on Tuesday about the coronavirus outbreak in New York City, warning that it could reach its peak much sooner than expected and advising people who have passed through or left the city that they should place themselves in a 14-day quarantine. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, indicated that the health authorities were now treating the New York City region as a coronavirus hot zone, akin to areas of China and Europe overwhelmed by the virus. Dr. Birx said that about 60% of all the new cases in the United States were in the New York City metropolitan area, adding that a surge in cases on Long Island showed that people leaving the city were spreading the virus.
“’Cacophony of coughing’: Inside NYC’s virus-besieged ERs” via Michael Sisak, Jim Mustian and Jennifer Peltz of The Associated Press — Faced with an infection rate that is five times that of the rest of the country, health workers are putting themselves at risk to fight a tide of sickness that’s getting worse by the day amid a shortage of needed supplies and promises of help from the federal government that have yet to materialize fully. “You’re on 100% of the time — no matter what,” said Dr. Jolion McGreevy, medical director of The Mount Sinai Hospital emergency department. “It’s been a month of full force, and that’s certainly very stressful.” Nearly 14,800 people in New York City have been diagnosed with coronavirus as of Tuesday, accounting for more than half the cases in the hardest-hit state in the nation.
Um no, they’re not — “Texas’ Lieutenant Governor suggests grandparents are willing to die for U.S. economy” via Adrianna Rodriguez of USA TODAY — The Lieutenant Governor of Texas argued in an interview on Fox News Monday night that the United States should go back to work, saying grandparents like him don’t want to sacrifice the country’s economy during the coronavirus crisis. Republican Lt. Gov. Patrick, 69, made the comments on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” after Trump said he wanted to reopen the country for business in weeks, not months. Patrick also said the elderly population, who the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted are more at risk for COVID-19, can take care of themselves and suggested that grandparents wouldn’t want to sacrifice their grandchildren’s economic future.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick believes sacrifices must be made.
“Spring break partier apologizes: ‘Don’t be arrogant and think you’re invincible’” via James Weber of the Cincinnati Enquirer — The Milford High School graduate who gained notoriety last week for indulging in spring-break partying during a pandemic despite warnings against large gatherings has apologized. Brady Sluder said he has realized he’s not invincible after all. “I wasn’t aware of the severity of my actions and comments,” Sluder posted in an apology on his Instagram account on March 22. “I’d like to take this time to own up to the mistakes I’ve made and apologize to the people I’ve offended.” Sluder drew attention for a TV interview from Miami. in which he downplayed the seriousness of the new coronavirus pandemic.
Corona Florida
“Ron DeSantis asks Trump to declare Florida major disaster as death toll increases” via Dan DeLuca and Evan Pflugradt of TC Palm — DeSantis sent a letter to Trump formally requesting that he declare a major disaster as Florida responds to COVID-19. The letter requested the inclusion of the following Individual Assistance Programs in the declaration: Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Crisis Counseling, Community Disaster Loans and the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Program. The declaration is submitted as a result of the COVID-19 response for the incident period beginning Jan. 20, for all 67 counties. In addition to the Individual Assistance Programs, the declaration requests additional resources and support from FEMA.
Ron DeSantis is asking Donald Trump for a disaster declaration.
“‘Dumbest s—’: DeSantis takes heat as he goes his own way on coronavirus” via Matt Dixon of POLITICO Florida — While New York, California and other states shutter their economies to keep the coronavirus at bay, DeSantis is refusing to follow the herd. His cure-can’t-be-worse-than-the-disease approach has put the Republican Governor under a glaring spotlight locally and nationally as cases of the virus in Florida surge past 1,400. It’s a philosophy that aligns DeSantis with other conservatives, including Trump and Florida House Speaker José Oliva. “That is the dumbest s— I have heard in a long time,” said state Sen. Oscar Braynon. “This is a day-by-day crisis. Italy damn near saw 1,000 people die in one day, and there are people proclaiming we got this, and have it solved in 15 days?”
“Lawmakers continue calls for Governor to issue stay-at-home order” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — A group of Senate Democrats is continuing to push DeSantis to close all nonessential businesses and issue a statewide shelter-in-place order amid the COVID-19 virus outbreak. So far, DeSantis has rebuffed those calls, leaving the decision to local governments most impacted by the virus. Sens. José Javier Rodríguez and Annette Taddeo — both of whom represent parts of Miami-Dade County — were among the batch of Senators who released statements pushing DeSantis for additional action. “Strong measures taken now to reduce the rate of transmission will prevent a catastrophic breakdown of our health care system and save lives,” Rodríguez said.
“DeSantis bucking advice of health professionals, local and state lawmakers” via Jeff Schweers of the Tallahassee Democrat — Against the urging of state and local leaders and national health professionals, DeSantis has refused to order a statewide shutdown of all nonessential businesses and mandate that all residents stay at home to help prevent a wider spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Meantime, the number of Florida cases continues to rise. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, the number of positive cases rose to 1,467, with 1,379 of those Florida residents and 88 nonresidents. There are now 20 Florida deaths listed. “You have some people who say this virus is much ado about nothing. I was never in that camp and said it was a serious public health threat,” DeSantis said during a televised news conference.
“’Wishy-washy’ coronavirus response from DeSantis draws comparisons to Trump” via Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel — DeSantis appears to be in lockstep with Trump in response to the coronavirus outbreak by refusing to order residents to stay at home and casting blame at Democratic-led states for the crisis — positions that frustrate critics calling for an immediate lockdown of the state. Several cities and counties, including Orange and Leon counties and Tampa, issued stay-at-home orders of their own, without waiting for DeSantis. The response to the outbreak has been largely patchwork from state to state, with DeSantis and other Governors holding back on ordering shutdowns while others, like New York’s Andrew Cuomo and Ohio’s Mike DeWine, have issued strict shelter-in-place orders. Within Florida, the responses have been what Rep. Sen. Lori Berman called a “piecemeal approach.”
“Wave of claims swamps Florida’s unemployment agency. ‘It is impossible to get through’” via Alex Harris and Lawrence Mower of the Miami Herald — Frustrated applicants have flooded social media to report a slew of problems: getting kicked off the website by errors, getting locked out of accounts and failure at reaching a human being on the phone — no matter how often they call. Anthony White, a bartender at the Nautilus Hotel in South Beach, said he sets his alarm every morning so he can call the unemployment office the moment it opens. It’s still not early enough. White is one of the tens of thousands turning to the state Department of Economic Opportunity, the agency in charge of Florida’s unemployment benefits. Many are finding an agency that’s understaffed and unprepared for the onslaught.
“Florida’s coronavirus quarantine for New Yorkers: Plane landed. Now what?” via Allison Ross and Douglas R. Clifford — The flight from Newark, New Jersey, landed at Tampa International Airport only 12 minutes afterDeSantis’ executive order went into effect. Most of the 14 passengers scattered throughout the plane had not yet heard that DeSantis had ordered all travelers like them to self-quarantine for two weeks upon landing. Clutching copies of the three-page executive order provided by a JetBlue crew member, the passengers on JetBlue Flight 905 collected their bags and dispersed across Tampa Bay into the quiet night. It’s unclear how, or if, authorities will keep tabs on them.
“Ashley Moody, Nikki Fried warn of scams, price gouging” via the News Service of Florida — Attorney General Moody and Agriculture Commissioner Fried are trying to focus attention on scams and price gouging that stem from the crisis. Scams include text messages claiming to offer victims yet-to-be-approved stimulus package money, crooks going door-to-door in lab coats posing as federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, and seniors being offered free COVID-19 test kits in exchange for personal information. Also, as of Monday night, Moody’s office had received 628 complaints about price gouging related to products such as cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and face masks.
“Question mark on use of Medicaid for COVID-19 testing” via the News Service of Florida — States have been given authority to extend Medicaid to help pay the costs of COVID-19 testing for uninsured residents under a federal coronavirus relief measure passed last week. But DeSantis avoided directly answering whether Florida would take advantage of the new policy, which would allow the full costs of testing uninsured adults to be borne by the state Medicaid program. DeSantis said Florida would make sure people can get free tests and access to any necessary follow-up care. “The thing I would say to people about the coronavirus is, if you are somebody who is symptomatic and you go in, you are going to get a free test,” DeSantis said. “We are going to treat everybody.”
“Advocacy groups release plan to prevent COVID-19 outbreak at correctional facilities” via Drew Wilson of Florida Politics — “As our country takes measures to protect against coronavirus, we can’t afford to forget about the millions of people under the control of our criminal justice system,” said Jessica Jackson, Chief Advocacy Officer at REFORM Alliance. The plan has five prongs and goes by the acronym “SAFER.” The recommendations: Suspend jail for technical violations; suspend probation office visits and payment of fines; adopt smart alternatives to incarceration; free medical visits and treatment, hand sanitizer, soap, and protective gear; extra precautions for guards and staff; release elderly and vulnerable to home confinement.
“Mike Caruso tests negative for coronavirus after having to miss budget vote” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — Rep. Caruso says he tested negative for the COVID-19 virus after feeling ill last week and missing an in-person vote on the state’s budget. He eventually decided to get tested at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH) on March 16. “I had a fever of 101 when I got to the hospital,” Caruso said. Caruso said the COVID-19 test came back negative on Saturday. But Caruso did test positive for a variant of the flu. Caruso said he’s feeling well now, and the symptoms have passed, but he does note his wife is now feeling sick. He described her symptoms like a headache, aches, high temperature and cough. Caruso said he would seek to get her tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus as well if those symptoms don’t improve.
“Are we moving about less? Fascinating commercial website tracking us says yes” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — Unacast, a New York-based data crunching consultant, has unveiled its pro bono COVID-19 toolkit with the first tool rating states and counties on whether the GPS data is showing that people, indeed, are going nowhere now. The company has been tracking people by device GPS for years, so it has a baseline of what “normal” travel behavior is in each county and state. The grades are based on how much that has changed in the past couple of weeks. In many, the changes have been profound, with drop-offs of 30%, 40%, 50% or more in total movement of people with trackable devices. The company’s Social Distancing Scoreboard, rolled out Tuesday, gives Florida a B grade overall, based on an overall score of a 39% reduction of travel compared with normal. An A grade goes to places that topped 40%.
Corona local
“A new study shows we’re already in a coronavirus recession — and it has hit South Florida hard” via Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald — A new study by the StratoDem Analytics data firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggests economists’ fear was spot-on. The coronavirus isn’t putting us at risk of a recession. The COVID-19 recession is already here — especially in tourism-centric South Florida. “There is no question whatsoever that America slipped into a recession in March 2020,” said James Chung, a partner at StratoDem Analytics. “The big question is how deep it’s going to get and where it’s going to hurt the most.” Using forecasts from large financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, the study finds the national gross domestic product (GDP) during Q2 of 2020 (April 1-June 30) will average -18.1%.
South Florida is in a full-fledged coronavirus recession. Image via Sun-Sentinel.
“Baby boy, 2-year-old girl test positive for coronavirus in Broward, officials say” via Michelle Marchante of the Miami Herald — A baby boy and a 2-year-old girl have tested positive for COVID-19 in Broward County, the Florida Department of Health announced Tuesday. The health department’s data list the boy’s age as zero, making him the youngest person in the state known to be ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Health officials have also listed the case under “unknown” for travel-related. DOH did not state whether the baby boy had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus. State health officials have also listed the 2-year-old girl’s case under “unknown” for travel-related and did not indicate whether she had been in contact with someone who had tested positive.
“Miami-Dade orders 10-person limit on all public gatherings except on transit” via Joey Flechas of the Miami Herald — County Mayor Carlos Giménez issued an order limiting the number of people who gather in public to 10 in an effort to further push residents to practice social distancing and curb the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Tuesday’s order marks another escalation in the local government’s efforts to stop people from congregating, urge social distancing and prevent more infections. The order makes an exception for people on public transit vehicles, those waiting at a bus stop, Metromover stop or Metrorail stop, and those traveling in larger vehicles that can fit more than 10. There are also exceptions for government employees and contractors working for the government who are providing services on public streets, alleys and sidewalks.
“More testing is available for COVID-19, but getting results can take days or more” via Daniel Chang of the Miami Herald — Tests can take 24 to 48 hours to turn around once a sample is placed in an analyzing machine, experts say. But the long wait for results can be due to a number of factors, from the growing number of tests being processed during the pandemic to the type of machine that runs the test and whether the test involves a hospitalized patient or a police officer or firefighter, whose test are prioritized. Most of the testing sites operated by the state in partnership with local governments and hospitals are advising people that results can take three to five days, though one hospital official running a private testing site said he has been delivering results in under two days.
“Monroe County to close U.S. 1 to tourists into the Florida Keys due to COVID-19 concerns” via David Goodhue and Gwen Filosa of the Miami Herald — The county decided to place a checkpoint on U.S. 1 at mile marker 112.5 on the 18-mile stretch leading to Florida City on the mainland. There will also be another one on State Road 905, Card Sound Road, which is the other, less-traveled road into the Keys, said Kristen Livengood, the county’s spokeswoman. Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers said during a news conference that there were no immediate plans to close the road. It’s not immediately clear what changed, but Sheriff Rick Ramsay, who said he was not the one to make the decision, said many city leaders in the Keys wanted the highway closed to tourists.
“Opposition mounts against letting ship with 77 sick people dock at Port Everglades” via Lisa J. Huriash of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — Fearful of the new coronavirus spreading more quickly in South Florida, two Broward County commissioners and a state representative want to stop a ship from docking in Port Everglades. The boat has 77 people showing symptoms, and local leaders worry it would be a health risk to let them disembark. The Holland America cruise ship called Zaandam is hoping to end its voyage at Port Everglades on March 30 after being denied permission to dock in Chile. At an emergency meeting Tuesday, County Commissioner Michael Udine said he wanted the port to turn the ship away. He argues the passengers boarded this ship after the coronavirus was well-known to be an issue. “They knowingly put themselves at risk,” Udine said. “Under no circumstances should that ship be at Port Everglades.”
“Jaguars owner Shad Khan donates $1 million to Northeast Florida’s response to crisis” via John Reid of the Florida Times-Union — Khan’s $1 million commitment from Khan includes allocations to the following organizations: Florida’s First Coast Relief Fund will receive $400,000, which will, in turn, lift up a range of nonprofits to ensure immediate support for children, families, seniors and veterans struggling during this time. Feeding Northeast Florida will receive $75,000 to support their work in bringing meals to local residents. The Clara White Mission will receive $75,000 to provide food and care for the homeless population of downtown Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Public Education Fund will receive $50,000 to provide needed supplies and technology to students and teachers. The local chapter of the American Red Cross will receive $50,000 in support of Anheuser-Busch’s initiative to support the continuation of blood drives.
Shad Khan forks over $1M for coronavirus aid.
“Meet the Jupiter scientists on the front lines of finding a vaccine” via Sean Howard of the Palm Beach Post — Dozens of scientists at Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter are banding together in the global push to develop drugs and vaccines needed to wind down the coronavirus pandemic. At last count, 37 scientists at Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, plus another 100 at Scripps facilities in California, are working on coronavirus research, Director of Communications Stacey Singer DeLoye said. Their work largely falls under three categories: research to help develop drugs, vaccines and antibody treatments, said Michael Farzan, a professor who co-chairs Scripps’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology. “We don’t know that anything’s going to be helpful but everybody’s trying to provide some helpful piece on the margins, hoping to pull everyone forward,” said Farzan, who is based in Jupiter.
“Leon County issues ‘stay-at-home order,’ curfew amid coronavirus pandemic” via Karl Etters of the Tallahassee Democrat — While the Governor has rejected calls for a statewide lockdown, local officials in Tallahassee announced a “stay-at-home order” Tuesday following the lead of other areas with confirmed cases of coronavirus around the state. Large public gatherings were halted almost two weeks ago as the virus began to spread throughout, and tests slowly began to be administered more readily. Tuesday’s stay-at-home order by Leon County Commission Chairman Bryan Desloge and Mayor John Dailey set restrictions on gatherings of more than 10 people to go into effect at 11 p.m. Wednesday. Any gathering of more than 10 people would be dispersed by law enforcement and punishable by a fine. A curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. also goes into effect Wednesday.
“Lee County school board to hold first virtual meeting, but does it meet Sunshine Law?” via Pamela McCabe of the Fort Myers News-Press — Keeping in line with directives from the Florida Department of Education and DeSantis, the Lee County school board will meet via a virtual, call-in meeting that will be posted on the school district’s YouTube channel. But questions had been raised whether the 1 p.m. meeting is a violation of Sunshine Law. As of 6:30 p.m. Monday, the plan was for the meeting to be recorded and then posted online, but the district has since decided to stream the meeting live on YouTube. At this time, the district is “not encouraging” people to show up at the board room, housed in the Lee County Public Education Center on Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers.
“Orange County stay-at-home order given, starts Thursday” via Ryan Gillespie and Stephen Hudak of the Orlando Sentinel — The order will take effect at 11 p.m. Thursday and covers all 13 municipalities in the county. It is an attempt to “flatten the curve” — or ensure that medical facilities aren’t overwhelmed as more cases of the virus emerge. Only people traveling for essential business, including trips to work, the grocery store or pharmacy, will be allowed on the streets. The order will be in effect for two weeks, but Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said it could be extended then. Residents are allowed to exercise outside but are discouraged from doing so in groups.
“Welcome to Orlando. You’re from New York? Come with us” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — Orlando International Airport and health officials, transportation, and National Guard officials are talking Tuesday about what to do with the thousands of people who fly in every day from the three states DeSantis is redlining because of the new coronavirus outbreak: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The airport might wind up screening them when they get off the planes, and isolating them in a room for processing. DeSantis, on Monday, ordered that visitors from those three states undergo 14 days of quarantine or self-isolation, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is particularly rampant in those states.
“Orlando airport plunges into silence from coronavirus response” via Kevin Spear of the Orlando Sentinel — At Orlando’s airport, the lights are on, the luggage conveyors are chugging along and TSA is on duty, but the place suggests a ship about to sink into the coronavirus storm, with remaining passengers clamoring for life rafts. Traveler counts are down by nearly 80 percent, plunging from nearly 70,000 outbound passengers daily to about 10,000, said airport director Phil Brown. Hundreds are flights are still arriving and departing, but typically with a dozen or 20 people on each plane, Brown said.
“Universal Orlando: Theme parks now staying closed through April 19 due to coronavirus” via Dewayne Bevil and Gabrielle Russon of the Orlando Sentinel — Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando are currently scheduled to remain closed through the end of March. Universal’s shutdown, which began March 16, includes Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks, Volcano Bay water park, Universal CityWalk entertainment district and Universal’s lineup of hotels. “Taking care of our Universal Orlando team members remains one of most important priorities, and we remain committed to paying them through this closure period,” Universal spokeswoman Alyson Lundell said in an email.
“West Palm restaurateur makes a passionate plea to city — we need help and fast” via Tony Doris of the Palm Beach Post — Last Friday was the worst day of Rodney Mayo’s life thanks to the coronavirus. With state orders to close restaurants except for takeout, the lifelong West Palm Beach resident, whose Subculture Group owns 17 restaurants and bars, laid off 650 employees. By 4 a.m. Saturday, though, he had a plan: to turn his Howley’s restaurant at 4700 S Dixie Highway into a production line for free meals for hospitality employees, seniors and others laid off. With a rehired kitchen staff and a small army of volunteers, Mayo’s effort provided more than 5,000 meals in its first three days. On Monday, the city commission voted to bolster the effort, pledging $12,000 to keep it going.
“Palm Bay Mayor calls for City Manager’s resignation over COVID-19 communications” via Rick Neale of FLORIDA TODAY — Palm Bay Mayor William Capote has requested City Manager Lisa Morrell‘s resignation, citing communications during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. In a “no confidence” letter, Capote said it is imperative that Palm Bay’s City Manager provide information and reports to the City Council and the public during the pandemic. “Unfortunately, I have found the dissemination of information to the public to be atrocious,” Capote wrote. “The messaging to the public has been muddled, and you have failed to be sufficiently proactive in communicating with the media and the press to ensure that important information is disseminated to the public in a timely manner,” Capote wrote.
More local
“Tampa International Airport reports 70% loss of business activity” via Veronica Brezina-Smith of the Tampa Bay Business Journal — In August 2019, the airport released its 2020 projections, which stated parking and ground transportation are expected to generate $81 million in revenue; airlines will account for $76.2 million; rental cars are projected to bring in roughly $45.6 million in revenue; concessions are the next most significant factor, projected to rake in $33.3 million; commercial area rentals will create approximately $13.4 million in revenue; cargo is expected to bring in $5.8 million; and the remaining revenues will come from general aviation and other sources. With the virus affecting the tourism and travel industry, the airport now expects those numbers to decrease. Despite the loss of activity, the airport does not expect to cut any workers at this time.
Tampa International Airport is taking a major hit; passenger traffic is down 70%.
“Hillsborough lawmaker hosts blood drive as shortage intensifies” via Mitch Perry of Bay News 9 — As concerns about the coronavirus have led to a massive shortage of blood donations in the U.S., a state representative did his part Tuesday to turn the situation around by hosting a blood drive outside his Riverview office. According to The New York Times, as of last week, more than 4,500 of the Red Cross’ blood drives have been canceled, resulting in nearly 150,000 fewer donations. OneBlood, another blood donation group, has posted similar dire numbers. That’s what led Rep. Adam Hattersley to organize a blood drive event Tuesday.
“Florida State AD David Coburn: ‘The (financial) model … is going to be changed forever” via Tashan Reed of The Athletic — Florida State’s men’s basketball team — which held the top seed in the league tournament, was ranked No. 4 in the country and seemed primed for another deep run in the NCAA tournament — was moments away from tipping off its first game when ACC commissioner John Swofford announced that the ACC tournament was canceled in response to COVID-19. Still wearing its jerseys, FSU remained on the court and was named the ACC champion for the first time since 2012. The bittersweet nature of the coronation could be seen clearly on coach Leonard Hamilton and the player’s faces. “It was surreal,” Florida State Athletic Director Coburn, who was in attendance, said via phone Friday.
“Jewish leaders in Florida plead amid coronavirus: Don’t come here for Passover” via Aaron Leibowitz and C. Isaiah Smalls II of the Miami Herald — Dozens of leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community in Florida along with a group of medical professionals signed a “warning letter” to their communities late last week. The message: Don’t travel to Florida for Passover next month and risk spreading the novel coronavirus. “To all those from out of state considering spending Pesach here in Florida: It’s Halachically prohibited and medically irresponsible to come for Pesach,” the letter begins. In other words, the letter suggests, traveling for Passover would be a breach of Jewish religious law. Passover this year runs from April 8 to 16. “We have a Halachic requirement to keep our communities safe,” the letter says.
“Storage firm offers discounts to students displaced by pandemic” via the Business Observer — PODS Enterprises LLC has cut its rental, delivery and transportation fees by 10% for college students who have lost their on-campus housing as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Students in the United States and Canada can take advantage of the six-month offer, according to a news release. PODS will deliver customers a weather-resistant container that can be transported locally or across the country, or kept in one of the Clearwater-based firm’s secure storage centers. “Here in North America, with little to no notice, college students are being asked to leave campuses,” states John Koch, president and CEO of PODS, in the release.
“Florida woman yells ‘go Donald Trump!’ After buying out store’s toilet paper” via Manuel Madrid of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times — A Florida woman apparently bought every last package of toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins from a Dollar Tree in Pompano Beach. The video, which went viral this weekend, begins with the woman standing on the curb, loading dozens of boxes of paper products into the back of a black truck with the help of a man standing in the truck’s bed. A woman filming the incident narrated as the loading continued: “Look at this wonderful woman who just told me to f — myself and mind my own f-ing business, who just bought the entire store out of paper towels, toilet paper, so that nobody else can have any. It’s really lovely.”
Corona economics
“Millions of Americans are benefiting from Florida farms during the coronavirus epidemic” via Florida Politics — As images of empty store shelves are filling social media feeds and appearing in TV news stories during the global coronavirus pandemic, farmers in Florida are continuing to grow food that will increasingly stay in demand as social distancing and sheltering-in-place measures become the new normal. A recent document prepared by the Florida Chamber of Commerce shows Florida accounts for 56% of our nation’s domestic citrus production. Florida is also the second-largest producer of fresh vegetables. In South Florida alone, farmers there grow enough fresh produce to provide nearly 180 million Americans with food annually. Statewide, Florida farmers harvest more than 245,000 acres of fresh vegetables, making Florida a Top 10 state for production.
Florida farms are booming in the age of coronavirus to feed a hungry nation.
“The coronavirus recession is here. Will it linger in Florida?” via Richard Danielson and Graham Brink of the Tampa Bay Times — It’s not official — not yet, anyway — but economists say the coronavirus recession is here. The private, nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research will make the formal call, probably next year, after looking back on the data. A common rule of thumb is that recessions are characterized by at least two quarters — six months — of falling gross domestic product, though the bureau itself says they’re not always defined that way. Some economists have dispensed with the formalities because of how quickly spending has slowed or stopped in major sectors of the economy. The well-regarded UCLA Anderson School of Management last week came right out and said the recession has started in an update to an economic forecast that it made just four days earlier.
“In Florida, most gig workers can’t get unemployment. Welfare may be next best option” via Rob Wile of the Miami Herald — The past decade saw an explosion of gig work in the U.S. South Florida was no exception: According to the U.S. Census, there are now nearly half a million “non-employer” firms, or solo-practice businesses, in Miami-Dade County, and another several hundred thousand in Broward. Those figures likely include writers, designers and coders but undercount the number of Uber and Lyft drivers, of which there are thousands in the region. Now, as the U.S. and South Florida economies grind to a halt, these workers face extraordinary uncertainty. That’s because, according to legal experts, most gig workers cannot file for unemployment benefits.
“What happens at work when touch is part of the job?” via Gabrielle Calise of the Tampa Bay Times — It’s a hard time for those with careers that revolve around human contact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are urging people to practice social distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But how can you give a massage, apply hair extensions or wax someone’s upper lip from 6 feet away? Sue Lang, 63, decided to cut back on taking appointments at her hair salon, Colourations at Salon Vachon in Seminole. It was a preventive measure, her part in reducing the spread of COVID-19. But she knows for many customers, going to the hair salon was one of the last places where life felt normal.
“Orlando’s Marriott Worldwide Vacations to furlough staff, shutter U.S. sales centers over coronavirus pandemic” via Marco Santana of the Orlando Sentinel — “Without a doubt, these shutdown decisions have been some of the most difficult and heartbreaking of my career,” CEO Stephen Weisz said during a conference call. The company, the largest timeshare firm in the world with more than 140 resort and club locations, has seen occupancy rates nationwide drop from 87% in mid-March to about 30% this week, prompting Weisz to make the decision. Among seven properties and two corporate offices in Central Florida, Marriott Vacations Worldwide employs 3,300 people.
“Rum to the rescue? How Bacardi is tweaking production to fight the coronavirus” via Jim Wyss of the Miami Herald — While the coronavirus may be driving us to drink, there’s a more pressing issue: washing our hands. Now, one of the world’s largest rum factories, the Bacardi plant in Puerto Rico, has tweaked its production lines to pump out ethanol needed to make hand sanitizers. Olein Refinery, a Puerto Rican manufacturer, is using the Bacardi alcohol to produce more than 1.7 million 10-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer, much of which is being given to police, nurses, nonprofits and others on the front lines of the coronavirus.
“Steakhouse at Trump’s Doral property lays off 98” via Jeff Ostrowski of the Palm Beach Post — BLT Prime Doral, a high-end steakhouse, told state officials that it’s laying off 98 workers. The restaurant is operated by ESquared Hospitality. “We cannot predict when the restaurant will reopen and/or when it will begin rehiring staff,” ESquared Chief Executive James Bader wrote in a letter to Florida’s labor agency. The fancy eatery’s menu featured a Wagyu rib-eye for $94, a New York strip for $57 and filet mignon for $52.
“Hallandale official: Gulfstream Park won’t shut down, threatens legal action” via Adam Lichtenstein of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — Gulfstream Park plans to continue racing and hold Saturday’s Florida Derby as scheduled, despite Broward County’s ban on nonessential business and the city of Hallandale Beach asking the horse racing track to shut down and postpone The Derby, Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana told the Sun-Sentinel. Despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, Javellana said the track has threatened legal action against the city if it tried to prevent racing. “They need to stop the racing,” Javellana said. “We can’t just bend to their will just because they say they’re going to sue us or [take] whatever legal action They’re a powerful entity, but we can’t just allow that to go on. They’re blatantly violating the Broward County order.”
More corona
“Big tech could emerge from coronavirus crisis stronger than ever” via Daisuke Wakabayashi, Jack Nicas, Steve Lohr and Mike Isaac of The New York Times — While the rest of the economy is tanking from the crippling impact of the coronavirus, business at the biggest technology companies is holding steady — even thriving. Amazon said it was hiring 100,000 warehouse workers to meet surging demand. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, said traffic for video calling and messaging had exploded. Microsoft said the numbers using its software for online collaboration had climbed nearly 40 percent in a week. Companies were already dumping their own data centers to rent computing from Amazon, Microsoft and Google. That shift is likely to speed up as millions of employees are forced to work from home, putting a strain on corporate technology infrastructures.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says social media will come back stronger than ever after coronavirus.
“The evening news is back” via John Koblin of The New York Times — Ten million people watched “The Voice” last week, the biggest audience for the NBC reality show in a year. It was no match for another nonfiction program: the nightly newscast. As Americans, housebound because of the coronavirus crisis, watch more TV than usual, they have returned to the network news programs that have not been at the center of the national conversation for years. ABCs “World News Tonight” and the “NBC Nightly News” had an average of about 12 million viewers for their newscasts last week, among the most significant totals for all network shows, according to Nielsen. That’s roughly the same as the average for “Monday Night Football.”
“Journalism needs a stimulus. Here’s what it should look like” via Craig Aaron of Columbia Journalism Review — The coronavirus COVID-19 has upended everything, including business as usual in Washington. In a matter of days, facing the reality of a nationwide shutdown and a worsening economic crisis, Congress got serious about spending money — a lot of it. A recovery package in the trillions of dollars is expected soon. While the most powerful lobbies in Washington are ready with their wish lists, the media and policymakers aren’t talking enough about how they could help journalism. The public needs good, economically secure journalists more than ever. To support that work, we need a journalism stimulus now. Free Press is asking for at least $5 billion in emergency funds right away and that Congress put a foundation in place to help sustain journalism over the long term.
“International Baccalaureate, Cambridge cancel spring exams” via Jeffrey S. Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times — Hundreds of students across the Tampa Bay area won’t be taking their annual International Baccalaureate or Cambridge International exams this spring as scheduled. The two worldwide programs have canceled the assessments because of coronavirus concerns. It’s the first time that IB has called off its tests, many of which students take two years to prepare. If you think the teens are happy about it, you’re wrong. N’Dia Webb, a senior at Strawberry Crest High School in eastern Hillsborough County said she and her classmates had studied so hard for the exams, which are the culmination of their IB coursework and help determine whether they qualify for a special diploma. They were ready to knock the tests out of the park.
“Will coronavirus intimacy lead to a baby boom? Or a divorce tsunami?” via Petula Dvorak of The Washington Post — The jokes about intimate, hunker-down time usually fall into heh-heh sex giggles. The sex toy industry is reporting a burst of sales. Condoms and pregnancy tests are almost as scarce as toilet paper and hand sanitizer. “All this talk of baby booms nine months from now? Maybe,” Lauren Cooper Jerle, who is finding a new rhythm in her Minnesota household as the hubs began working from home: “I’m wondering if the amount of divorce decrees will be even higher. Reason for divorce: COVID-19.” Jerle’s prediction in that March 13 post was followed by similar forecasts from scores of others about the possibility of a huge rise in breakups. COVID-divorce may be bigger than the coronababies.
“Disinfecting wipes to fight coronavirus can clog up pipes and lead to sewage mess” via Adriana Brasileiro of the Miami Herald — Is self-isolation stressing you out? Imagine if your toilet and sewage pipes backed up into the house you’re not supposed to leave. That nightmare possibility increases if residents flush all the disinfecting wipes they’re suddenly running through to stop the spread of coronavirus, the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department warns. The department is pleading with residents not to flush wipes — bleach wipes, baby wipes, sanitizer wipes, dust wipes and even “flushable” wipes — but putting them in the trash instead. Those wipes don’t break down in wastewater like toilet paper and human waste. They accumulate, mix up with grease, clog the pipes and lead to sewage overflows.
“Pet peeves: Animals react to having their humans on coronavirus lockdown” via Aitor Hernández-Morales of POLITICO — Think of the poor kitties. With large swaths of Europe on coronavirus lockdown, pets across the Continent are suddenly having to get used to having their human companions around 24 hours a day. While some are responding with puppyish glee, others seem less than thrilled. “He’s visibly unhappy,” said Sara Polo of her Siberian cat Baloo, with whom she shares her Madrid apartment. Before the Spanish government put the country in lockdown, Polo spent most weekdays at work and weekends out of town, meaning her furry friend had the apartment pretty much to himself. “He can’t make sense of why I am here,” she said. “When I try to work out in the living room, he attacks my yoga mat.”
The human toll
“Coronavirus adds peril to the already at-risk: ‘if I get this stuff, it’s going to kill me.’” via Cleve Wootson of The Washington Post — As millions of Americans distance themselves from one another in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the struggle is particularly acute for those whose existing ailments can be fatally exacerbated by the disease — people whose lungs have been compromised by pulmonary disorders, whose immune systems have been suppressed by chemotherapy or whose blood sugar spikes dangerously as their bodies fight even common colds. They have become the most stringent of the social distancers, filling refrigerators and medicine cabinets and hoping that supplies last until the worst is over. Wary of hospital waiting rooms filled with coughing people, when they get sick, they are turning to self-diagnosis and, at times, simply guessing. And they clean. A lot.
“’I don’t feel safe at all.’ As cruise ships sail on, crews fear COVID-19 infection” via Taylor Dolven of the Miami Herald — As the number of people infected on cruise ships continues to climb each day, cruise companies are still downplaying the risk of COVID-19 transmission at sea. “Cruise ships are not a source for coronavirus,” said Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald in an interview with Axios. “We have hundreds of cruise ships out there … A cruise ship is not a riskier environment.” The CDC has released evidence to the contrary. Approximately 200 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. across 15 states were confirmed to be returned cruise travelers from Feb. 3-March 13. More than 25 cruise ship voyages have had confirmed cases of COVID-19, and at least 10 deaths have been linked to cruise ship travel.
“Handling your kid’s disappointment when everything is canceled” via Erinne Magee of The New York Times — Whether they’re forced to skip a musical performance, a tryout for a spring sport, a visit to their grandparents or a family vacation, merely telling children that disappointment is a part of life doesn’t cut it. In fact, breaking this news may also spark anxiety in parents. So how can parents help kids process their disappointment? I asked a few experts for their advice. First, check your own emotions. When breaking the news of cancellations, parents should focus on validating their children’s emotions, whether that is disappointment or fear or something in between, said Dr. Neha Chaudhary, M.D., child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
One good thing
From her Washington, D.C., home, Donna Borak hosts free virtual meditation class daily for anyone who is looking for “a respite during such a moment of uncertainty.” Borak invites everyone to join in: children, loved ones or pets.
“Even your plants.”
As social distancing has become crucial to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, people worldwide are turning to technology to overcome physical barriers. They establish new connections and comforting others overwhelmed by unwelcome news about the virus or burdened by sudden economic hard times.
In this combination of frame grabs from Donna Borak’s online meditation session hosted over Zoom, she leads a group to help ease the stress of isolation from Washington. Image via AP.
Borak seeks to create a space for togetherness — for stressed-out parents, managers or laid-off employees to take a break. So far, participants in her class — held on Zoom video conferencing — have mainly been friends and family. She also shares sessions on Instagram.
“While a meditation class for 15 minutes doesn’t solve financial stress or help to explain what will happen next or address serious health care concerns, to me, it’s an opportunity not to be alone and to not exist in isolation,” she told The Associated Press. “I didn’t want anyone to feel alone.”
“Going forward, for every time that we opted out at the last minute of attending an event or a happy hour or a dinner, we’ll hopefully feel differently about it when we come back together again,” she added. “We need each other.”
D.C. matters
“Trump agencies steadily push rollbacks as pandemic rages” via Ellen Knickmeyer of The Associated Press — As Americans stockpiled food and medicine and retreated indoors and businesses shuttered in hopes of riding out COVID-19, federal agencies in recent days moved forward on rollbacks that included a widely opposed deregulatory action by the Environmental Protection Agency. The proposed rule would require disclosure of the raw data behind any scientific study used in the rule-making process. That includes confidential medical records that opponents say could be used to identify people. Federal agencies should suspend steps toward enactment for any nonessential rule changes, Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts, one of those signing the appeal, said in a separate email.
“Stephanie Murphy seeking input from health care workers on coronavirus response” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — U.S. Rep. Murphy, a Winter Park Democrat, is asking health care workers in her district to join her in a couple of teleconferences to discuss coronavirus, preparing for a more public town hall teleconference set for next Monday. “This unprecedented health and economic disruption will affect so many aspects of our community in different ways, so I want to listen to the people I represent to see what I can do to help them weather this crisis,” Murphy stated in a news release. “I’m especially interested in hearing from our brave local health care workers who are on the front lines of our response to this pandemic, and they have earned our full support and gratitude.”
Stephanie Murphy wants to hear from the people on the front lines of coronavirus response.
“Charlie Crist calls for early release of benefits to support low-income families during coronavirus crisis” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics — Crist sent a letter to DeSantis asking him to release Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits early as low-income and vulnerable Floridians take steps to shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic. Crist wants SNAP recipients to have access to their April benefits now so they can stock up on enough food to limit necessary trips to the grocery store. “The Centers for Disease Control has requested that individuals practice social distancing, limiting their contact with others. However, most recipients of SNAP benefits do not have the resources needed to live at home for an extended period, living hand to mouth on monthly payments to purchase the food that they need to feed themselves and their families,” Crist wrote.
Awww, that’s too bad — “NRA to cut salaries, brace for layoffs as coronavirus disrupts fundraising, internal memo states” via Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post — More than 800 people worked at the NRA in 2018, according to its latest tax filing. However, that number includes part-time workers who would not be affected by the reductions. Schedules for hourly workers will be reduced from five to four days a week, the memo said. Some top NRA officials, including chief executive Wayne LaPierre, are taking salary reductions greater than 20%. In 2018, compensation for top officials, including LaPierre, surged by 41% and legal fees more than tripled even as the organization sharply reduced spending on programs central to its mission. LaPierre received a total of about $2.2 million from the NRA and related entities in 2018, including a base salary of $1.27 million.
Statewide
“DeSantis faces virus outbreak, veto requests” via Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida — Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist wants DeSantis to veto legislation targeting e-cigarettes (SB 810). Supporters of the group 1000 Friends of Florida are being encouraged to tell DeSantis to nix a bill (SB 410) that would change how most county governments manage growth. A coalition of voting-rights groups called on DeSantis to reject a measure (SB 1794) that would impose a series of new restrictions on ballot initiatives. The coalition includes organizations such as the League of Women Voters of Florida, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Florida AFL-CIO, Florida Conservation Voters, the NAACP Florida State Conference and the Sierra Club Florida.
Ron DeSantis is getting veto requests from all sides.
Assignment editors — DeSantis will hold a news conference, 10:30 a.m., State Logistics Response Center, 2702 Directors Row, Orlando.
Environmentalists want Governor to veto water bill — On Tuesday, dozens of environmental groups banded together to urge DeSantis to veto his priority bill setting new water quality regulations in the state, Bruce Ritchie of POLITICO Florida reports. The groups say the bill, which directs local governments to draft plans for septic tanks and sewage treatment plants, doesn’t make meaningful regulatory changes “Florida’s waters are polluted because our regulatory system is broken and those in charge of protecting our waters are unduly influenced by polluters and their lobbyists,” the groups wrote in a letter. Conversely, the Governor has lauded the plan, a strong indication he will sign the legislation into law.
“Ashley Moody issue subpoenas for price gouging” via the News Service of Florida — Moody said she issued more than 40 subpoenas because of alleged price gouging on “essential commodities” through accounts on Amazon. The subpoenas, which went to third-party sellers who use Amazon, involve allegations of excessive prices on items such as face masks, hand sanitizers and disinfectants during a state of emergency declared because of the coronavirus. “Floridians are searching for essential products needed to stay safe and healthy during this COVID-19 pandemic,” Moody said in a prepared statement. “Sadly, when they find these products for sale online, they often discover that the price tag makes them unattainable. This is unacceptable and unlawful.”
“If Florida shuts down, will medical marijuana dispensaries stay open?” via Samantha J. Gross of the Miami Herald — As municipalities like Miami-Dade and Broward counties have started to close nonessential businesses in an attempt to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, they have exempted what are deemed “essential” businesses like health care providers, gas stations, banks and news outlets. But what about medical marijuana treatment centers? They’ll remain open for business. According to statute, the dispensaries are considered an essential service and are to be treated like retail pharmacies. Many of the dispensaries use delivery services to get medication to patients, as well as offer drive-thru windows or online ordering and pick up at the stores.
“Receiver opposed in domestic violence coalition case” via Dara Kam of the News Service of Florida — A nonprofit foundation supporting the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence is asking a circuit judge to reverse a recent decision that put the embattled agency under the control of a receiver. The decision by Leon County Circuit Judge Ronald Flury, at the request of Attorney General Ashley Moody, came amid investigations into allegedly exorbitant executive compensation paid to Tiffany Carr, the former CEO of the coalition and the head of the foundation. Moody early this month filed an emergency motion asking Flury to put the coalition and its fundraising arm, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence Foundation, in the hands of a receiver and to preserve the assets of both organizations.
“Jury trials to remain suspended through mid-April” via the News Service of Florida — As the novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout the state, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady has extended the suspension of jury trials and other in-person court proceedings through April 17. Canady’s order extends deadlines in previous administrative orders aimed at complying with health officials’ recommendations to curb COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. In a video message, Canady addressed the impact of COVID-19 on the state’s justice system. “We are all facing an unprecedented challenge. The pandemic is now affecting everyone. We are living our lives in a way that none of us would have contemplated a few short weeks ago,” the chief justice said.
“New UCF president could get $600K annual pay” via Annie Martin of the Orlando Sentinel — Incoming UCF President Alexander Cartwright could be entitled to an annual salary of $600,000 — 20% higher than his predecessor’s pay — according to a proposed five-year contract up for university trustees’ approval on Tuesday morning. The University of Central Florida trustees tapped Cartwright to serve as the school’s next president last Friday, selecting him unanimously over one other finalist. They’re slated to vote on a contract for Cartwright with a proposed salary of nearly 20% more than what he earns in his current role as chancellor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Cartwright’s contract with UCF would start on April 13. His appointment is subject to approval from the Board of Governors.
“Another area code eyed for Tampa area” via Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida — The North American Numbering Plan Administrator, which oversees telephone numbering across the U.S. and other countries, has proposed creating what is known as an “all-services overlay” as numbers in the 813 area code — all of Hillsborough County, Oldsmar in Pinellas County and parts of Pasco County — are forecast to be exhausted during the third quarter of 2022. Under the plan, which the Florida Public Service Commission will consider, a new area code would be added — or overlaid — in the same area. Current customers would keep the 813 area code and their numbers, but new customers and additional lines would receive the new area code. Also, all local calls in the area would require 10-digit dialing.
“Personnel note: Mike Tanner elected Florida Bar President-elect” via Florida Politics — Jacksonville attorney Tanner was elected the president-elect designate of The Florida Bar, the association announced Tuesday. Tanner will take over as President-elect in June after current President-elect Dori Foster-Morales’ ascends to Florida Bar President. The Florida Bar said Tanner won the election over fellow Board of Governors member Renee Thompson by less than 100 votes — Tanner received 8,647 to Thompson’s 8,558. In addition to Tanner’s election, The Florida Bar announced the winners of elections to four board circuit seats.
Congrats to Michael Tanner the newly elected president of The Florida Bar. Image via Jacksonville Daily Record.
“Fourteen people apply for two Big Bend circuit judge openings” via Karl Etters of the Tallahassee Democrat — Current prosecutors, local lawyers and former judges have applied to fill two vacancies on the 2nd Judicial Circuit bench. The circuit’s Judicial Nominating Commission received 14 applicants for the vacant seats of Circuit Judges James Hankinson and Martin Fitzpatrick, it said in a news release. The circuit covers the Big Bend, comprising Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, and Wakulla counties. Three of the 2nd Circuit’s top prosecutors have thrown their names into contention for the position. Felony Division chiefs Georgia Cappleman and Jon Fuchs applied, as did State Attorney’s Office general counsel Eddie Evans.
New and renewed lobbying registrations:
Stuart Brown, SKB Consulting Group: CapTel
Al Cardenas, The Advocacy Group at Cardenas Partners: RSM US
Nick Iarossi, Christopher Schoonover, Capital City Consulting: Drummond Press
Frank Mayernick, Tracy Mayernick, Rob Johnson, The Mayernick Group: Pella Corporation
2020
“Trump and Joe Biden face off on a dramatically altered political landscape” via Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey and Matt Viser of The Washington Post — Trump calls himself a “wartime President” and former Vice President Biden says the nation must “put politics aside,” but both leaders have allowed their campaigns to launch deeply personal offensives against the other in recent days. Few are willing to predict with any certainty how the events of the last few weeks will affect what is still expected to be a close election in November. But Democrats are hopeful that the crisis will put into sharp relief the arguments they have been making for months. Republicans, by contrast, are hopeful that Trump’s role as head of the federal response to the novel coronavirus will insulate him against the coming Democratic critiques about his leadership.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are facing off in a vastly changed political landscape.
“Two political handicappers say the Electoral College map now leans toward Democrats” via Chris Cillizza of CNN — In the past five days, two of the most prominent nonpartisan political analysts in the country have released new projections that show presumptive Democratic nominee Biden with a clear edge over Trump in the Electoral College map. “The President is an underdog now in his bid for a second term,” wrote Stu Rothenberg, founder of the Rothenberg Political Report, in a column published late last week. “That doesn’t mean he can’t win. It simply means that he is in a more difficult place than he was before, in part because Democrats have united behind a consensus candidate who has potentially broad appeal.”
More from the trail
“Running for office during a pandemic is difficult — especially for local politicians” via Leigh Giangreco of The Washington Post — Fending off sickness is nothing new for candidates, some of whom develop their own idiosyncratic strategies for avoiding run-of-the-mill colds and flu. But recently, as schools closed down, employers mandated telework and sporting events were canceled, candidates pursuing every level of elected office have been grappling with the repercussions of losing physical contact with voters. The loss of personal contact may be taking an especially severe toll on local politicians. Presidential campaigns can move their efforts online in a sophisticated way, but those running for local office generally don’t have the digital resources that a major party presidential campaign does.
Coronavirus is changing retail politics.
“Laurel Lee will ‘closely assess’ accommodations for candidate qualification” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics — As a growing number of candidates demand that qualification requirements be waived, Florida officials promised only to monitor the situation. “As is always the case, the Florida Department of State will closely assess all conditions that affect the August and November elections, including any ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Lee, Florida Secretary of State, in a statement to Florida Politics. “We, like you and the rest of the nation, are monitoring the coronavirus pandemic, and we will recommend any appropriate accommodations or decisions as we move closer to the election dates and understand more about the ongoing impact to our state.”
“Pembroke Pines Mayor endorses Shevrin Jones in SD 35” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis says he’s endorsing Rep. Jones as Jones seeks a Senate seat in 2020. Jones is one of six candidates seeking to replace term-limited Sen. Oscar Braynon II in Senate District 35. Jones currently represents House District 101, which spans Pembroke Pines, West Park and Hallandale Beach. “We face challenging times as a county, state, and country, and it’s clear now more than ever that we need experienced, proven leadership fighting on our behalf in Tallahassee,” Ortis said in a Tuesday statement. “Shevrin has been a fierce advocate for our community on the issues important to Pembroke Pines — from economic opportunity and public safety, to smart investments in infrastructure and local schools.”
Top opinion
“Laid off? Bad news: Florida’s unemployment system was set up to hose you” via Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel — Floridians everywhere are losing their jobs right now. Yet when they file for benefits that might help keep a roof over their heads, they run headfirst into a rough reality: Florida’s unemployment system was set up to stiff them. Benefits are among the cheapest and shortest-lasting in America, capping out at $275 a week and currently lasting only 12 weeks. They’re hard to obtain (the state’s application hotline sometimes simply won’t accept calls) and tough to keep (thanks to cumbersome requirements). In fact, the benefits are so hard to get and run out so quickly that very few unemployed Floridians — only one out of every nine — receive them at any given time.
Opinions
“Is our fight against coronavirus worse than the disease?” via David L. Katz for The New York Times — We routinely differentiate between two kinds of military action: the inevitable carnage and collateral damage of diffuse hostilities, and the precision of a “surgical strike,” methodically targeted to the sources of our particular peril. The latter, when executed well, minimizes resources and unintended consequences alike. As we battle the coronavirus pandemic, and heads of state declare that we are “at war” with this contagion, the same dichotomy applies. This can be open war, with all the fallout that portends, or it could be something more surgical. The United States and much of the world so far have gone in for the former. I write now with a sense of urgency to make sure we consider the surgical approach.
“Donald Trump barrels toward calamity” via Dana Milbank of The Washington Post — If Trump succeeds in getting Americans to mix again in public at the height of the pandemic (many governors are unlikely to be so foolhardy with their constituents’ health), he will be risking the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions. Just a week into his tepid embrace of social distancing, he’s ready to abandon the fight against the virus and instead force Americans to accept a new strategy for dealing with a pandemic: survival of the fittest. For what? It won’t work: The economy won’t bounce back if people don’t feel safe.
“Shut down Florida, Gov. DeSantis, for at least a few weeks” via the South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorial board — Conceding just a little, the Governor finally directed Floridians over 65 to stay at home. But while they’re the most vulnerable, everybody is vulnerable. The blunt truth is that the longer DeSantis postpones stay-at-home for everyone, the worse it will be for everyone. The longer he stalls, the longer young people who believe themselves invincible will pick up and spread the disease. Isolating only their grandparents now, will not protect them later. Every responsible public health physician and epidemiologist is pleading with the public to stay at home and save lives. But it takes a Governor to make such an order effective and enforceable. Sixteen Governors have done what DeSantis refuses to do.
“Gov. DeSantis needs to start acting like an Italian Mayor” via Frank Cerabino of the Palm Beach Post — DeSantis needs to reconnect with his inner Italian. I know it’s in there. All eight of DeSantis’ great-grandparents emigrated from Italy. So, buried in his DNA is an Italian’s intrinsic talent for telling people off in the most colorful and creative ways — often involving some appendage choreography. DeSantis needs to let that out. It’s time to start loosening his hands and sharpening his tongue. Because we need a governor now who can be a forceful advocate for locking down all of Florida. None of this 14-day, self-quarantine nonsense if you decide to leave New York for Florida. None of this ignorant, dystopian, “we can’t let the cure be worse than the problem” moral bankruptcy.
“Greg Newburn: Legislators must call a Special Session to address COVID-19 in Florida’s prisons” via Florida Politics — If you think COVID-19 is daunting now, imagine what it will be like inside Florida’s enormous prison system, where social distancing is impossible, quality health care doesn’t exist, and hand sanitizer is banned as contraband. Nothing that happens in prison stays in prison for long when it comes to disease — thousands of corrections staff enter and leave daily, exposing themselves to illness and putting all of us on the outside at greater risk. To save lives, preserve hospital beds, and slow the spread of the coronavirus, the Florida Legislature must call a Special Session and pass measures that allow for the immediate release of the most vulnerable from our prisons.
“Terrible, horrible thoughts while on a social distance walk” via Stephanie Hayes of the Tampa Bay Times — This is the best weather we’ve had all year. We will stay 6 feet apart, and all will be well. The Pinellas Trail is, like, 15 feet wide, but the walking side is small, and nobody stays in their lane. Someone is going to shame us. If a woke celebrity tweets my photo, I will die. That woman sneezed into her elbow. Sneezing is not really a symptom. I have seen the meme that explains it. I was sneezing all morning, too, because the houses in this neighborhood are made of pollen and Spanish tile. This is such a sad time. When did we become so wary of each other? When there was a pandemic.
“Because of coronavirus, I’m an FSU senior stuck at home, worried about my future” via Maria Hiers for the Tampa Bay Times — Many students support themselves by working at bars, coffee shops and local businesses. With their bosses increasingly having to make layoffs, our present lives are threatened by financial instability. I was let go from my post-grad job as a photography assistant for performances and productions. My boss said she’d love to be able to work with me, but right now, there’s no work. Provide opportunities for graduates and find yourself surprised that Generation Z’s lazy reputation is often undeserved. Thousands of us would fetch a bone for a dollar or forfeit our last roll of toilet paper to make rent.
Today’s Sunrise
Gov. DeSantis is pondering the President’s latest pronouncement — he wants America back to work by Easter.
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— DeSantis is also doubling down on his refusal to order any sort of statewide lockdown. He says people in New York and California have already demonstrated that it doesn’t work that well. In fact, the National Guard is now greeting people who arrive in Florida after taking flights from the New York City-area to inform them they have to self-isolate for at least 14 days after arrival.
— State officials are also worried about a cruise ship called Zaandam. The Holland-America liner has at least 42 infected people on board, and they are hoping to dock next week in Broward County, which happens to be the epicenter of Florida’s coronavirus epidemic.
— Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried talks about getting calls on coronavirus scams. Fried offers a few hints on how to protect yourself from fraudsters. She was also the first official in Florida to call for a statewide lockdown, so she gives her reaction to the Governor’s rejection of that advice.
And two Florida women prove that the title “Florida Man” knows no gender.
“Amazon unlocks batch of kids’ shows free to stream for all customers” via Todd Spangler of Variety — With millions of kids cooped up at home, Amazon is opening up free streaming access to more than 40 children’s shows — including its original series — to all customers worldwide. The content, previously available only to Prime Video customers, includes Amazon original series “Just Add Magic,” “Pete the Cat” and “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and select seasons of PBS Kids shows including “Arthur,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Odd Squad” and “Wild Kratts.” In Europe, third-party content includes “Peppa Pig” and “Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.” To access the free kids’ titles, users must sign in with a valid Amazon account, which is free.
“‘Time for Kids’ to make issues available outside classroom” via Melynda Fuller of MediaPost — “Time” is offering its child-focused spinoff “Time for Kids” to students, families and teachers at home for free amid the COVID-19 outbreak and school closures. The move marks the first time the edition is available to readers outside classrooms in its 25 years of publishing. Free access is supported by Google, AT&T, HP and PwC Charitable Foundation. The access includes a digital library featuring all editions of Time for Kids published in 2020, financial literacy magazine “Your $” and educational resources and activities. Time for Kids content is available across printable PDFs and digitally published pieces on the magazine’s website and is released in grade-specific editions.
“For drive-in theaters, an unexpected revival” via Alyson Krueger of The New York Times — Drive-in movie theaters may seem like a blast from the past, something out of the 1950s or ’60s. Numerous baby boomers haven’t gone for decades; Gen Xers and millennials, perhaps never. While most drive-in theaters open for the summer, some of their owners have decided to get an early start this year to provide families an escape insulated by their cars during the pandemic. Spencer Folmar, a filmmaker, believes so strongly that drive-in theaters are not just the past, but the future that he is building what he claims will be the world’s largest one in Eustis, with 500 spots, about a 45-minute drive from Orlando.
Are drive-in theaters making a comeback?
“In times of stress and self-distancing, take solace in ‘binge baking’” via J. Miller of the Palm Beach Post — Binge baking isn’t a new idea for me. I actually started using the term when we’ve gone on vacation for the past couple of years. In the weeks before going away, I sit down and figure out what I’m going to cook for family meals. I like to have my grocery list sorted out, bringing what I can from home to avoid waste and to save time at the store when I get to where I’m going. Once that’s sorted, I realized that there were things that I wanted to make — for myself. Somehow that “me” list kept growing. Until I realized I was binge baking. There was no other way to describe it. But, hey, that’s my vacation.
“Wild Florida keeps its drive-thru safari open amid coronavirus shutdowns” via Patrick Connolly of the Orlando Sentinel — Normally, Wild Florida also offers airboat tours, a gator park and up-close animal encounters. Those have been temporarily shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the drive-thru safari persists, as it keeps visitors distant from one another in their own cars. Throughout the whole experience, I never left my hatchback. I may have thought about getting out and running when a too-curious emu poked its head inside my open passenger window, perhaps looking for food. But otherwise, I was content to traverse 85 acres of environments from South and North America and the plains of Africa from the comfort of my own air-conditioned vehicle. I happily enjoyed my own tunes while taking in the sights.
“Six-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady looking forward, not behind” via Fred Goodall of The Associated Press — “I don’t want to talk about the past because that’s not relevant to what’s important in my future and what’s going on this offseason for me,” Brady said during a 32-minute conference call in which he declined to discuss specifics about his decision to leave his old team. The three-time NFL MVP reiterated that while he cherished “two decades of incredible experience and learning from some of the best players and the best coaches, and the ownership” of the Patriots, he’s excited about moving forward with the Bucs, who have a 12-season playoff drought.
What Rob Bradley is reading — “Review: Pearl Jam come roaring back with superb new album” via Mark Kennedy of The Associated Press — Trust Pearl Jam to still surprise us in 2020. The Seattle rock gods have made an album we didn’t know we needed. “Gigaton” is a fascinating and ambitious 12-track collection with a cleaner, crisper sound that is studded with interesting textures, topped by Eddie Vedder’s still-indignant voice. “Gigaton” marks the band’s first coproduction with Josh Evans, who previously worked with Soundgarden and Chris Cornell. He’s helped pull out more experimentation, certainly from the messy last studio offering, “Lightning Bolt.”
Happy birthday
Best wishes to the even-more-incredibly-talented-than-last-year Sara Clements of Maguire Woods, state Rep. John Cortes, the Port Tampa’s Matt Floyd, and former Sen. Maria Sachs. Belated best wishes to state Reps. Adam Hattersley and Anthony Rodriguez.
From airlines to unions, Democrat-leaning donors found largesse in Pelosi’s pandemic plan
House Democrats’ coronavirus stimulus package includes billions for the U.S. airline industry, which has donated more than $11 million to the party and its candidates over the past four election cycles
“Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr sold up to $1.7 million worth of stock on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions after offering public assurances the government was ready to battle the virus… Senator Kelly Loeffler also sold millions of dollars in shares in the weeks after lawmakers were first briefed on the virus, according to public filings… Republican Senator James Inhofe and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein also sold stock, according to filings, but both said they were not involved in the transactions.” Burr claimed that his trades were based on publicly available information, while Loeffler stated that she was not involved in the trades and only learned about them several weeks later. Reuters
Both sides are most critical of Burr:
“Even if senators are not technically engaged in illegal activity, selling off hundreds of thousands or millions of personal stock right before the stock market craters is not a good look as many Americans scramble to figure out how they will pay for rent or groceries.” Ella Nilsen, Vox
“For a public servant, it’s pretty hard to imagine many things more immoral than doing this. Richard Burr had critical information that might have helped the people he is sworn to protect. But he hid that information and helped only himself. Instead of sounding the alarm, alerting the country, goading the government into action as an ethical person would have done, Burr told easy lies that in the end may have killed people.” Tucker Carlson, Fox News
“In a Feb. 7 opinion piece for Fox News, [Senator Burr] and his co-author, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican, boasted of how well Congress and the Trump administration had prepared America to deal with whatever public health threats came its way… On Feb. 13, Mr. Burr began a series of stock sales…
“There may, of course, be perfectly reasonable explanations for what, initially, appears to be illegal — and morally reprehensible — behavior. Mr. Burr and Ms. Loeffler deserve the opportunity to provide those explanations. The Senate should initiate an ethics investigation of all accusations, and, if warranted, refer relevant findings for criminal prosecution… That said, explicit criminality aside, the real scandal here is the way in which these public servants misled an already anxious and confused public. In times of crisis, the American people need leaders who will rise to the occasion, not sink to their own mercenary interests.” Editorial Board, New York Times
“Americans have been generally frustrated by a certain level of unfairness surrounding the response to coronavirus: It seems like every wealthy actor and athlete in the country has been tested for the virus while the average Joe struggles to even find out where testing exists. But for a sitting US senator to profit off of this disaster in so callous a way is simply beyond the pale…
“Burr’s defense that he liquidated a third of his wealth because he saw a segment on CNBC that spooked him is flat out not going to cut it… People are scared and with good reason: They are losing their jobs, fearful for their health, disconnected from loved ones and nobody knows what is going to happen. If Richard Burr can’t put the interests of the American people above his own financial interests, then he must resign.” David Marcus, New York Post
Other opinions below.
From the Left
“There is clear evidence that members of Congress profit from their position through equity trading—a problem that was more acute before the passage of the 2012 STOCK Act, which tightened insider-transaction rules for public officials… One analysis of 61,998 stock trades made from 2004 to 2010, for instance, showed that politicians outperformed the market by 20 percent, with the portfolios of high-ranking Republicans beating the market by a whopping 35 percent…
“The fix is simple and obvious, deployed in many of our peer countries: Just don’t let public officials be active investors. One option would be to require members of Congress, their household, and their staff to sell individual equities and instead to put their money in things like index funds and diversified mutual funds. This would mean that politicians would benefit from bull markets, but that they would be unable to make bets on specific companies and market sectors. Another option would be to ask members of Congress to put their holdings into a blind trust… The country should not have to wonder whether politicians’ stock trades were corrupt. It should not have to think about politicians’ portfolios at all.” Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic
“Members have repeatedly exempted themselves from laws applicable to the rest of us. Examples include the Freedom of Information Act; the Government in the Sunshine Act; Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; the conflict-of-interest prohibition of the federal criminal code, 18 USC 208; the Occupational Health and Safety Act; and, the National Labor Relations Act… Congress also indulges in legalized extortion of its members. For both Republicans and Democrats, plum committee assignments and chairmanships are awarded by the Republican and Democratic leadership based on party fundraising…
“There is no magic elixir for the alarming moral derelictions of Congress. Members should be forbidden to own or invest in anything worth more than $75,000, except for Treasury notes, bills, bonds, and a home. All statutory exemptions of Congress from laws of general applicability should be repealed. Making committee assignments or chairmanships turn on a member’s fundraising for the RCC or DCCC should be prohibited… But corruption has a thousand faces. The best laws will be circumvented unless reinforced by public opinion. Members of Congress who betray the public trust should be ostracized.” Bruce Fein, The Nation
From the Right
“It’s entirely possible that most or all of these transactions were innocent. After all, who didn’t consider taking some profits earlier this year as stocks rose to all-time highs at such a dizzying pace? But… voters should never have to wonder about their lawmakers’ integrity. It’s not enough that members of Congress report their trades a month after the fact. People with intensively managed investments simply shouldn’t be in public life. If they want to serve, they should buy and hold simple investments that follow the market as a whole, perhaps fixed-year retirement funds. Lawmakers especially should refrain from timing markets — good advice for anyone who doesn’t have inside information but especially good for members of Congress seeking to avoid conflicts of interest.” Editorial Board, Washington ExaminerOthers counter, “Should Members of Congress be barred from owning individual stocks? Good luck getting successful people to run for office if they’d have to liquidate their portfolios. What about bonds? And should Congressional staff be banned from investing, too? Puffing with indignation is easier than parsing the details… It’s politically imprudent for people in Congress to trade actively, and this example shows why. A blind trust is better for public confidence, though that hasn’t kept Senator Feinstein’s name out of the news. In the end, the judgment on a politician’s financial dealings is like much else: for the voters to decide.” Editorial Board, Wall Street JournalSome argue that “Burr didn’t sell his stock until three weeks after the briefing. Why would he wait 21 days? That’s an eternity in the stock market… Loeffler and her husband have a combined net worth of over $500 million. If we take the midpoint of the $1.2 to $3.1 million range indicated on the Senate disclosure form, the third party investment manager sold stock valued at $2 million. The market has fallen by roughly 33 percent. So the Loeffler saved $700,000 by selling the stock. This equates to .14 of one percent, or .0014 of their net worth…“According to her spokesman, Tom Mentzer, ‘All of Senator Feinstein’s assets are in a blind trust, she has no involvement in her husband’s financial decisions.’… There is insufficient information available about Sen. Inhofe’s transaction or the circumstances surrounding it to make a judgement… The only situation that can possibly be questioned, that is even a close call, in my opinion, would be Sen. Burr’s.” Elizabeth Vaughn, RedState
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👑 Bulletin: Prince Charles has tested positive for coronavirus. He is showing mild symptoms “but otherwise remains in good health.” (BBC)
🚨 Breaking now: World markets surged this morning after the overnight news that Congress and the White House reached a deal to inject nearly $2 trillion into the economy.
With leaders promising the rescue package was imminent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11.4% yesterday — the index’s biggest one-day gain since 1933.
Eric Ueland, the White House legislative affairs director, announced the agreement in a Capitol hallway shortly after midnight, capping days of often intense haggling and mounting pressure, AP reports.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are done. We have a deal,” Ueland said.
It still needs to be finalized in detailed legislative language.
Why it matters: The unprecedented economic rescue package will give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are out.
One of the last sticking points was $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries. Airlines and hospitals will get significant help.
1 big thing: The fight for New York
Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios
New York’s fight against coronavirus is the nation’s fight, as the state — and the city in particular — face what Gov. Andrew Cuomo called “astronomical numbers” of cases, Axios managing editor Jennifer Kingson writes from Manhattan.
Why it matters: New York’s success — or failure — in fighting the virus, safeguarding citizens and treating the afflicted will tell us a lot about what can succeed in the rest of the U.S.
It’s a national travel hub, so it could be the catalyst for outbreaks elsewhere.
The White House advised anyone who left New York City “over the last few days” to self-quarantine for 14 days. (Video.)
Cuomo’s daily press conferences have become a staple of midday cable news. He spoke passionately yesterday about the importance of devoting all resources to New York’s rapidly escalating caseload.
The state has 25,000 cases, vs. 2,800 in California, 2,200 in Washington and 1,200 in Florida.
The apex of its epidemic isn’t expected for 14 to 21 days.
The state had 53,000 hospital beds pre-crisis and now expects to need 140,000.
Between the lines: Population density, which a New York Times headline called a “Trait Defining New York Life,” is a big reason the Big Apple has become the U.S. focal point.
Jennifer’s thought bubble: As a born-and-bred New Yorker who watched from my office window as the second plane hit the Twin Towers on 9/11, I find eerie similarities between the empty streets I see this week — and the constant wail of emergency sirens — and the days after the terror attacks.
A key difference: Social distancing has us pulling away from one another, not coming together for comfort.
President Trump announced his Easter target during this Fox News “virtual town hall” in the Rose Garden. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
The spread and impact of the coronavirus may be unfathomable, but it’s not unpredictable. Yet the U.S. has failed to respond accordingly, Axios health care reporter Caitlin Owens writes.
The delay in widespread testing allowed the virus to spread undetected.
Then we were caught flat-footed by the surge in demand for medical supplies in emerging hotspots.
What they’re saying: A senior Health and Human Services official told Axios that if officials could do it all over again, they would have engaged the private sector to ramp up medical manufacturing in mid-January — about two months earlier than ended up happening.
“By waiting to fully appreciate and acknowledge this as a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, this was a colossal missed opportunity,” the official said.
The bottom line: When Axios asked the HHS official how all of this keeps happening, the official said it’s at least partially due to disconnects — between Trump and his administration, between the government and the private sector, and between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
“At the end of the day, the virus has slipped through all those cracks that exist between all of these entities,” the official said.
Researchers at Copenhagen University in Denmark work on a potential coronavirus vaccine. Photo: Thibault Savary/AFP/Getty Images
Scientists around the world have started dozens of clinical trials, on more than 100 drugs, in the hunt to find a product that could attack the new coronavirus, Axios health care business reporter Bob Herman reports.
There are more than 100 coronavirus drugs and vaccines in development worldwide, according to Umer Raffat, an analyst at Evercore ISI who has been tracking progress.
Coronavirus has become the pharmaceutical world’s top priority, but safety and efficacy haven’t been proven anywhere yet.
The bottom line: Expectations need to be tempered. A vaccine is likely a long way off, and failures are inevitable. But some experimental treatments, while they still require more research, are showing promise.
4. China takes page from Russia’s disinformation playbook
Photo Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Drew Angerer/Getty Images and Stringer/Getty Images
The Chinese Communist Party has spent the past week publicly pushing conspiracy theories intended to cast doubt on the origins of the coronavirus, and thus deflect criticism over China’s early mishandling of the epidemic, writes Axios’ Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian.
Why it matters: The strategy is a clear departure from Beijing’s previous disinformation tactics and signals its increasingly aggressive approach to managing its image internationally.
The big picture: Beijing is emulating Russia’s disinformation playbook to do so.
Usually, Chinese information operations aim to uphold a single immutable narrative that casts the Chinese Communist Party in a positive light.
Russian disinformation tactics typically aim to destabilize the information environment through spreading conspiracy theories, with the goal of creating chaos and discord in target societies.
Joe Biden built a TV studio at home, starts each day with three hours of medical and economic impact briefings, and checks in with congressional leaders.
He is overhauling his campaign — and standing up a shadow presidency of sorts — amid a national emergency that’s eclipsed all other news, Axios’ Alexi McCammond writes.
Anita Dunn, a senior advisor to Biden’s campaign, tells Axios the campaign is focused on addressing the health and economic impacts of coronavirus but also sees the opportunity to draw clear contrasts with President Trump.
“At times of national crisis, Americans want their leaders to pull together and to put forward solutions,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that they don’t still see this as a choice.”
The Biden campaign is also pumping out cost-effective videos on the virus.
One — featuring Biden’s coronavirus task force coordinator Ron Klain, who was the Ebola response coordinator under President Obama — got over 4 million views in three days.
A March 22 videowith 1.5 million views shows alternating clips of Trump and Biden responding to questions about the coronavirus, with a narrator who concludes: “This moment calls for a president. In November, you can elect one.”
A teacher in Hong Kong shows students hand hygiene during the SARS outbreak in 2003. Photo: Tommy Cheng/AFP via Getty Images
Hong Kong and Singapore, which have both managed to keep coronavirus infections low, had preparation that the U.S. couldn’t replicate: the experience of the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Axios’ Bryan Walsh lived and worked in Hong Kong during that time — and he writes that the city’s experience was every bit as terrifying and paralyzing as what is happening now across the world.
The big picture: During the worst period of the outbreak, Hong Kong experienced a shutdown nearly as total as those caused by COVID-19, with people shunning restaurants and public spaces, schools closed for weeks and the city’s usually bustling airport all but stilled.
Hong Kong’s unemploymenthit an all-time high of 8.5%.
Singapore weathered the storm better, but still experienced a GDP drop of 0.47%.
Left: The New York Post’s Jonathan Karl interviewed Donald Trump in 1994, and Trump asked if he wanted to “get a picture.” (Photo courtesy Jonathan Karl) Right: ABC’s Jonathan Karl questions President Trump this week. (Photo courtesy Doug Mills/The New York Times)
ABC’s Jonathan Karl writes in “Front Row at the Trump Show,” out Tuesday, that during a meeting in 2017, President Trump interrupted a presentation by national security adviser H.R. McMaster on the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, and demanded a war plan.
“I will pass that order on to the Pentagon immediately, Mr. President,” McMaster replied.
Karl writes that one of the options Trump “had in mind was a naval blockade of Venezuela, which didn’t make sense for a lot of reasons, including the fact that Venezuela is not an island.”
As McMaster marched into his office, chief of staff John Kelly hustled after him, Karl writes:
“What the hell are you doing?” Kelly asked.
“I am going to carry out an order from the commander in chief,” McMaster answered.
Kelly told him to stand down and not to pass the president’s order on to the Pentagon.
Why it matters: It’s a juicy example of the approach Kelly, who tried to bring discipline to a chaotic West Wing, took to corralling Trump.
At a crowded sports bar in Manila during a presidential trip, Kelly told Karl that “the most important thing he did was tell the president no. ‘No. Don’t tweet that. No. Don’t change your policy on that. No, no, no.'”
Between the lines: When Karl went to Kelly and asked if he could use a certain off-the-record exchange in the book, the retired general had a surprisingly blanket response, Karl writes in a footnote: “[H]e agreed to allow me to quote this and other previously off-the-record remarks he made while he was chief of staff.”
The Olympic torch relay was to start tomorrow in Fukushima, Japan. Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP
The Tokyo Olympics — with 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries, and a reported cost of $28 billion — have been pushed from a July 24 start into 2021.
“People are having a problem calling off weddings, and calling off little tournaments, so imagine with all the billions of dollars that’s gone into this,” five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings told AP.
The games will still be called the 2020 Olympics — a symbolic gesture that the International Olympic Committee hopes will allow the games to “stand as a beacon of hope,” AP’s Eddie Pells writes.
Only world wars have forced the Olympics to be canceled; they were scrubbed in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
The new date will be tricky: Nearly all 33 sports on the Olympic program have key events, including world championships, on the docket next year.
Mike Allen
📬 Be safe, be careful.Pleasetell a friendabout Axios AM/PM.
Push to lift restrictions meets swift pushback. ”We save our economy by first saving lives. And we have to do it in that order,” one Republican governor said Tuesday.
In the debate pitting the economic costs of coronavirus restrictions against the health costs, experts say the evidence points to the need for continued social distancing and closures.
By William Wan, Reed Albergotti and Joel Achenbach ● Read more »
State officials and healthcare leaders are begging the federal government to bring order and ensure the country has the supplies it needs to battle the virus. So far, the Trump administration has declined.
By Jeanne Whalen, Tony Romm, Aaron Gregg and Tom Hamburger ● Read more »
Health experts in the administration push a worldview grounded in data and evidence in a West Wing where the president has mused about a “miracle” cure.
By Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Yasmeen Abutaleb ● Read more »
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signaled his intent to crack down on those clustering in groups and disobeying public health officials’ guidance to keep at least six feet apart.
The attack was the first of its kind against a worshiping center for the Sikh and Hindu minorities in the capital. It happened during a morning ritual ceremony.
The high-end Le Bijou in Zurich has partnered with a private health clinic to provide services like 24/7 nursing care. The property is getting multiple inquiries a day.
By The Way | A Post Travel Destination ● By Natalie Compton ● Read more »
In a conference call with rank-and-file Republicans on Tuesday, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told lawmakers the House could soon be taking up a $2 trillion coronavirus emergency spending package sent by the Senate.
American companies that produce essential goods in China should plan to shift their operations back to the United States or other Western countries, according to a senior Republican lawmaker.
As a multitrillion-dollar emergency coronavirus spending package ground toward passage Tuesday, conservative activists worried that this temporary measure to keep the economy afloat during the pandemic will instead lead to a permanent expansion of the federal government.
With much of the country cooped up at home to stave off the coronavirus outbreak, the FBI invited its 2.7 million Twitter followers to take a break from Netflix by downloading their “Train Like An Agent” fitness app.
Top government infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that increased coronavirus testing capacity will prevent another sustained outbreak and possibly allow for eased economic restrictions in some areas of the country.
To limit the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, governments and business are trying to allow maximum scope for borrowers of all kinds to make payments. In effect, while commerce has been put on hold, the country is trying to pause financial time.
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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other stories you need to know to start your day.
Illinois officials on Tuesday announced 4 more coronavirus deaths and 250 new cases, bringing the state’s death toll to 16 and the total number of cases since the start of the outbreak to 1,535
More than 425,000 people worldwide have been infected and almost 19,000 have died, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday
The coronavirus outbreak could have caused Illinois hospitals to run out of beds about a week from now if the current stay-at-home order were not in place, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday, citing state projections.
Had the state not taken protective measures, Illinois hospitals would have needed, in the worst-case scenario, 837 more intensive care beds and 2,511 more beds of other types than they currently have, according to the governor’s office. In about two weeks, Illinois would have needed 9,407 additional intensive care beds plus 28,222 more.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is hoping the United States will be reopened by Easter as he weighs how to relax nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job during the coronavirus outbreak, while contradicting the warnings of public health officials on the direction of the crisis.
One of the largest hotels in the city will soon follow suit. The 1,544-room Hilton Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Avenue is notifying guests that it will suspend operations as of Friday, Hilton spokeswoman Laura Ford said.
What started a week ago with a couple of luxury properties downtown has turned into a wave of hotel closures across the city. Ace, Loews, Virgin, The Hoxton, Omni, Four Seasons, Chicago Athletic Association, Park Hyatt, The Peninsula, Hotel Zachary — the list of shuttered addresses keeps getting longer, and experts predict there’s more to come.
Illinois consumers have filed more than 700 price gouging complaints accusing stores of raising prices on household goods during the rush to stock up because of the new coronavirus. The city of Chicago received 175 price gouging complaints between March 1 and Monday. The state received 526 complaints during the same period.
Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. Today is Wednesday. We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the daily co-creators, so find us @asimendinger and @alweaver22 on Twitter and recommend the Morning Report to your friends. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Senate and Trump administration negotiators reached agreement early this morning on a $2 trillion stimulus package aimed at blunting the economic impact of the coronavirus on the U.S. economy and families, clearing a path for swift passage today.
The House is expected to approve the measure by unanimous consent following a Senate vote, potentially putting the largest stimulus measure in American history on the president’s desk this week following days of detailed wrangling. President Trump has said he will sign it.
“Help is on the way,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced.
McConnell’s remarks early today followed round-the-clock negotiations that included Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin since last week (The Hill).
“At last, we have a deal,” McConnell said at 1:37 a.m. He said the bill would inject “trillions of dollars” into the economy “as fast as possible.” “This is a wartime level of investment in our nation. … The American people are already rising to this grave challenge and the Senate is about to follow suit.”
The Washington Post: Senate, White House reach $2 trillion stimulus deal to blunt coronavirus fallout.
Eric Ueland, the president’s legislative affairs director, told reporters the hope is to complete the text of the bill and circulate it to senators early today (CNN).
In remarks on the floor, Schumer hailed the stimulus as an “outstanding agreement” and pointed to key provisions sought by Democrats to help families.
“We believe the legislation has been improved significantly,” Schumer said.
The gargantuan economic aid package would give $1,200 to Americans who earn up to $75,000, creating a $500 billion fund to help struggling industries and a $367 billion loan program for small businesses. The bill would also extend a financial boost to hospitals and the healthcare system and provide four months of unemployment insurance to workers furloughed because of the coronavirus.
The legislation creates an inspector general and oversight committee for the corporate assistance program, modeled on the Troubled Asset Relief Program enacted more than a decade ago, according to one senior administration official.
It would also provide $25 billion in direct financial aid to airlines and $4 billion to air cargo carriers, two industries that have taken a big hit in the economic downturn. If airlines accept a federal grant or a loan, they would have to agree to restrictions on executive compensation and stock buybacks (The Hill).
The deal came together in the aftermath of arduous negotiations. Senate Democrats twice blocked votes to start debate. On Monday, Schumer and Mnuchin met at least five times and kept working until midnight, resuming on Tuesday.
House members, most of whom are not in Washington this week, are expected to vote via unanimous consent after the Senate takes up the mammoth measure (The Hill).
“I can’t speak for the Speaker, I hope she takes it up and she passes it as is,” Mnuchin said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) the House (Roll Call).
On Tuesday, Trump said he wants to restart the virus-halted economy by Easter, April 12. Speaking during a Fox News interview program from the Rose Garden, the president urged senators to quickly wrap up the relief bill and he effusively thanked lawmakers of both parties for their work.
Trump said he’s eager to move beyond the pandemic. “I would love to have the country opened up, and just raring to go, by Easter,” he said. “I gave it two weeks. … We can socially distance ourselves and go to work” (The Hill).
“Most people think I’m right,” he added. “Our people want it open” (The Associated Press).
Anticipation of congressional action, coupled with Federal Reserve intervention this week, helped propel the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday to the largest rebound seen since 1933 (CNBC).
The Hill: Democratic congressional leaders forecast at least two more coronavirus relief bills.
More in Congress: 👉 The Hill’s digital edition today is HERE. … Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) is not Trump’s White House chief of staff yet and remains in Congress until the end of March, according to his spokesman. … House Democrats are exploring remote voting options (The Hill).
Hundreds of thousands of Americans depend on income earned on Airbnb. Federal economic relief must include Airbnb hosts. Learn more.
LEADING THE DAY
CORONAVIRUS & STATES: Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who advises Trump, cautioned on Tuesday that the president’s eagerness to end the ongoing national and state restrictions on life and work is understandable but must be data-driven in key parts of the country. “You can look at a date, but you need to be very flexible” (The Hill).
Fauci said that “no one is going to want to tone down what is happening” to try to halt the spread of COVID-19 in New York City and prepare hospitals for an expected deluge of seriously ill patients. “That’s just common sense.”
States, cities and hospitals battling the coronavirus are making difficult decisions to preserve crucial resources, even as more and faster tests for the respiratory virus become available. Nevertheless, some of the hardest-hit areas of the country are limiting testing to the most vulnerable in order to conserve limited masks, gowns and gloves for health workers. California, Maryland, Illinois and Washington have declared stay-at-home or shutdown orders because of the COVID-19 spread. Other states are reluctant to go that far (The Hill).
> New York: Vice President Pence and administration public health experts on Tuesday night advised people who recently fled New York City to ride out the coronavirus to self-quarantine for 14 days wherever they may be this week because of the extremely high infection and mortality rates showing up in the New York-New Jersey region (The New York Times).
The region is home to 56 percent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the nation, 60 percent of all new cases of the infection in the United States are popping up in that area, and 31 percent of people who die from the disease call that region home, according to Deborah Birx, the State Department immunologist detailed to the White House to coordinate health policy during the pandemic.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) implored the federal government on live television and radio early on Tuesday to send his state 30,000 ventilators, far more than the 400 ventilators he said were initially offered by the Trump administration. By the end of the day, the government hastily said it would deliver 2,000 ventilators for New York City and 2,000 for the rest of the state within 48 hours from the federal stockpile.
That stockpile has only 16,600 ventilators remaining and dozens of pleas for help across the states (Center for Public Integrity).
“What am I going to do with 400 ventilators?” Cuomo said early Monday in response to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s first offer. “You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators!”
During a midday Fox News interview in the Rose Garden shortly after Cuomo forcefully made his case, Pence announced that New York would rapidly get thousands of additional ventilators from the federal stockpile by midweek. Trump, during the same town hall discussion, grumbled that Cuomo, whose briefing he watched on television, should have purchased thousands of ventilators for his state four years ago.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) expressed gratitude on Tuesday for the administration’s revised decision to send hospitals there additional equipment, adding his city still has a shortage it must fill. “I don’t want to see a single person die who could have been saved. That is my standard,” he added, referencing his coordination with Cuomo to pressure Washington to release thousands more ventilators, which control patients’ breathing mechanically. “This is a race against time.”
Cuomo warned of the meteoric rise of infections in and around New York City (The New York Times). “I understand what the president is saying. This is unsustainable,” the governor said, referring to the ongoing shutdown of the U.S. economy in many states. “But if you ask the American people to choose between public health and the economy, then it’s no contest. No American is going to say accelerate the economy at the cost of human life because no American is going to say how much a life is worth” (The Hill).
> Massachusetts: Gov. Charlie Baker (R) used his own news briefing to describe a shutdown of non-essential businesses at noon on Tuesday and to call for an end to partisanship during the nation’s battle with COVID-19 (The Boston Globe).
Washington, D.C.: Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced the closure of all nonessential businesses in Washington, adding that extended school closures are possible but not imminent (The Washington Post).
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
CORONAVIRUS & MEDICINE: If you contract the coronavirus, beware the “second week crash.” Patients often believe they’re getting better before a sudden, precipitous decline that sends them to the emergency room and then to intensive care units (The New York Times podcast, The Daily).
The New York Times Magazine, by deputy editor Jessica Lustig: “What I learned when my husband got sick with coronavirus.”
CNBC: FDA allows treatment of critically ill coronavirus patients with blood from survivors.
The New York Times: Tech company Oracle is providing the White House with software to collect data and study hypothetical therapies for coronavirus, including two malaria drugs touted by Trump. The president has told Americans that a “game changer” treatment is imminent, but his rhetoric concerns senior health officials and public health experts, who believe the Oracle program would amount to a sprawling, crowdsourced clinical trial without FDA controls.
CORONAVIRUS & INTERNATIONAL: Public health officials in the United States and around the world are warning that what Italy has experienced in recent weeks could be a preview of what’s to come in the United States. Of the 69,176 confirmed cases reported in Europe’s hot zone country, 6,820 have died.
As Reid Wilson writes, while governors of 17 states have issued “stay-at-home” directives or similar orders, the president has not done so nationwide and instead hopes that the United States can relax policies that have kept people at home.
“In some countries the situation will get worse before it gets better,”Maria Van Kerkhove, head of emerging diseases and zoonoses at the World Health Organization (WHO), told reporters on Monday. The WHO has warned that the United States is at risk of becoming the next epicenter of the sprawling pandemic.
However, the prospect of relaxing social distancing rules and reopening parts of the economy would almost certainly lead to a coronavirus case curve that would grow, rather than flatten. Like Italy, some are not considering the weight of the situation, leading to the overcrowding of hospitals and shortages of supplies and equipment. In Italy, doctors have begun rationing care, making heart-wrenching decisions about who gets treatment and who is left to die.
“Somehow people are not processing the gravity of the situation, and that is what happened in Italy,” said Janet Baseman, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a “total lockdown” for 1.3 billion in the country over the next three weeks as the number of confirmed cases continue to rise. As part of the shutdown, only essential services will remain up and running, while all nonessential shops and companies as well as places of worship will be shuttered. Also being shut down for the next 21 days are buses and subways.
“To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes,” Modi said.
“According to health experts, a minimum of 21 days is most crucial to break the cycle of infection. If we are not able to manage this pandemic in the next 21 days, the country and your family will be setback by 21 years. If we are not able to manage the next 21 days, then many families will be destroyed forever,” Modi said (CNN).
As of this morning, India had 562 confirmed cases and 10 deaths due to COVID-19.
In the United Kingdom, the first of 21 days without nonessential businesses and a ban on gatherings of three or more individuals did not go according to plan, as photos surfaced on social media of packed train cars on the London Underground.
“Stop Tube travel or more will die,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Tuesday (BBC).
With a 21-day lockdown slated to begin Friday, South Africans are preparing. They will be able to leave home only under “strictly controlled circumstances” to access essential goods, including to buy groceries and medicine or to collect a social grant (Al Jazeera).
Fox News: Americans, foreigners desperately try to leave South Africa ahead of coronavirus lockdown.
In Spain, nearly 6,600 new confirmed cases — a one-day record — and more than 500 deaths were recorded on Tuesday as the nation continues to struggle containing the virus despite the government issuing a stay-at-home order. Police have arrested more than 900 for disobeying the order (The Associated Press).
Finally, as Politico points out, there are questions being raised over the numbers being reported out of China. While China has claimed victory against the virus and only reported 78 new cases on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s public broadcasting reported that Wuhan is “denying virus tests to keep numbers down.” Meanwhile, Japan’s Kyodo News reported that the number of cases in Wuhan were being manipulated ahead of a recent visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to the latest statistics, there are 425,493 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide, with the death toll hitting 18,963 as of this morning.
OPINION
There is a monumental crisis on the front line of the coronavirus battle, by Dorothy Novick, opinion contributor, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/2JcmZVx
The dollar squeeze Is coming for China Inc., by Anjanii Trived, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/2WNltkZ
WHERE AND WHEN
The House meets in a pro forma session at 10 a.m.
The Senate meets at noon.
The president receives his intelligence briefing in the Oval Office at 11:30 a.m. Trump will participate in a 2 p.m. phone call with nonprofit organizations about responding to the pandemic. The president is expected to take questions from the press corps at 5 p.m. about the government’s coronavirus response efforts.
Pence will participate in the president’s events tied to COVID-19, including a meeting of the administration’s coronavirus task force. The vice president will participate in the daily press briefing at 5 p.m. to take questions and provide federal updates.
Economic indicator: The Census Bureau at 8:30 a.m. releases its report on the advance durable goods orders in February, which may show the emergence of supply chain problems last month prompted by the virus.
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➔ Olympics postponed: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he has reached an agreement with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach to postpone the Olympics for about one year. Summer 2021 is the latest that these Olympics could be held, Abe said (The Associated Press).
➔ News media: Major U.S. newspapers called on China to reverse expulsions of their journalists from the country (The Hill). … Twitter announced it will donate $1 million to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women’s Media Foundation, both nonprofits.
➔ National politics: Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to participate in an April Democratic primary debate, if there is one, against former Vice President Joe Biden. No date or location has been set (The New York Times). … Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) postponed the state’s April 28 presidential primary to June 2 because of the coronavirus (Delaware News Journal). … Biden said Tuesday that he doesn’t think the Democratic National Convention in July should be canceled, arguing that it is possible to fight COVID-19 while moving forward with normal “democratic processes” (The Hill). … Biden also said that he has not been tested for the coronavirus and has not had any symptoms at this point (The Hill). …White House coronavirus briefings are the new campaign rallies for Trump, reports The Associated Press. And managing the U.S. response to the pandemic has helped the president’s standing with Americans. Sixty percent of voters say they approve of the job Trump is doing to respond to the coronavirus, according to Gallup, while the president’s job approval rose 5 points to 49 percent (The Hill).
➔ Tech: Speaking of Twitter (above), GOP lawmakers and Trump allies have increased pressure on the social media giant to crack down on disinformation from Chinese government officials and agencies regarding the coronavirus (The Hill).
And finally … Sacrificio divino. A 72-year-old Italian priest, Father Giuseppe Berardelli, who was infected by COVID-19, chose to give a respirator purchased for him by his parishioners to a young patient also sick with the virus to try to save the stranger’s life. Berardelli, the archpriest of Casnigo, died this month in a hospital in Lovere, not far from Milan (Araberara).
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White House and Senate negotiators announced an agreement early Wednesday morning on a massive financial rescue package designed to curb the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. “At last, we have a deal,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor a little after 1:30 a.m. Read More…
When Supreme Court justices speak at public universities across the country, they often travel in style — and, at times, at taxpayer expense. The justices’ travel perks have included private plane trips, blocs of fancy hotel rooms and VIP dinners where they rub elbows with large-dollar university donors. Read More…
Remote voting is not coming to the House anytime soon, according to a Rules Committee report. But some advocates say the report didn’t fully consider the options available, and members are still pushing for emergency alternatives. Read More…
Click here to subscribe to Fintech Beat for the latest market and regulatory developmentsin finance and financial technology.
OPINION — Former South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis lost his seat in the 2010 tea party wave over his vote for the so-called bank bailout two years earlier. He sees a similar dynamic at play on the policy front for the coronavirus stimulus package Congress now has to pass. Read More…
OPINION — Former Rep. Richard Hanna, who died on March 15, was not exactly a household name. But the New York Republican, who served from 2011 to 2017, was probably my favorite candidate interview — and that’s saying something, Stu Rothenberg writes. Read More…
Rep. Mark Meadows is not yet President Donald Trump’s chief of staff. Really. He’s not. The North Carolina Republican sure looked like the White House chief of staff as he made the rounds with top administration officials Tuesday. But Meadows insists that is not the case, at least not yet. Read More…
As legislation to address the coronavirus pandemic inched through Congress this week, business nearby was even slower. At four longtime drinking spots on Capitol Hill, the refrain was the same: No one has seen anything like this in the industry. Read More…
The push by governments, companies and educational institutions globally to have employees and students work from home has created a surge in demand for videoconferencing and internet access that their providers say so far are holding up. Read More…
The Justice Department closed two more immigration courts after announcing Tuesday that someone in each court system had tested positive for coronavirus, but more than three dozen other immigration courts remained open across the country despite widespread calls for their closure. Read More…
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BREAKING OVERNIGHT: “Negotiators strike deal on massive coronavirus rescue package,” by Andrew Desiderio, Melanie Zanona and Sarah Ferris: “Senate leaders and the Trump administration clinched a bipartisan deal early Wednesday morning on a nearly $2 trillion emergency relief package in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a move intended to assist businesses and millions of Americans amid an unprecedented halt in the U.S. economy.
“The announcement, which came around 1 a.m., capped five days of tense, marathon talks between senators and the White House. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed that the Senate will pass the bill later Wednesday, while House leaders are eyeing an expedited process to get the massive emergency package to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature before the end of the week.”
— NYT: “In the final measure, lawmakers agreed to a significant expansion of unemployment benefits that would extend unemployment insurance by 13 weeks and include a four-month enhancement of benefits, officials familiar with the unfinished agreement said. Democrats said that it would allow workers to maintain their full salaries if forced out of work as a result of the pandemic.”
— WAPO: “The delay in finalizing a deal came, in part, because aides launched a painstaking scrub of the bill’s text, to make sure that one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation ever attempted by Congress — thrown together in little over a week — actually said what lawmakers wanted it to say.
“Senate Republicans were being extra meticulous because they felt an earlier and much smaller coronavirus relief bill, which Mnuchin negotiated in a rush with Pelosi this month, turned out to have provisions related to paid sick leave that GOP senators opposed — but which they reluctantly accepted. Now, they wanted to double- and triple-check Mnuchin’s work in brokering a deal with Schumer, given the enormous stakes.”
CHUCK SCHUMER IS COUNTING … Here are the items Schumer’s team says they’ve secured in the last few days: an extra month of unemployment insurance; $55 billion more for hospitals; $150 billion for states, localities and tribes; $10 billion in SBA grants of up to $10,000 for small business costs; $17 billion for SBA to cover six months of payments for businesses with current SBA loans …
… $30 billion in emergency education funding; $25 billion in transit funding; $30 billion for the Disaster Relief fund; the ban of stock buybacks for companies that received government assistance; real-time reporting of Treasury loans, investments and assistance; an IG for the $500 billion to lend to corporations; a tax credit that would encourage employers to keep workers on the payroll; a tax exclusion for people who are receiving student loan repayment from their employer.
— WHAT SCHUMER’S OFFICE IS REALLYEAGER TO POINT OUT: “Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has secured a provision in the agreement that will prohibit businesses controlled by the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and heads of Executive Departments from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs. The children, spouses and in-laws of the aforementioned principals are also included in this prohibition.” Schumer’s Dear Colleague letter
WE ANTICIPATE Republicans will disagree with some of SCHUMER’S accounting.
OK, NOW WE’RE ACTUALLY ON THE 2-YARD LINE: We anticipate this bill will pass with a very large, bipartisan majority in the Senate later today.
— REMEMBER, MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE are going to want some time to review legislative text. The working theory in Democratic leadership seems to be that a vote will come Thursday, though it could happen as early as today.
— NOW, WHAT DOES A HOUSE VOTE LOOK LIKE? That’s a good question. Both sides hope they will be able to pass this by unanimous consent or a voice vote, but just one lawmaker may object to the request, which will force them into a tricky plan B. We will keep you posted on where this lands.
SNIPPET: N.Y. Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ went on Chis Hayes’ MSNBC show to talk about the bill, negotiated by SCHUMER, her state’s senior senator. She has been sharply critical of it. AOC was appearing from D.C., according to the chyron on MSNBC. The MSNBC clip
NEXT UP … WHAT MIGHT PHASE FOUR LOOK LIKE? More money for SNAP. The Postal Service is going broke. Airlines may need more money. States and municipalities may need more money. Unemployment insurance may again need to be beefed up. The sagging workforce may need a refresh of direct payments. The White House is sure to push for the payroll tax cut again. ALL WHILE Congress may be unable to return to Washington due to the pandemic.
— SEVERAL LEADERSHIP AIDES told us they believed another package would come within the next month.
UP, UP, UP … AP: “Asian shares jump after Dow’s biggest gain since ’33,” by Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok: “Shares leaped in Asia on Wednesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to its best day since 1933 as Congress and the White House reached a deal on injecting nearly $2 trillion of aid into an economy ravaged by the coronavirus. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 8%, while Hong Kong added 3.3% and Sydney climbed 5.5%. Markets across Asia were all up more than 2%.
“Tokyo share prices were lifted also by the decision to postpone the 2020 Olympics to July 2021 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought travel almost to a standstill and is leaving many millions of people ordered to stay home to help contain the outbreaks. The postponement alleviated fears the event might be cancelled altogether.
“U.S. futures turned higher after lawmakers said they had bridged their differences over the stimulus package. The future for the Dow rose 1.1% to 20,839.00 and the contract for the S&P 500 picked up 0.4% to 2,399.80.” AP
YOU THINK WE’LL HEAR MORE ABOUT THIS? … BLOOMBERG: “Fed Enlists BlackRock In Its Massive Debt-Buying Programs,”by Annie Massa: “The Federal Reserve tapped BlackRock Inc. to shepherd several debt-buying programs on behalf of the U.S. central bank as it works to revive an economy reeling from the spread of coronavirus.
“BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, will serve as an investment adviser and manage assets for three separate programs, the New York Fed said Tuesday. Those include two new facilities the central bank announced Monday to provide liquidity to corporate borrowers, as well as purchases of agency commercial mortgage-backed securities.”
BIG SWING … NYT, A9: DAVID SANGER, ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and ANA SWANSON:“Slow Response to the Coronavirus Measured in Lost Opportunity”: “When Ford’s chief executive, Jim Hackett, announced on Tuesday that the carmaker would team up with General Electric to build ventilators, he tempered the good news with a note of caution: ‘We’re talking about early June.’
“That was just one of several examples that underscored the price of the Trump administration’s slow response to evidence as early as January that the coronavirus was headed to the United States.
“For the first time, it is now possible to quantify the cost of the lost weeks, as President Trump was claiming as recently as February that in a ‘couple of days’ the number of cases in the United States ‘is going to be down to close to zero.’
“Ford’s timeline suggested that if the administration had reacted to the acute shortage of ventilators in February, the joint effort between Ford and General Electric might have produced lifesaving equipment sometime in mid- to late April. … Mr. Trump is caught between his desire to be proactive and optimistic, and the crushing realities of the numbers. For the past two weeks, the administration has usually avoided indicating the number of ventilators, masks or personal protective equipment that it has distributed. That changed on Monday, when Rear Adm. John P. Polowczyk, a senior logistics officer for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, began specifying delivery quantities.”
Good Wednesday morning.
MARK MEADOWS — a member of Congress and current acting White House chief of staff who was negotiating all day on Capitol Hill — has hired former Rep. JOHN FLEMING (R-La.) to work in the White House. Fleming most recently was assistant secretary of Commerce for economic development. He left the House to run for the Senate in 2016, but lost. We hear he’ll be deputy chief of staff, in what would be Meadows’ first major hire.
NEW POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL — “Trump gets ratings bump amid coronavirus crisis,” by Steven Shepard: “After three-plus years of consistently negative approval ratings, President Donald Trump is getting better marks for his handling of the still-fledgling coronavirus outbreak ravaging the nation.
“But Trump’s higher job ratings from Americans are just relative: Voters are still mostly split on how he’s handling the pandemic, and the past two weeks have brought only a modest bump in his overall approval numbers, which still show more Americans disapprove of his performance as president than approve.
“In a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, a quarter of voters surveyed said Trump is doing an ‘excellent’ job handling the virus, and another 17 percent said he is doing a ‘good’ job. But almost as many, 39 percent, said he’s doing a ‘poor’ job, and 13 percent rate his handling of the crisis as ‘just fair.’” POLITICO
NYT’S JESSE MCKINLEY and SHANE GOLDMACHER on ANDREW CUOMO: “How Cuomo, Once on Sidelines, Became the Politician of the Moment”: “Mr. Cuomo’s explanation for his popularity is simple. ‘I’m not doing anything different than I have ever done,’ the governor said in an interview on Monday. ‘It’s just a bigger audience. And it’s a more intense time.’”
JOHN HARRIS ANALYSIS: “Trump bets that voters are as impatient as he is”: “President Donald Trump’s vow Tuesday that he would ‘love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,’ less than three weeks from now, was the clearest signal yet of the political logic he hopes to follow in a presidential campaign shadowed by global pandemic.
“He is eager to own the only good thing about a crisis that has paralyzed the country and left millions of people in housebound despair: The reality that life will at some point slowly lurch back to normal.
“He is determined to make other people — specifically, governors and public health officials — own everything else, including the reality that massive shutdowns will continue long after the Christian holy day on April 12. Trump’s Monday evening briefing at the White House and his remarks this afternoon at a ‘virtual townhall’ hosted in the Rose Garden represented a new chapter in audacity from a president who has already authored volumes on the theme.”
— ON THE FLIP SIDE … LAT:L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti “also rebuffed President Trump’s earlier comments that he wanted to quickly ease restrictions and said that Angelenos should be ‘prepared for a couple months like this.’
“‘I know that everybody is hopeful, and some are putting out that hope of us being back in churches by Easter or synagogues by Passover or restarting the economy in a couple weeks,’ Garcetti said. ‘I think we owe it to everybody to be straightforward and honest. We will not be back to … that level of normal in that short period of time.’”
QUOTE DU JOUR,via WaPo’s Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Yasmeen Abutaleb: “In a brief interview, [Anthony] Fauci — who was notably absent from several coronavirus events before reappearing at a White House briefing Tuesday evening — played down signs of tension with Trump. ‘The one thing I can tell you, every time I speak to him about something he listens carefully and weighs it,’ Fauci said. ‘He’s responsible for much more than what I’m responsible for.’”
MICHAEL KRUSE: “The New Trump Show: ‘I’ve Gotten to Like This Room’”: “Over the last two weeks, Trump has embarked on a striking chapter of his optics-obsessed presidency, turning the all-but-abandoned briefing room into the set of a largely unscripted television series that has gripped, worried and (depending on one’s political affiliation) infuriated viewers.
“Stripped of the weapon of his rallies, of ‘chopper talk,’ of the sorts of set pieces to which the populace had grown accustomed over the three-plus years he’s been commander-in-chief, Trump as a president in crisis has engineered something different. While governors from New York to California have staged almost daily briefings, offering a traditional mixture of stern warnings and words of comfort, Trump has created something more like a show built on narrative surprises and populated with familiar characters—the good doctors, the bad reporters, the loyal lieutenants. And in the middle of it all, playing the role of the ringmaster, the marketer and the brander and the professed expert, is Trump.
“His mood and his message have ebbed and flowed, alternately boasting and bashing, soothing and striking, intermittently solemn, flippant and peeved, flouting facts and shifting blame, underplaying dire projections and overselling potential vaccines.” POLITICO
NEW … NAVIGATOR GLOBAL is launching a daily coronavirus tracking poll, which will be part of a new messaging project led by IAN SAMS, a Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton alum. This will be in partnership with the Hub Project and Groundwork Collaborative.
— FIRST BITE FROM THEM: “Only 30% of Americans say the economy is excellent or good, a massive 23-point decline from 53% in Navigator’s March 6-8 survey, and down 32 points from January (62% excellent/good). 41% of Americans already say someone they know personally has lost their job due to the pandemic.”
CNBC’S @kaylatausche: “Former Pence chief of staff Nick Ayers has been running backchannel between WH and corporate America, stressing dire impact of a long-term shutdown. … Ayers has been instrumental in the White House’s messaging shift after Trump last week suggested the economy could be shutdown until July. … Today’s call with Wall Street titans warning on economic growth is one of many Ayers has arranged in the last week, I’m told.”
ON THE GROUND — “Health workers fear U.S. hospitals will become coronavirus hot spots,” by Rachel Roubein and Susannah Luthi: “Doctors and nurses are increasingly worried they will become the spreaders of the coronavirus rather than the healers, as hospitals themselves become a hot spot for the pandemic.
“That fear is already a reality in Italy, the global epicenter of the pandemic, where researchers have found hospitals overloaded by coronavirus patients have become transmission points. Public health officials, like those at the World Health Organization, have increasingly warned that health care workers themselves could be vectors for the disease — accelerating its spread and undermining the ability of countries’ health systems to combat it.
“U.S. hospital staff worry a similar scenario could play out here, according to 10 health care workers who responded to a POLITICO survey and others who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs.” POLITICO
— AP/NEW YORK: “A ‘cacophony of coughing’ in packed emergency rooms. Beds squeezed in wherever there is space. Overworked, sleep-deprived doctors and nurses rationed to one face mask a day and wracked by worry about a dwindling number of available ventilators.
“Such is the reality inside New York City’s hospitals, which have become the war-zone-like epicenter of the nation’s coronavirus crisis.” AP
— WAPO: “Scramble for medical equipment descends into chaos as U.S. states and hospitals compete for rare supplies,” by Jeanne Whalen, Tony Romm, Aaron Gregg and Tom Hamburger: “A mad scramble for masks, gowns and ventilators is pitting states against each other and driving up prices. Some hard-hit parts of the country are receiving fresh supplies of N95 masks, but others are still out of stock. Hospitals are requesting donations of masks and gloves from construction companies, nail salons and tattoo parlors, and considering using ventilators designed for large animals because they cannot find the kind made for people.
“The market for medical supplies has descended into chaos, according to state officials and health-care leaders. They are begging the federal government to use a wartime law to bring order and ensure the United States has the gear it needs to battle the coronavirus. So far, the Trump administration has declined.” WaPo
ANNA spoke with JOANNE KENEN, executive editor of POLITICO’s health team, in the most recent Women Rule podcast to talk about what it’s like to cover a pandemic. Listen and subscribe
BERNIE VS. BIDEN — “‘Bernie has a real decision to make’: Labor throws in with Biden,” by Marc Caputo: “First came the National Education Association. Then the United Food and Commercial Workers. The American Federation of Teachers came next and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees followed.
“Joe Biden has rolled up endorsements from four of the largest — and most politically influential — unions in the past 10 days, a show of force that has bolstered his standing as the de facto Democratic nominee for president and dealt a serious blow to Bernie Sanders’ flickering hopes. ‘Bernie has a real decision to make,’ AFT President Randi Weingarten said without explicitly calling on Sanders to drop out. …
“The coalescing of major labor support — including three of the four large public employee unions — behind Biden came as the latest blow to Sanders, a union ally whose progressive campaign is built around helping working people. Absent an unforeseen turn of events, Sanders has little realistic hope in overcoming Biden’s sizable lead in the delegate count needed to clinch the nomination.” POLITICO
G’LUCK! … RNC 2020 CONVENTION STILL ON: “Republicans forging ahead with Charlotte convention,” by Alex Isenstadt: “Republicans said Tuesday they’re forging forward with their national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, this summer, even as the coronavirus is shuttering high-profile events across the country. ‘We are fully committed to holding the Republican convention in Charlotte as planned and re-nominating President Trump. We have not had any substantive conversations about alternative scenarios,’ said Richard Walters, the Republican National Committee chief of staff.
“Democrats have also said they plan to move forward with their summer convention in Milwaukee. But the Democratic National Committee issued a statement on Monday that appeared to hedge, saying the party was ‘exploring a range of contingency options to ensure we can deliver a successful convention without unnecessary risk to public health.’ (The party insisted that contingency planning is the norm for conventions, and that nothing has changed.)” POLITICO
TRUMP’S WEDNESDAY — The president will participate in a phone call with nonprofits regarding the coronavirus response at 2 p.m. in the Oval Office.
— THE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE will hold a press briefing at 5 p.m.
PLAYBOOK READS
DANIEL LIPPMAN: “DHS wound down pandemic models before coronavirus struck”: “The Department of Homeland Security stopped updating its annual models of the havoc that pandemics would wreak on America’s critical infrastructure in 2017, according to current and former DHS officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
“From at least 2005 to 2017, an office inside DHS, in tandem with analysts and supercomputers at several national laboratories, produced detailed analyses of what would happen to everything from transportation systems to hospitals if a pandemic hit the United States.
“But the work abruptly stopped in 2017 amid a bureaucratic dispute over its value, two of the former officials said, leaving the department flat-footed as it seeks to stay ahead of the impacts the COVID-19 outbreak is having on vast swathes of the U.S. economy. Officials at other agencies have requested some of the reports from the pandemic modeling unit at DHS in recent days, only to find the information they needed scattered or hard to find quickly.” POLITICO
TRADE WARS — “Trump Administration Weighs 90-Day Deferral of Tariffs,”by Bloomberg’s Jenny Leonard: “The Trump administration is debating whether to defer payments of duties on imported goods from around the world for three months, people familiar with the talks said. Discussions in recent days involving the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other government agencies about suspending tariffs, across a broad range of goods, for a three-month period sparked push back from domestic industry associations.”
GOOD QUESTION … SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “New York state has 10 times the COVID-19 cases California has. Why?”by Erin Allday:“New York’s coronavirus outbreak has violently erupted over the past few days, and the state is now driving the national epidemic — while on the West Coast, public health experts are wondering if an early and aggressive response saved California from a similar fate.
“California reported some of the earliest coronavirus cases in the United States in late January. And in the first week of March, California and New York were neck and neck on cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But over the past week, New York case counts have doubled every few days, and the state now has 10 times the cases California does: 25,000 to 2,500.”
ACROSS THE POND … POLITICO EUROPE: “In fight against coronavirus, governments embrace surveillance”: “From drones barking orders at park-goers to tracing people’s movements through cellphones, Western governments are rushing to embrace sophisticated surveillance tools that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago.”
AND/BUT … WSJ’S JEREMY PAGE with a cautionary tale from Beijing: “China’s Progress Against Coronavirus Used Draconian Tactics Not Deployed in the West”: “U.S. and European leaders are looking at China’s progress in curbing the coronavirus pandemic to guide them on how to beat the virus within their own borders. They may be drawing the wrong lessons, doctors and health experts say.
“The cordon sanitaire that began around Wuhan and two nearby cities on Jan. 23 helped slow the virus’s transmission to other parts of China, but didn’t really stop it in Wuhan itself, these experts say. Instead, the virus kept spreading among family members in homes, in large part because hospitals were too overwhelmed to handle all the patients, according to doctors and patients there.
“What really turned the tide in Wuhan was a shift after Feb. 2 to a more aggressive and systematic quarantine regime whereby suspected or mild cases—and even healthy close contacts of confirmed cases—were sent to makeshift hospitals and temporary quarantine centers.
“The tactics required turning hundreds of hotels, schools and other places into quarantine centers, as well as building two new hospitals and creating 14 temporary ones in public buildings. It also underscored the importance of coronavirus testing capacity, which local authorities say was expanded from 200 tests a day in late January to 7,000 daily by mid-February.” WSJ
NYT’S JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and KAI SCHULTZ in New Delhi: “Modi Orders 3-Week Total Lockdown for All 1.3 Billion Indians: With four hours’ notice, India’s prime minister announced that no one could leave home for 21 days — the most severe step taken anywhere in the war against the coronavirus.” NYT
IN MEMORIAM — “Journalist Alan Finder, 72, of Ridgewood, dies of coronavirus disease,” by Rick Hampson in The (Bergen) Record: “Over five decades Alan Finder had a career of which young journalists dream. But when he died Tuesday at 72, several weeks after testing positive for COVID-19, his colleagues’ eulogies dwelt on not his achievements – New York Times City Hall bureau chief, for one – as much as his character. …
“Finder made his professional mark in the 1980s and 90s, which Times executive editor Dean Baquet called ‘a big, hugely competitive era for New York City news.’ But the most vivid reminiscences Tuesday focused on his generosity with colleagues, including less experienced ones; his devotion to the truth; his versatility; and his love of people.” NorthJersey.com
TRANSITIONS — Michawn Rich has been detailed to the CDC to help with comms related to the coronavirus and has temporarily moved to Atlanta. She previously was comms director at the USDA. … Kemah Dennis-Morial is now director of public affairs at AT&T. She most recently was a senior adviser to Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.).
— WAPO’S JOSH DAWSEY (@jdawsey1): “Michael McKenna, the #2 aide in legislative affairs at the White House, was let go from his post today, per several people with knowledge. He was told to exit building immediately. … [He says] there was a complaint lodged against him about ‘a statement or statements I may have made while on the grounds.’” More
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Emily Schillinger, VP of public affairs at the American Investment Council. How she’s celebrating: “I’m celebrating at home (surprise, surprise) with my husband and our 1-year-old daughter. I’m looking forward to brownies, ice cream and watching our daughter ride her new pink rocking horse throughout the day. She is getting quite good at it these days.” Playbook Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: NYT’s Bari Weiss is 36 … Sofia Boza-Holman, DHS press secretary … AP political editor Steven Sloan, a POLITICO alum … Michael Ortiz, head of public affairs at Roivant Sciences, is 37 … Nick Kalman, Fox News producer … Meredith Shiner of the UChicago Urban Network … Jessica Emond … Daniella Gibbs Léger, EVP for comms and strategy at CAP … Aaron David Miller is 71 … POLITICO’s Arthur Allen … Apple’s Chad Bolduc … Alissa Rooney, director of media and PR at Oxfam America … Andrew Revkin … Katey McCutcheon, deputy comms director for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Christopher Hale is 31 … Marneé Banks, chief comms officer at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership … Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman … FT’s Henry Foy … Kevin Luiz … Joe Chelak, comms director for Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), is 3-0 (h/t Ben Mullany) … The Boston Globe’s Felice Belman …
… Sarah Badawi, deputy national political director for Bernie Sanders’ campaign, who recently got engaged to Omeed Jafari — pic … Anna Brower … Grant Dubler, LD for Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), is 31 and celebrating with chocolate cake and an episode of “The West Wing” (h/t wife Lisa) … Peter Friedman … Lauren Aronson, a partner at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas … Suzanne Helman … Patrick Bailey, chief counsel for governmental affairs for the Senate HSGAC … Dawn Ennis … Danielle Engel … Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett is 48 … Kristen Atwood … Kate Mente … Laura Rusu … Thom Loverro … Nina Kiersted … Gloria Pan … Anthony Garrett … Lane Hudson … PBS’ Pete Van Vleet … Lauryl Dodson Jackson … Danielle Craig … Amazon’s Andrew Okuyiga … Stina Skewes-Cox … Nick Kimball … Chas Danner … Sarah Eyman … Doug Bellis … Kristin Nicholson … Traci Siegel … Mike Monroe … Trout Kinney
Famous Black Preachers: John Marrant, George Liele, Andrew Bryan, David George, Richard Allen, & Harry Hosier
One of the first black preachers in America was John Marrant.
Born a free black in New York in 1755, his father died when he was young.
He traveled with his mother to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. He learned how to read, play the violin and the French horn.
In 1770, as a teenager during the Great Awakening Revival, Marrant was taken to hear evangelist George Whitefield in Charleston, South Carolina, and he came to Christ.
Being vocal about his new faith, he was rejected by his family.
Marrant wandered away and lived in the woods trusting God to provide. He was befriended by Cherokee and learned their language.
As tensions grew prior to the Revolution, with British inciting Indians, Marrant was arrested by the Cherokee chief and almost executed.
Providentially, he preached to the chief, who converted, and gave him complete permission to proclaim the Gospel among the entire tribe.
He also preached to the Creek, Catawba and Housaw.
John Marrant returned to South Carolina where he preach among slaves.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, he was impressed into the British navy and taken to England where he preached for years.
He later returned to preach the Gospel in Nova Scotia to “a great number of Indians and white people” at Green’s Harbour near Newfoundland.
The missionary-minded Countess of Huntingdon published A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, a Black, which became incredibly popular and went through 17 editions.
George Liele was another early American black preacher.
Born a slave in Virginia in 1750, he was taken to Georgia in 1752.
When he was 23, he heard Baptist preacher Rev. Matthew Moore and converted.
Liele later wrote that he “saw my condemnation in my own heart, and I found no way wherein I could escape the damnation of hell, only through the merits of my dying Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
George Liele attended the Buckhead Creek Baptist Church, with his master, Henry Sharp, who was a deacon.
Henry Sharp encouraged George’s preaching and freed him.
George Liele gained a following and organized them into a congregation in Silver Bluff Baptist Church in Beach Island, South Carolina, 1773 – considered one of the first black congregation in America.
When the Revolutionary War threatened, George and members of his congregation moved to Savannah, Georgia, where they met in Jonathan Bryan’s barn.
One of Jonathan Bryan’s slaves, Andrew Bryan, converted, was freed, and became the pastor of the congregation — First Bryan Baptist Church — one of the first black Baptist churches in North America.
By 1802, the congregation had grown to 700 members and changed its name to First African Baptist Church.
The Savannah Baptist Association wrote on the occasion of his death in 1812 (The Wallbuilder Report, 2005)::
“The Association is sensibly affected by the death of the Rev. Andrew Bryan, a man of color, and pastor of the First Colored Church in Savannah.
This son of Africa, after suffering inexpressible persecutions in the cause of his divine Master, was at length permitted to discharge the duties of the ministry among his colored friends in peace and quiet, hundreds of whom, through his instrumentality, were brought to knowledge of the truth ‘as it is in Jesus.'”
Among George Liele’s converts was David George.
In 1778, when the British captured Savannah during the Revolution, David George went with the British to Nova Scotia, where he founded a black Baptist church.
Then in 1792, he went with the British to Freetown, Sierra Leon, and started another black Baptist church.
As the Revolutionary War grew more intense, George Liele decided to evacuate.
Alan Neely wrote in the Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions (NY: Macmillan, ed. Gerald H. Anderson, 1998, 400-1):
“In order to be evacuated with other royalists and British troops, Liele obtained a loan and accepted the status of indentured servant to pay the passage for himself, his wife, and his four children on a ship bound for Jamaica.
Landing there in January 1783, he soon repaid the debt and secured permission to preach to the slaves on the island.
Thus by the time William Carey — often mistakenly perceived to be the first Baptist missionary — sailed for India in 1793, Liele had worked as a missionary for a decade, supporting himself and his family by farming and by transporting goods with a wagon and team.
Apparently, he never received or accepted remuneration for his ministry, most of which was directed to the slaves.
… He preached, baptized hundreds, and organized them into congregations governed by a church covenant he adapted to the Jamaican context.
By 1814 his efforts had produced, either directly or indirectly, some 8,000 Baptists in Jamaica.
At times he was harassed by the white colonists and by government authorities for ‘agitating the slaves’ and was imprisoned, once for more than three years.
While he never openly challenged the system of slavery, he prepared the way for those who did; he well deserves the title ‘Negro slavery’s prophet of deliverance.’
George Liele died in Jamaica.”
Another early black congregation began in a building on the plantation of Colonel William Byrd III in 1774. It grew into the First Baptist Church of Petersburg, Virginia.
In 1865, the church hosted Virginia’s first Republican convention.
A prominent early black preacher was Richard Allen, born to slave parents in Philadelphia and sold with his family to a plantation in Dover, Delaware.
As a young man, Richard’s master, Stokley Sturgis, gave him permission to attend Methodist religious meetings, where he learned to read.
In the year 1777, at the age of 17, Richard Allen was converted and determined to work even harder to prove that Christianity did not make slaves slothful.
Allen invited a Methodist minister to visit his master and preach to him.
Methodists were against slavery, as founder John Wesley had called it “that execrable sum of all villainies.”
After Allen’s master heard that on the Day of Judgment slaveholders would be “weighed in the balance and found wanting,” he converted and made arrangements for Richard to become free.
Richard Allen became a licensed exhorter, and in 1783, set out preaching in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, walking so much that his feet became severely blistered.
Richard Allen, together with other black preachers from St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, began their own church.
Their first church building was dedicated by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1794.
Dr. Benjamin Rush and George Washington contributed to Richard Allen’s church.
In 1816, Allen led in the forming of an entirely new denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was the first African-American denomination organized in the United States.
The main building was in Philadelphia, named Mother Bethel AME Church. It is the oldest parcel of real estate in the United States owned continuously by African Americans.
Jarena Lee became the first woman to receive “authorization” to preach, with Richard Allen giving his approval.
Allen supported AME missionaries, including Rev. Scipio Beanes, who was sent to Haiti in 1827.
By the date of Richard Allen’s death, MARCH 26, 1831, the African Methodist Episcopal Church had grown to over 10,000 members, and since then, to over 3 million.
The motto of the AME Church is:
“God Our Father,
Christ Our Redeemer,
the Holy Spirit Our Comforter,
Humankind Our Family.”
Richard Allen wrote in his autobiography:
“I was born in the year of our Lord 1760, on February 14th, a slave to Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia …
My mother and father and four children of us were sold into Delaware State, near Dover, and I was a child and lived with him until I was upwards of twenty years of age,
during which time I was awakened and brought to see myself poor, wretched and undone, and without the mercy of God must be lost …
I went with my head bowed down for many days. My sins were a heavy burden. I was tempted to believe there was no mercy for me. I cried to the Lord both night and day.
One night I thought hell would be my portion. I cried unto Him who delighteth to hear the prayers of a poor sinner; and all of a sudden my dungeon shook, my chains flew off, and glory to God, I cried.
My soul was filled. I cried, enough, for me — the Saviour died.”
Allen stated:
“This land, which we have watered with our tears and our blood, is now our mother country, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and Gospel is free.”
In the winter of 1784, Richard Allen, and another black freedman, Harry Hosier, attended the Methodists “Christmas Conference,” where the Methodist Church officially separated from the Church of England to form its own denomination.
Richard Allen was invited, but declined, to preach in Southern States with the circuit-riding preacher Francis Asbury — America’s first Methodist Bishop.
Instead, Harry Hosier accompanied Rev. Francis Asbury.
Hosier later accompanied other Methodist Bishops: Rev. Richard Whatcoat, Rev. Freeborn Garretson, and Rev. Thomas Coke.
Bishop Thomas Coke described Harry Hosier:
“I really believe he is one of the best preachers in the world. There is such an amazing power that attends his preaching … and he is one of the humblest creatures I ever saw.”
Born in North Carolina, Harry Hosier was illiterate. Nevertheless, he memorized verbatim entire sermons and long passages of Scripture, resulting in the Methodist bishops letting him preach at their meetings with great effect.
Rev. Henry Boehm wrote (The Wallbuilder Report, 2005):
“Harry was so illiterate … that he could not read a word but he could repeat the hymn as if reading it, and quote his text with great accuracy.
His voice was musical, his tongue as the pen of a ready writer. He was unboundedly popular, and many would rather hear him than the bishop.”
Hosier’s sermon “The Barren Fig Tree,” preached in 1781, was the first sermon by a black preacher that was copied down and printed.
Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, exclaimed that Harry Hosier preached the greatest sermon he had ever heard.
It being too dangerous to preach in the pro-slavery Democrat South, Hosier preached camp meeting revivals along America’s western frontier of that era, the territories of Ohio and Indiana. He was described by historians (The Wallbuilder Report, 2005):
“… a renowned camp meeting exhorter, the most widely known black preacher of his time, and arguably the greatest circuit rider of his day.”
Professor William Pierson of Fisk University explained how the term “Hoosier” could have originated as a derogatory label for those attending these rural camp meetings (The Wallbuilder Report, 2005):
“Such an etymology would offer Indiana a plausible and worthy first Hoosier – ‘Black Harry’ Hoosier – the greatest preacher of his day, a man who rejected slavery and stood up for morality and the common man.”
By Caffeinated Thoughts on Mar 24, 2020 08:12 pm
The Iowa Department of Public Health learned of the first death associated with novel coronavirus (COVID-19), an elderly resident of Dubuque County. Read in browser »
By Caffeinated Thoughts on Mar 24, 2020 05:54 pm
Nine candidates saw a challenge to their nominating petition signatures for the June primary, the State Objection Panel only upheld one of the challenges. Read in browser »
By Shane Vander Hart on Mar 24, 2020 05:27 pm
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds was unwilling to speculate on a timeframe for when the public health emergency restrictions will be lifted, saying the process is fluid. Read in browser »
By Caffeinated Thoughts on Mar 24, 2020 10:38 am
Pro-life physicians call for all elective abortions to be suspended in accordance with the current CDC recommendations pertaining to elective procedures and office visits. Read in browser »
Launched in 2006, Caffeinated Thoughts reports news and shares commentary about culture, current events, faith and state and national politics from a Christian and conservative point of view.
President Donald Trump will receive his daily briefing then participate in a phone call with non-profit organizations on the COVID-19 response. The Coronavirus Task Force has a briefing in the evening and President Trump has frequently participated in them. Keep up with Trump on Our President’s Schedule Page. President Trump’s …
Given the Democrat tendency to get attention and attract voters by proclaiming one disaster after another, and one crisis after another, it’s long been feared that a real crisis would one day come along and no one would believe it was real. On Monday morning a plea from New York’s …
Members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force hold a briefing Tuesday to update the media and the nation. The briefing is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. EST. Live Stream of the Coronavirus Task Force Press Briefing Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is …
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he hopes that the U.S. will be back open for business by mid-April, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he expects a massive spike in coronavirus cases within three weeks. Both New York-born politicians acknowledged that the economic situation is unsustainable, …
Verizon is pulling back on in-home internet installations and visits to reduce the continued spread of coronavirus, a company spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. “We are minimizing our in-home installation work to critical needs to keep our employees and customers safe and to reduce the spread of …
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., (March 24, 2020) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is in final preparations to launch the sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellite for the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center. The launch is on track for March 26 …
Nancy Pelosi and Democrat politicians are holding struggling businesses and anxious citizens hostage by turning the emergency stimulus bill into a liberal wish-list of irrelevant expenditures that will take money away from helping those who need it now, and will place an unneeded economic burden on the country when COVID-19 …
Coronavirus was found on surfaces in the cabins of a Japanese cruise ship 17 days after passengers disembarked, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Monday, raising the possibility that the virus can remain viable for much longer than previously believed. Genetic material from …
The Republicans had a great deal for people affected by the coronavirus that would stimulate the economy and help people and businesses affected by it, but the House democrats voted it down in a surprising move on Sunday night. President Trump expressed his disappointment at his daily press conference on …
Just as I began writing this, Twitter lit up with the announcement that the Senate had finally reached a deal on the coronavirus stimulus package that the Democrats have been stonewalling since the weekend. There aren’t a lot of details as I write this (I’m sure there will be many more by the time it publishes), but McConnell seemed pleased when he made the announcement. All of the early, quick analysis says that this seems almost like the same bill that was being discussed on Sunday. That would mean that all that Schumer’s little lap dance for Pelosi did was add three days to getting the aid where it’s needed.
It comes as no secret to frequent readers here that I am no fan of the American mainstream media, specifically the political press. I’m in my second decade of railing against them, and they’ve never left me with a dearth of awfulness on their part to attack.
The Trump years have obviously added something to this hate/hate relationship. Had I been more of a betting man, I would have put money on the Kavanaugh hearings in 2018 as the point when my intense dislike for the MSM would be at its enduring worst.
My bad.
As the world has descended into coronavirus panic, the scum masquerading as journalists in this country have been working overtime to plumb new depths of irresponsibility.
Rather than accurately share information with a nervous public during a rapidly-growing pandemic, the American MSM has decided that any lack of veracity in the name of discrediting President Trump is justified.
They’ve been lying about virtually every aspect of President Trump’s and his administration’s response to the crisis.
I will just highlight a few of their most recent bits of awfulness before I reiterate how much I hate them.
First, there is the ongoing, oft-repeated lie that President Trump called the coronavirus a “hoax.” This is yet another false narrative that the press works in cahoots with elected Democrats to advance, as we saw as recently as this past weekend:
Jake Tapper
✔@jaketapper
I thought about it, because the president did not call the virus a hoax.
But i didn’t because he *did* call a hoax the concerns of those saying that the response from the president was insufficient and that he was downplaying the gravity of the crisis. And that too was a lie. https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1241720066397306883 …
Abigail Marone (Text EMPOWER to 88022)@abigailmarone
AOC just repeated the lie that President Trump called coronavirus a “hoax.”
This is not true, and has been debunked by numerous fact checking sources.
This would’ve been a great time for a fact check, @jaketapper… http://checkyourfact.com/2020/02/29/fact-check-donald-trump-coronavirus-hoax-south-carolina-rally/ …
Another ongoing false narrative is that Trump is at odds with Dr. Anthony Fauci, his public point man in dealing with the crisis. Fauci finally had enough of that yesterday:
While the Democrats were holding the American people hostage over the weekend to turn a crisis relief bill into a progressive pork fest, The New York Times decided to blame Republicans.
On Tuesday, there were two prime examples of the recklessness of the media. The filth responsible for this are particularly disgusting:
That’s a libelous accusation based upon nothing but a bunch of “We don’t like Donald Trump” feelings. There is nothing approach proof in the article. The people responsible for it better hope that karma isn’t real.
What sent me down this path for today’s Briefing was this bit of idiocy from MSNBC’s resident soy boy, Chris Hayes:
All In with Chris Hayes
✔@allinwithchris
.@chrislhayes on why we aren’t playing sound from Trump today:
“In the midst of a global pandemic, the President went out and said things that are flat out wrong, that are lies, and that are dangerous…Frankly, the President has become a genuine threat to public health.”
Hayes is making that assertion because the president said he wanted to see people filling churches for Easter.
This says much more about the liberal hatred for people of faith than anything.
Hayes is a low-functioning mumbler who only has a career because the MSM is so biased that it doesn’t require talent to succeed, but merely an unwaivering bias. He’s a sty-wallowing pig for saying something like this.
The First Amendment is being perverted by these cretins. There is always something at stake when they’re being irresponsible, this time it’s people’s lives.
They don’t care. Their power and their ideology are all that matter to them.
If people have to die just so they can get ORANGE MAN BAD out of office and install Crazy Joe the Wonder Veep, so be it.
Lest anyone doubt that this is what this is all about, just watch this slobbering pukefest:
“Thank you for spending some time with us. We’re very grateful … Thank you … Thank you, Mr. Vice–thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for spending so much time with us. Thank you.”
“The Cardsharps” by Caravaggio “The Cardsharps” by Caravaggio depicts a well-dressed but naive boy playing cards; he is the dupe. The second boy is the cardsharp, he has extra cards tucked in his…
Happy Wednesday! Wake up and smell the stimulus: Trump, Schumer, McConnell, and Joe Manchin all finally have a $2 trillion deal they can all live with, which means the financial floodgates are about to open wide—assuming nothing too crazy derails things today. But when has that ever been known to happen!?
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
As of Tuesday night, there are now 55,222 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States (a 19 percent increase from yesterday) and 797 deaths (a 36 percent increase from yesterday), according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, leading to a mortality rate among confirmed cases of 1.4 percent. About 15 percent of all coronavirus tests in the United States have come back positive, per the COVID Tracking Project, a separate dataset with slightly different topline numbers.
Congressional negotiators at last struck a deal on a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package shortly before 1 a.m. (As we were set to hit “publish” on TMD this morning, the text of the deal had not yet been released.)
President Trump has landed on a target date for lifting nationwide social distancing measures, saying he “would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” April 12.
As the coronavirus situation continues to worsen in New York City, the White House is calling on anyone leaving the metro area to self-quarantine at their destination for 14 days.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put the country into a three-week “complete” lockdown, announcing “a total ban on venturing out of your homes” except for essential services like groceries and health care.
Scientists studying the novel coronavirus’s genetic code have some good news: The virus appears to be mutating very slowly, giving hope that once a vaccine arrives it will provide a long-lasting solution to the problem.
The Stimulus Checks Are Coming
We were almost ready for bed when we heard the big news: The coronavirus stimulus package is finally ready to go. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are done,” announced Eric Ueland, Trump’s legislative affairs director, as he left Mitch McConnell’s office near 1 a.m.
The package’s full details have yet to be released, and we’ll be sure to dig into them more tomorrow. But the basic structure seems to be much the same as that of the bill McConnell and the Senate GOP have been pushing for days.
The Democrats did score one substantial concession in Tuesday’s negotiations: Republicans agreed to incorporate an independent inspector general and an oversight board into their plans for a $500 billion loan package to American businesses and state and local governments. The current legislation also includes an increase in funding to hospitals, a Democratic priority. Sen. Marco Rubio said that small business assistance has increased to $367 billion and now includes a six-month delay on loan payments, and Sen. Schumer has stated that the bill will contain “unemployment insurance on steroids.”
House Democrats had previously been working on their own bill, which included similar elements as the Senate bill to offer relief to companies and provide economic support to Americans, alongside such pet causes as $33 million in additional funds to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, $35 million for the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center, and a $15 minimum wage requirement for companies that receive bailouts.
The Economy “Raring to Go” Again by Easter? We’ll See.
In Tuesday’s edition of the Morning Dispatch, we focused on the growing divide between public health officials pushing continued social distancing measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and those that would rather loosen such restrictions and start getting people back to work in the hope of lessening the pandemic’s economic fallout.
President Trump had signaled in recent days he was leaning toward the latter camp:
As our colleague David wrote yesterday, the president cannot, by himself, simply “open up” the economy. “If, on March 31, Trump declares ‘mission accomplished’ and tweets that America should be open for business again, each and every governor could simply say no.”
You’ve probably seen certain Republicans making the aforementioned case for prioritizing economic stability over containment of the coronavirus—we pointed you to one of the bleaker examples yesterday. But that calculation is far from a consensus position within the GOP. Here’s what some leading Republicans have had to say on the debate in the past 24 hours or so.
Rep. Liz Cheney: “There will be no normally functioning economy if our hospitals are overwhelmed and thousands of Americans of all ages, including our doctors and nurses, lay dying because we have failed to do what’s necessary to stop the virus.”
Sen. Joni Ernst: “I think we do need to follow CDC guidelines and watch what our experts are saying. I would love to see the economy up and going as soon as possible, but let’s make sure we’re taking care of people first.”
In 1932, Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that a “state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”
Roughly two weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, quite a few states are conducting different experiments. Let’s dive into some of the different approaches we’re seeing play out across the country.
Stay-at-home orders
Broadly speaking, “shelter-in-place” orders “prohibit in-person work that is not necessary to sustain or protect life.” While 17 governors have issued such statewide orders and 11 other states have counties that have done so, other states are holding off in an attempt to limit the economic cost of the pandemic.
The Taliban went from being a potential economic partner for the U.S. in the 1990s to an international pariah for nearly 20 years. Now, that potential partnership is back again, and Frud Bezhan has written an article exploring the tumultuous history between the Taliban and America and how we reached this current stage of their relationship.
New York Times photographers went out and captured images of areas of international life that are normally bustling; a fair in New Delhi, a subway station in Munich, Times Square in New York City—The resulting photo series is unsettling and fascinating.
AEI’s Director of Economic Policy Studies Michael Strain’s latest article for Bloomberg warns that relaxing coronavirus protections prematurely, as Trump has indicated he may, do more to harm than help the economy. “People will feel comfortable resuming economic activity when the facts — importantly, from more and better testing — suggest that it is reasonable to do so,” Strain writes. “Trump can’t substitute his pronouncements for those facts, because many people, not to mention state and local officials, simply wouldn’t respond to his message.”
Remnant fans, rejoice: The latest episode sees Jonah reunited with his erstwhile National Review colleague and “Eisenhower libertarian” Kevin D. Williamson for a conversation on the role of government in a public crisis.
We’ve talked a lot in recent days about the unsettling possibility of America reopening itself for business too early. In his latest French Press, David lays out the possibility of another, equally alarming scenario: one in which, in the absence of clear, evidence-based guidance from the top, our nation’s governors clash in their disparate responses to the outbreak going forward. “We may well see both the blessings and the curses of federalism,” he writes. “The blessing is clear—state governors are best-equipped to assess conditions in their states and act accordingly… The curse may also become clear, with red and blue states pitted against each other in a patchwork of public health measures that may make us more aware of state boundaries than any time since the Civil War.”
Over on the site today, we’ve got a piece from Bill Wirtz looking into the way Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is using the coronavirus crisis to cement his authoritarian grip on the country: “[Orban’s party] Fidesz has proposed an open-ended extension of the current state of emergency, which would authorize the government to rule by decree until further notice. This means that parliament is suspended, that the executive rules without checks and balances, that no referendums or elections will be allowed, and that the government can censor anyone believed to spread ‘fake news’ about the virus. With a government as paranoid as Orbán’s, we can only imagine how the interpretation of ‘fake news’ will play out in reality.”
Let Us Know
With an economic relief package in place, it’s reasonable to hope we’re close to leaving behind the “all terrible news all the time” part of our economic calendar—at least for a little while—and getting back into the “insane, unpredictable swings” space we were in a few weeks ago. In these uncharted waters, have you settled on your financial strategy?
I’ve been waiting for a short-term market crash like this for years! Time to get in on the ground floor!
A short-term federal cash infusion that doesn’t help the underlying economic weakness doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. I’m gritting my teeth and staying the course.
Screw the stock market. I’ve got all my hard-earned lucre squirreled away in precious commodities, like gold and scratch-offs.
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Coronavirus Update
President Trump said during his virtual town hall on Tuesday that he would like to see the coronavirus shutdowns over by Easter, pending the advice of his medical team. If the efforts of the state and federal governments to control the virus were successful sooner rather than later, it would of course be a massive relief to the many afraid for themselves and loved ones during the pandemic. It would also be welcome news for workers in an economy that is undergoing its worst quarterly contraction since 1947.
The White House briefing also included a directive to New Yorkers to self-quarantine for 14 days after leaving the region, as many are doing to escape the biggest hotspot in the country.
Dr. Fauci reiterated that the date is very flexible and dependent on the region and what the infection projections look like closer to Easter – qualifications many in media took little note of.
Governors, though, are pushing back against even floating that optimistic a timeline. Governor Cuomo’s (D) briefing yesterday on the situation in New York was his direst yet, and he urgently called on the federal government to send more respirators to the state immediately. Governor Larry Hogan (R), of Maryland, also expressed skepticism regarding the Easter re-open date.
There seem to be few good options before a country choosing between time for its healthcare system to prepare and ramp up supply manufacturing and the dwindling bank accounts of millions of workers and businesses on the brink.
For those of us who are lucky enough to just have stir-crazy problems in this crisis, some stay-home distractions are more than welcome from the above news.
What I’m reading: I’ll be honest – definitely doing more scrolling than reading but this haunting short story by E.M. Forester, The Machine, is available for free online and only 25 pages long. Music that’s keeping me sane: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 82 by Russian composer Alexander Glazunov.
Non-Coronavirus Podcast I’m listening to: a bishop and a rabbi – no it’s not a joke – discuss religion, meaning, and the Enlightenment on Dave Rubin’s podcast, Rubin Report.
Democrats Stall Out Relief Bill with Unrelated Partisan Demands
In a move I personally find enraging, Democrats are continuing to insist on various unrelated demands in the must-pass coronavirus bill that delivers emergency relief to millions of Americans.
Initially, it seemed like Congress was going to get its act together.
“The weekend began with a bipartisan plan. People were hopeful. Outside of Washington, business owners told The Federalist they finally saw light in all the darkness. They thought they’d be able to hire their employees back again. These are employees who have families, mortgages, and lives; people who have never once asked for public assistance and never thought they’d have to.
The mood in Washington was optimistic as well. ‘We’re having good bipartisan agreements,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN Saturday, predicting a Monday passage of their plan. ‘The initial bill Leader [Mitch] McConnell put in didn’t have any Democratic input and we were worried that we just try to put it on the floor and not consult Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi because the House still has to pass this, but actually, to my delight and surprise, there has been a great deal of bipartisan cooperation thus far.’”
But it all took a turn for the worse on Sunday evening when Nancy Pelosi returned to the Capitol building, and has been going south from there.
“So it turns out the real reason congressional Democrats blocked a Senate coronavirus relief bill on Sunday wasn’t because they were concerned it favored corporations over individuals or because they wanted more direct aid to families and small businesses. It was because they want to use this crisis as pretext for passing a bunch of Democratic policies that have nothing to do with the pandemic… Many of the provisions in Pelosi’s bill have no discernable relation to the coronavirus pandemic, much less helping families and small businesses facing economic ruin. There are sections mandating “risk-limiting audits” of election results, early voting, same-day voter registration, mandatory reporting for federal agencies on their use of minority-owned banks, new rules for the retirement plans of community newspapers, and even a section requiring airlines to provide passengers information about greenhouse gas emissions from flights they took. The list goes on, like a parody of Democratic governance.”
The latest as of Tuesday evening is that the latest Speaker-inserted sticking point is making Planned Parenthood, the abortion provider, eligible for grants.
Virtual Events this Week
I’ll be adding a virtual events section each week during the pandemic.
Today’s selections:
Victims of Communism is holding a virtual event with David Satter on what 20 years of Putin’s dictatorship has done to Russia and the world. (March 26, 4:00 pm, register here.)
Awesome panel from The Heritage Foundation for those suddenly finding themselves homeschooling, with lots of tips, tricks, and explanations. (Today, March 25, 12:00-12:45 pm, register here.)
A briefing from Scott W. Atlas, M.D., on COVID-19 and the health care system from the Hoover Institute. (March 26, 2:00 pm, register here.)
Fashion Moment of the Week
The fashion industry, like many others, is turning to wartime footing during this crisis. Christian Siriano and Naeem Khan are just two of the many designers who have announced that their factories will shift to making masks, gowns, and other PPE for healthcare workers on the front line of this pandemic.
“Former ‘Project Runway’ winner Christian Siriano is among the designers and clothing makers across the U.S. who are pivoting from producing haute couture and other clothing to making personal protective equipment. He is ramping up production amid nationwide shortages of masks and other medical supplies as patients with coronavirus begin to swamp America’s hospital systems. Siriano — who is based in New York City, now facing the largest virus outbreak in the U.S. — on Friday tweeted that he would redeploy his sewing staff to produce masks after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded for local businesses to help churn out more surgical masks, gowns and gloves.”
Wednesday Links
As good a path forward on the virus and restarting the economy as any I’ve read. (City Journal)
The stock market was up today, in the latest in a series of wild swings that are likely to continue. (Yahoo! Finance)
This might be the dumbest episode of Trump Derangement Syndrome yet. (The Federalist)
The executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Center, Marion Smith, scorched the Chinese Communist Party and the WHO on Tucker Carlson in a must-watch segment. (The Federalist)
If Brazil’s government doesn’t institute lockdowns, criminal gangs in the country are saying they might do it instead. (Twitter)
Finally, another weekly feature I’m adding: your daily dose of people doing good things for each other during the age of the virus. Celebrity Kristen Bell and her husband Jax Shepard are waiving rent for the month on all the residential properties they own in Los Angeles, giving people struggling with the economic fallout of coronavirus a much-needed boost. (Fox News)
Inez Feltscher Stepman is a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum and a senior contributor to The Federalist. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native with a BA in Philosophy from UCSD and a JD from the University of Virginia. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Jarrett Stepman, her puggle Thor, and her cat Thaddeus Kosciuszko. You can follow her on Twitter at @inezfeltscher and on Instagram (for #ootd, obvi) under the same handle. Opinions expressed on this website are her own and not those of her employers. Or her husband.
Note: By using some of the links above, Bright may be compensated through the Amazon Affiliate program and Magic Links. However, none of this content is sponsored and all opinions are our own.
Mar 25, 2020 01:00 am
It is Pelosi and the Democrats who stand in the way of restoring health to both the American people and the American economy. Read More…
Mar 25, 2020 01:00 am
The Trump administration has been under siege from the left’s self-professed “legal resistance” in which they accuse the president for violating the Constituion’s Foreign Emoluments Clause. Read More…
Mar 25, 2020 01:00 am
Temperature-related deaths are decreasing around the world and that — except in the world of climate extremism — is a very good thing. Read More…
Mar 25, 2020 01:00 am
What we are now facing is not another Great Plague. It is a serious epidemic that nonetheless can be contained with proper testing and isolation. Read More…
Billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban on Tuesday voiced frustrations likely felt by many Americans who are watching Congress fail to pass a stimulus bill to help individuals, families, and businesses impacted by lockdowns caused by the coronavirus.Cuban responded to some Twitter bickering between GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas … Read more
By Emily Jashinsky
‘Tiger King’ is like ‘Making A Murderer’ meets ‘Eastbound and Down.’ As much of the country finds itself with extra time on its hands, ‘Tiger King’ is marking its place in television history. Full article
By Georgi Boorman
If cash transfers to failing businesses are now a given any time the economy is in crisis, then where is the bailout for small businesses? Full article
By Willis L. Krumholz
What to do about the U.S. economy in the wake of the Wuhan virus? The answer requires a mix of both short-term suppression and then long-term mitigation. Full article
By Madeline Osburn
How a handful of Democratic activists created alarming, but bogus data sets to scare local and state officials into making rash, economy-killing mandates. Full article
By Michael Salemink
The sanctity of life remains more relevant than ever in these moments. Here’s how we can continue to proclaim it and put it into practice with courage and compassion. Full article
By Kyle Sammin
When you write in ‘American’ on the census, you acknowledge that while our differences are part of us, they don’t compare with all we have in common. Full article
By Nathanael Blake
Keeping the economy humming along like normal was never an option. Even without government intervention, much of our society would eventually shut down on its own. Full article
By A.D.P. Efferson
By way of an explanation for his frequent gaffes and wild statements, Joe Biden has begun sharing his heartbreaking story about growing up with a stutter. Is that the real problem? Full article
By Douglas A. Perednia
It is time to think outside the box and seriously consider a somewhat unconventional approach to COVID-19: controlled voluntary infection. Full article
By Alyssa Cordova
The isolation is probably striking a deep and painful nerve among this lonely generation that might deserve a little more compassion, understanding, and prayer instead of condemnation. Full article
By David Weinberger
While it remains a favorite policy prescription for politicians eager to appear as salvific heroes in times of need, it is untenable as a serious idea to stimulate anything except our national debt. Full article
By William Newton
What I found was not only far more complex than I had anticipated, but also challenging to my preconceptions of Edward Degas as little more than the Maurice Chevalier of painters. Full article
By Holly Scheer
Those kitschy fabric totes that have become so popular for carrying groceries and other goods are suddenly disease vectors, spreading germs just when we need that the least. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Former Vice President Joe Biden, having pretty much tied up the Democratic presidential nomination seems to have finally given up on sounding articulate. Full article
By Madeline Osburn
Planned Parenthood is depleting medical resources and potentially sending women who face abortion complications to already overextended emergency rooms. Full article
By Kylee Zempel
Who would have expected that a month after the impeachment circus, we’d be staring into the face of another quid pro quo? This time from progressive icon Nancy Pelosi. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Scott Gottlieb is no dummy, but he has no history combating infectious diseases and spent his time as head of the FDA devoted to stoking panic. Full article
By Chrissy Clark
“Is this going to be a deadly pandemic? No,” Vox tweeted on January 31, two days after the White House announced they were creating a coronavirus task force. Full article
By Paulina Enck
Here are some comedies that will allow you to laugh your way through the fear, claustrophobia, and isolation of self-quarantine and social distancing. Full article
SIGN UP FOR A FREE TRIAL HERE. The Transom is a daily email newsletter written by publisher of The Federalist Ben Domenech for political and media insiders, which arrives in your inbox each morning, collecting news, notes, and thoughts from around the web.
“You must read The Transom. With brilliant political analysis and insight into the news that matters most, it is essential to understanding this incredible moment in history. I read it every day!” – Newt Gingrich
In times of great need, we often make decisions for the benefit of today that drastically harm us in the future. We do this knowing the pain will come, but we consider it a worthwhile trade off in the moment. The more I learn about the coronavirus bailout bill that’s going to be sent to the President’s desk and signed later today, the more I realize the pain that it will alleviate is too small compared to the pain it will cause down the road.
We can debate all day about whether or not the bill is appropriate. I leaned towards it being necessary, but as the details of the bill come out I’m lurching quickly away from it. This is not the economic stimulus that we need, one that would pay itself off through improved productivity even in the long run. But that debate is done. It’s happening. Now is the time to plan for how we’re going to recover from it and whatever other monstrosities are cooked up in the near future.
There are three great risks this bill creates and/or exacerbates. The first is the obvious one: Two trillion dollars is a ton of money. Lest we forget, there was a government shutdown that transpired because of less than seven billion dollars in wall funding. This bill is 294 times bigger than that. It’s more money than there are physical dollars in circulation worldwide. If we started writing $20,000,000 checks every day from the moment the Declaration of Independence was signed until today, it still wouldn’t cover this expenditure. Yes, this is a gargantuan bill unlike anything we’ve seen in history.
The second great risk is almost as obvious, at least to the freedom-loving right. This bill inserts government oversight where there was none before. It puts bureaucrats in the financial records of every business, large and small, that accepts money. Most of them that do truly need these loans to stay afloat and continue paying workers, but they will be regretting it in the future when government starts telling them how they can handle their employees and where to invest their funds. It’s an authoritarian trap, one that is another step towards the private sector of business being controlled by government.
The last real threat from this is one that I do not believe many Americans recognize, at least not those who make up the workforce of this country. Dependency on government is addictive. The “free” money we get for no reason other than being somehow victimized by the coronavirus will breed lost productivity. People will be paid to stay home. They will be, in many ways, “better off” by not working. It’s an illusion, of course. Hard work and earning a living are rewarding in more ways than just a paycheck. There is a real threat that government dependence will supersede self-reliance in many Americans.
Sadly, it’s not only addictive. It’s contagious. When Sally sees her brother Bob doing well without working, she may start questioning why she is working to support her family while Bob plays Call of Duty. He may even question why she’s not taking advantage of the situation. She may start questioning that herself.
Today, Americans want to work. We want to contribute to society while building up our personal and familial security. But that mentality, one that is such a crucial component of America’s success as a nation, is threatened by this and future bailouts. The more government gives out for nothing, the more likely it is people will grow accustomed to it and even like it.
One of the biggest reasons we’re now rushing forward to build the American Conservative Movement is because we’re seeing the risks of a populace that grows accustomed to government dependency and of businesses in which bureaucratic oversight becomes normalized. We must prepare to reverse this course and get Americans back to work instead of standing around in toilet paper lines with government checks in our back pockets.
The coronavirus and everything associated with it is bad news. But even in something so negative, there’s a silver lining. America has an opportunity for a fiscally conservative revival, not only in government where it is so desperately needed, but also within the population of citizens ourselves. As we push forward with the movement and prepare to launch it as an educational and informational foundation, it’s necessary for us to have focus. The panic and responses to the coronavirus give us clarity on how to proceed. We must remind Americans who may fall victim to government dependency that there’s a better way.
The coronavirus bailout bill is done. Arguing over its merits is futile. But we must get moving on reversing the damage that the bill, the crisis, and the panic are going to cause. If we wait for the dust to settle, dust may be all we have left.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
The Prince of Wales and future King of England has tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus. Prince Charles, 71, has isolated himself with his 72-year-old wife, Camilla, in Scotland.
“He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual,” said Clarence House.
Prince Albert of Monaco, 62, tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month. He met with Prince Charles three weeks ago. Both are reportedly still in good health despite showing symptoms of the disease that is spreading across the globe.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
When God created the heavens and the earth, He did so that man may not be idle, instead having dominion over the earth to give glory to Him. The coronavirus has upended our economy, and many now rely on the government to compensate them for the wages they were forced by said government to forego.
There are two emasculine responses to the coronavirus and subsequent quarantining. The first is hysteria. As children of God, we have no cause to buy into the panic. This is not our eschatology. I previously wrote on why the Christian has naught to fear in this plague. For a Christian to buy into the hysteria would be to place more faith in human institutions like the Imperial College than an almighty God. As men we are to be the spiritual head of the household. Therefore, we cannot afford to waste away worrying over that which we cannot control.
The second ill response is laziness. This would entail relying on a bailout. This would mean days spent binging Netflix. This response is pure sloth, and sloth is the opposite of masculinity. In Genesis we see that man is to have dominion over the earth, and Eve was to help Adam.
From the beginning, man’s existence was meant for work. The servant who buried his talent was deemed wicked by the master. God does not give us resources for us to do nothing with. Jon Harris does a great job of articulating solutions to the problem of being forced to not work by the government.
The Bible articulates what it means to be a man and work is a central element to masculinity.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
When Fox News host Tucker Carlson took to the air in late January warning that the Wuhan Coronavirus could be extremely dangerous and possibly even grow to become a pandemic, the response from just about every progressive mainstream media outlet was to scream about racism. They claimed Fox News and conservatives were being xenophobic and that there was nothing to fear about the coronavirus. Several even encouraged people to gather in defiance.
Today, the stories have shifted. Instead of saying Fox News was being too alarmist, they’ve now taken up the narrative that Fox News is spreading disinformation, that President Trump should be censored when discussing the coronavirus, and that their virtue signaling of the past never happened. Except it did.
The Press won’t blame China for the Coronavirus. So what was the press saying about the virus when it was still possible to contain it? Watch.https://t.co/oKya4kMjMh
If there’s one thing the information age allows us, it’s to call out hypocrites who pretend their past remarks never happened. Mainstream media’s lamentations over racism and xenophobia before have been spun, but not forgotten. Thank you, Tucker Carlson.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
There was great news in the early part of today’s Fox News Town Hall with the White House Task Force on the Wuhan Coronavirus. Vice President Mike Pence said they have not even discussed the possibility of a national “lockdown” or “stay at home order.” This news came even before President Trump joined the Town Hall.
That’s great news for both the economy and our sanity. Unfortunately, there are many areas around the country, including California where I live, that have taken the draconian measure of locking us all down. The vast majority of businesses have been closed. Restaurant lobbies are empty. Paychecks are not coming in. Wages are not accumulating. People are hurting. Is it worth it?
That’s the question that has much of the nation polarized. Some say it’s necessary, that we must keep large sectors of the economy closed for a short time. Others say it’s an overreaction and often point to the fact that the coronavirus seems to be deadly for only the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
Passions are strong in both directions and Twitter, which is normally a cesspool of bad ideas and heated debates, is worse now than it’s ever been. Everyone has an opinion. Thankfully, some of them are lucid…
People, I saw it. I’m not offended and don’t get offended. A video game reporter for WaPo who hasn’t missed a paycheck is so removed from reality that their opinion is worth less than hyena spittle. https://t.co/qmgRLcGkst
We are seeing government overreach in response to #COVID19… the question is what kind of country will we be coming out of this? Will we be one of freedom & liberty, more self-reliant than before? Or one of authoritarianism & where our rights are stripped away? https://t.co/MeemUfdgNX
— Jeff Dornik #SOCIALINJUSTICEBOOK (@JeffTheGK) March 24, 2020
“You only want to end the shut downs because you care more about money than people you greedy fatcat,” screamed the wealthy media personality at the out of work retail cashier
Person B: Agreed! We should also make sure we have an economic recovery plan in place so people can work as soon as feasible to provide for their families.
A: WOW SO YOU WANT TO SACRIFICE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS SO YOU CAN GET RICH. JUST WOW
It’s completely understandable that people are scared and want others to participate in putting an end to the spread of this disease. But is there a limit? Some have suggested there will be more lockdowns soon. Others say they may extend the lockdowns throughout the summer. Considering how bad off people are already, an extended lockdown seems like an economy-crusher.
Americans need to practice safe habits and protect themselves as they see fit. But part of protecting ourselves and our families means the security of putting food on the table and a roof over our heads. We must not let the coronavirus destroy that possibility.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Americans are worried, but things are going to go back to normal. The question is, what will “normal” look like when the coronavirus crisis is over?
What if the remedy does more damage than the disease? What if, in or efforts to protect people from the coronavirus, we do lasting harm to the economy? What if, in our desperation for stability during this darkest hour, the people start willingly trading their rights and self-reliance for safety and government assistance? If we do not act immediately, all of these things will start happening. In fact, they already are.
This is a fast-moving situation. By the time you’re hearing these words, chances are strong that information predicating this call to action has already changed. But two things are certain. Government will grow as a result of this panic and freedoms will shrink. We’re already hearing of measures coming from both sides of the political aisle that were once considered exclusive to Democrats. More government intervention has been demanded by the majority, including the freedom-loving right, and that’s understandable in these circumstances. But we must take action now to make certain calls for more government are a temporary remedy.
The American Conservative Movement has one immediate goal: To prevent the effects of the coronavirus from stripping away our liberties. This is the ideal circumstance through which the policies of authoritarians and radical progressives in America can actually sound reasonable to a concerned populace and a GOP forced into a defensive stance.
We saw the after-effects of 9/11. Everything from the Patriot Act to sustained Middle East wars were once deemed beneficial by a majority of Americans who were still recovering from the worst terrorist attack in United States history. But as world-shaking as 9/11 was, it’s small compared to the universal effects that the coronavirus panic has already had on America. It is easy to envision overreaction because in many ways, we’re seeing it happening already. After the direct threat of the coronavirus is contained, Americans will be looking for recovery and they’ll be demanding preparations to prevent this from happening again.
This is the time in which our freedoms and the Constitution will be most vulnerable. It is imperative that we maintain a proactive and aggressive stance in protecting those freedoms and defending the Constitution because the people who want to attack them have a strong foundation right now built on fear. The authoritarian left is trying to capitalize on these fears. Fear of the coronavirus today. Fear of financial crisis coming. Fear of the next pandemic, the next global attack.
America’s resolve has been weakened. We have been humbled. Now, more than ever in modern history, we need a beacon of not only reasoned fortitude but of hope. That is what the American Conservative Movement strives to do. We must answer the call when momentum builds for denial of our rights in exchange for security and comfort. We must remind this nation that freedom is still our greatest strength even when circumstances make us feel weak. We must be resolute in our fight against government dependency.
This movement has been brewing for a while, but it wasn’t until this coronavirus crisis that we felt the burning need to become active. Our intention was to launch over the summer, just in time for the general election to be ramping up as we identified conservative candidates to support. But now, the calculus has changed for all Americans. The need is greater than it has ever been. Coronavirus panic has acted as a catalyst for us to promote the tenets of the Constitution just as the threat of authoritarian Marxism prepares to take advantage of this crisis.
Will you join us? Will you fight against those who will see our freedoms taken away? America will be fundamentally changed by the coronavirus and those who seek to reduce our freedoms are building up steam. Will you join us in defending the Constitution and preserving the American way of life?
American Conservative Movement
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Randy Adams announced his candidacy for President of the Southern Baptist Convention back in January up against Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the most powerful man in the SBC. Adams is running on seven planks. And since the time of his announcement, I have reported on him speaking to other issues, such as remote voting in the SBC. In recent weeks Randy Adams published a more detailed analysis of the problems within the Southern Baptist Convention’s missions programs. I had planned on waiting until part three was published before responding to his ideas in addition to my own investigation into church plants. See this graph used by Randy Adams below:
As you can see, there are a plethora of questions or concerns that arise from viewing this data. The answer to these questions is likely very bad. Church plants are down. Church plant costs have risen astronomically. The North American Mission Board, NAMB, is one of the parties overseeing these expenditures. And from a business perspective, these numbers reflect poorly on NAMB. In recent weeks, NAMB has been promoting spontaneous baptism, possibly in response to the unfavorable metrics.
Randy Adams cordially calls out these problems advocating that the SBC should instead cooperate with the state and local conventions more. A basic tenet of his solution is the direct correlation between missionaries and baptisms. The more missionaries we send out, the more people will come to Christ. This positive relationship makes a lot of sense as we are currently seeing fewer missionaries and church plants and fewer baptisms. The shadiness, dare I say corruption, comes from the fact that church plant costs have risen considerably. Adams does not appear to launch any accusations of corruption, but what he advocates would effectively phase out NAMB in favor of utilizing the state and local conventions. It’s the equivalent of the federal government returning power to the states.
How does NAMB respond to this criticisms? Part two of Adams’ series was published on March 5th. On March 9th, Randy Adams, who is Executive Director and Treasurer of the Northwest Baptist Convention(NWBC), was informed, that the North American Mission Board will end their joint cooperation efforts and all funding would cease in September 2021. Furthermore, NAMB informed NWBC that they would plan on sending their own staff in the northwest for missions. Essentially, NAMB announced it would plant churches in the northwest that will not cooperate with the state convention. Randy Adams also made note that the NWBC was experiencing success with regards to the same metrics provided in the Great Commissions Report (see above)
There are two ways to look at this. Both are bad and they are not mutually exclusive.
One, Kevin Ezell of the North American Mission Board is unhappy with the criticisms articulated by Randy Adams. If this is the case, this is thin-skinned petty politics, defunding those who seek to improve the system. It is always a bad sign when trusted institutions reject transparency.
Alternatively this could be a matter of what goes on behind closed doors in smoked filled rooms. Randy Adams is running against Al Mohler for President of the SBC. Al Mohler and Kevin Ezell are very well acquainted. Al Mohler is the establishment candidate while Randy Adams is the grassroots candidate. This very well could be an establishment move to punish for trying to challenge Al Mohler. Now it’s important to note that there is no evidence of Mohler ordering a “code red” to cut funding to NWBC, nor does there need to be for this to be a valid scenario since Kevin Ezell was a senior pastor to Mohler, so it is conceivable that he would act alone on this manner. This could be Ezell’s sole initiative.
Either way, his decision is in poor taste done for undoubtedly unbiblical reasons. The timing leaves little wiggle room for coincidence. I’ve been writing a lot about the elitism of Big Eva, yet this instance stands out for the pettiness of elitism is at the expense of the Great Commission.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
by Tony Perkins: “Do Democrats even care?” It’s a fair question — and the editors at the Wall Street Journal aren’t the only ones asking it. Here we are, in the middle of one of the greatest crises in American history, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) swooped into town to demand new curtains for the Kennedy Center. The $35 million for the performing arts hub is just one of the shockers in the House’s 1,100-page virus relief counterproposal, which proves there will never be a shortage of one thing in D.C. — pork peddlers.
Before Pelosi showed up, Americans were finally getting a good look at what the two sides can accomplish when they work together. Hours away from a Senate deal that would put real relief into families’ hands, that goodwill vanished in a cloud of sleazy opportunism. “[We were] all zeroing in on what looked like… a done deal,” Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) shook his head. “That’s what disappoints me about this place,” he told listeners on “Washington Watch” Monday. “We could have gotten this across the finish line,” but Pelosi “wanted to commandeer the process.”
Suddenly, Democrats were insisting on a whole laundry list of concessions on everything from climate change to abortion and sanctuary cities — nothing, Braun argued, that had anything to do with saving lives or the economy. And this is all going on, he lamented, during a “bona fide effort to tamp this virus down.” While the rest of the country is sitting at home, anxiously waiting for help and direction, Democratic leaders are hijacking the relief money desperately needed by hospitals, families, and small businesses. Why? Because their concern isn’t helping this nation. It’s advancing extremism — no matter the cost.
Frankly, the editors at the Wall Street Journal pointed out, it’s sad. Instead of working together for the good of America, liberals like House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) are telling Democrats to see the crisis as a “tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” “That’s the display of Democratic leadership in a crisis the nation received on Monday… When America most needs bipartisan cooperation, Democrats add to the economic uncertainty by putting their partisan interests above the needs of the country… The political chronology is instructive — and depressing…”
And, even more ironic, liberals are trying to jam Republicans, the editors point out, on an agenda so radical they “couldn’t pass [it] in normal times.” Things like: carbon emission mandates, Planned Parenthood funding, a nationwide ballot harvesting program, same-day voter registration, visa extensions for immigrants, a postal bailout, corporate pay equity, the return of “Obamaphones,” and more. It isn’t Christmas — but this proposal sure feels like it.
“Republicans had a deal,” President Trump tweeted, “until Nancy Pelosi rode into town from her extended vacation. The Democrats want the Virus to win? They are asking for things that have nothing to do with our great workers or companies. They want Open Borders & Green New Deal. Republicans shouldn’t agree!” Now, as the clock ticks on, even Senate Democrats are getting “antsy” about Pelosi’s strategy. Senators Doug Jones (Ala.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jon Tester (Mont.), and Joe Manchin (W. Va.) urged the Senate to move — and fast.
Let’s hope they do. It’s hard enough to fight this virus and hold the economy together as it is. Adding the mess of partisan politics only puts more people at risk. If Nancy Pelosi can’t put self-interest aside and do her duty for the good of America, then maybe it’s time she took the government’s advice and stayed home.
Tags:Tony Perkins, Family Research Center, FRC, Family Research Council, Virus Relief, Hits Pelosi, Pork in the RoadTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Star Parker: I quoted Maj. Gen. George S. Patton in my column last week: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
I’m repeating it because it is so relevant to the coronavirus crisis.
No one thinks the stimulus bill the Senate is trying to pass, which Democrats have sabotaged, is a perfect plan. There is something in it for everyone to criticize. But when the house is burning down, the job is to put the fire out as quickly as possible. A moment delay to look for a better way to do it can result in absolute destruction.
As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it: “This is not a political opportunity. It’s a national emergency.”
Even calling this a stimulus bill is a misnomer.
It is more accurate to call this a bridge loan to ourselves.
Anyone who has operated a business understands that a bridge loan makes it possible for you to cross a valley between a difficult situation you are in, providing an opportunity to work through difficulties so you can get to the other side and once again function in a healthy way.
The assumption of a bridge loan is that you are, at the core, OK. Once you get through the storm, you will be OK again.
Bridge loans are not given to businesses that are deemed failing to begin with.
Before this health crisis hit, our economy was strong. Our country is fundamentally strong. But we’ve taken an unusual and hard physical blow.
This is not like other economic crises, where the collapse was the result of some major flaw in our existing institutions or the way we are managing our affairs.
This crisis is the result of shutting down our economy because of an immediate health threat.
Economies function as buyers and sellers meet in the marketplace. If you tell buyers and sellers they are prohibited from showing up in the marketplace, everything will collapse.
This is where we are.
We need financing so businesses, particularly small businesses, can get to the other side, so that when we stop this scourge, hopefully sooner rather than later, they will not be wiped out, and will be able to get going again and pick up where they were before.
We also need to provide cash flow to individuals so those whose livelihood is cut off or limited can pay their bills and make it to the other side.
This is what this legislation is about. Period.
It’s hard to believe that as we try to throw a lifeline to our economy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and their Democrats want to condition it on signing off on their left-wing agenda: the Green New Deal; tests on gender, race and ethnicity for business; government dictates on how businesses manage their financial affairs and how much they pay their executives. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has never run a business or met a payroll, wants to force minimum wage when companies are shedding their workforce in order to stay afloat.
It’s like telling a patient on life support that he must sign off on gender-neutral restrooms before we agree to connect his ventilator.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called this bill a “crony capitalist slush fund,” recently helped kill the deal that would have brought a new Amazon headquarters to New York — the same Amazon that is now adding 100,000 new workers.
I don’t like companies turning to Washington as the first reaction to a crisis. But it’s Democrats who have played a central role in creating the welfare-state culture that has debilitated the nation.
But this isn’t time for this discussion. This is a time for immediate action to save ourselves before mortal damage is inflicted, so we can live to see a better day.
—————– Star Parker (@UrbanCURE) is an author at and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. CURE is a non-profit think tank that addresses issues of race and poverty through principles of faith, freedom and personal responsibility.
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by Tyler O’Neil: On Monday, Democrats in the U.S. Senate blocked a $2 trillion bipartisan bailout effort they had negotiated with Republicans. Later that day, Democrats in the House of Representatives filed their own coronavirus bill, stuffed with liberal pet projects. The $2.5 trillion bill includes many provisions entirely unrelated to the coronavirus.
Congress has already passed — and President Trump has already signed — two coronavirus response packages. The third bill Democrats opposed in the Senate would focus on injecting money into the economy by bailing out industries most affected by the coronavirus social distancing efforts and giving Americans money through direct payments. In H.R. 6379, Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats took the opportunity to smuggle in some wish-list items that have nothing to do with the virus.
Here are nine of the most egregious proposals.
1. Minority banks
Identity politics provisions are nothing new in Democratic bills, but this coronavirus emergency package includes a specific program to help banks and credit unions owned by blacks, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and women. Minority-owned institutions should be encouraged, but government programs to do so may end up undercutting them in the same way affirmative action programs cast aspersions on successful minorities. Whatever your position on such issues, they do not belong in an emergency coronavirus response bill.
2. Violence against women
No coronavirus response would be complete without… $300 million in funding for programs to prevent and prosecute violence against women, right? This certainly would not be a diversion from fighting the coronavirus…
3. Funds for the Kennedy Center
Yes, the Democrats’ coronavirus emergency spending bill includes $35 million earmarked for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Why should the Kennedy Center receive this money, instead of all the other theaters across America? Why does theater feature in the coronavirus bill?
4. AIDS funding
Pelosi’s bill sets aside $90 million to fund the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Which disease is this bill fighting again?
5. LGBTQ+ financial literacy
Neither abortion nor Planned Parenthood is specifically mentioned in Pelosi’s coronavirus spending bill, but another social issue found itself smuggled in. The bill provides for a “Financial Literacy Education Commission Emergency Response” which would “place special emphasis on providing an additional set of tools geared towards women, racial and ethnic minorities, veterans, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities.” Financial literacy is important, but why the focus on this interest group?
6. Collective bargaining
On Monday, Townhall’s Guy Benson warned that Democrats were trying to smuggle collective bargaining into their coronavirus bill in order to pander to unions. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) confirmed his report, and indeed Pelosi’s bill includes a collective bargaining provision.
“At a time when many Americans have been told they can’t come to work and many don’t know how much longer they’ll have a paycheck, wealthy politicians in Washington, D.C., are exploiting a needed relief package in order to satisfy their public union masters,” Aaron Withe, national director of the Freedom Foundation, said in a statement.
7. Airline carbon emissions reporting
Pelosi’s bill does include funds for the airline industry, which is suffering acutely during the social distancing strategy to fight the coronavirus. Yet that money comes with conditions. First, the federal government “shall require each air carrier receiving assistance … to fully offset the annual carbon emissions of such air carriers for domestic flights beginning in 2025.”
It gets worse, however. By January 1, 2023, air carriers will have to present passengers with “information regarding greenhouse gas emissions resulting from each individual flight.” Such information must be “customized to account for such emissions associated with each aircraft and the flight route of such aircraft” and it must be “made available on the first display of any website selling any ticket for such flight.” This onerous burden would strain air carriers and may convince Americans to avoid flying altogether — which is likely the goal.
8. $15 minimum wage
Democrats managed to smuggle in a $15/hour minimum wage into the coronavirus bill — as a “permanent requirement” on all companies receiving federal aid.
9. Sixty pages on elections
Last but not least, the coronavirus legislation has 60 pages of federal mandates for elections. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, noted that “the programs Democrats are forcing States to adopt, like early voting and no excuse absentee ballots, have been known to take some States over 5 years to successfully implement. There’s no way States would be able to follow these outrageous demands before the 2020 elections.” Worse, the bill includes a provision for ballot harvesting. The legislation enables political operatives in every state to come to a voter’s house to pick up his or her ballot and take it to the polling station.
“I fully support states who are working to expand absentee voting during this national emergency, but we should be putting safeguards into place to protect against the practice of ballot harvesting, not in support of it,” Davis said. He condemned these measures as “nothing but a dangerous ploy to federalize elections.”
“States are already working around the clock to keep their elections functioning during this national emergency. The last thing they need is for the federal government to impose unnecessary and time consuming mandates.”
In Democrats’ COVID-19 proposal, there are over 60 pages of federal mandates for elections. Now is not the time to take advantage of a national emergency to federalize our election systems.
— House Admin. Committee GOP (@HouseAdmnGOP) March 23, 2020
In sum, Pelosi’s coronavirus response bill directs funds to AIDS, violence against women programs, and the Kennedy Center. It launches special-interest programs for unions and climate activists, institutes a $15/hour minimum wage and even meddles with the national elections system. Rather than a good faith effort to help Americans deal with the economic fallout of social distancing amid this crisis, Democrats have filed a bill to advance their partisan interests and take advantage of election systems.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) blasted this horrendous bill.
“We’ve got families that are suffering,” Sasse said in a statement. “We’ve got small businesses that are closing literally by the hour. We have doctors fighting to prevent their hospitals from being overwhelmed. And what does Speaker Pelosi try to do? She’s trying to take hostages about her dream legislation, all sorts of dream legislative provisions that have nothing to do with this moment and say the American public can’t get access to the public health piece of legislation or the economic relief pieces of legislation unless she gets hostages that are entirely unrelated to this moment.”
“Speaker Pelosi can bring her liberal wish list to the House Floor for a vote any time she likes. Unlike most of us she controls an agenda, but she ought to have the decency to vote on her ideologically-driven wish list after this emergency legislation has been passed,” he added.
While it remains unclear who exactly is responsible for all of this, the bill was written by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and it has eight cosponsors: Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.).
Make no mistake: these Democrats are delaying the financial assistance Americans need in order to push their pet projects. This is despicable.
————————- Tyler O’Neil is Assistant Editor of PJ Media, Tyler O’Neil is a conservative fundraiser and commentator. He has written for numerous publications.
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by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: The Democrats’ Quid Pro Quo
We don’t have to look at a transcript of a phone call. The Democrats are telling the president and the American people, “We will give you help to fight the coronavirus in exchange for advancing our radical agenda.”
This quid pro quo makes the Ukraine phone call look like child’s play. This isn’t holding up aid to some foreign country. This is the Democrat Party holding up aid to our country, aid that millions of Americans desperately need.
It has always concerned me that 40% of Americans are in a crisis if they miss a paycheck. It reminds me of what growing up in my home in Newport, Kentucky, was often like when we were just one paycheck away from disaster. But that is exactly what Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are allowing to happening.
The crux of the controversy here is extremely important.
It is not surprising that Republicans and Democrats would have different economic approaches to deal with the fallout from the crisis. That’s why we all knew that the final legislation would have compromises, things we like and things we don’t like, to best protect the economy so it can bounce back when this is all over.
But that is not what is holding up the bill. The problem is that Democrats, by their own admission, are exploiting the crisis to push their radical agenda on a host of issues totally unrelated to the virus.
We reported yesterday that Rep. James Clyburn, a member of the House Democrat leadership team, referred to the “phase 3” relief bill currently pending in the Senate as “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
Moreover, Schumer and Pelosi realize that McConnell is short five votes right now. As a result, we need 12 Senate Democrats, not seven, to get the 60 votes necessary to move the debate forward. They are exploiting the fact that some GOP senators are following CDC guidelines to further take advantage of the situation.
For example, what do election rules have to do with the coronavirus? As you know, the left has fought every effort to ensure ballot security and voter ID laws.
But Pelosi’s emergency bill prevents Republican governors and legislators from cleaning up state voter rolls or requiring identification to obtain a ballot. Her bill mandates nationwide same-day voter registration, an invitation to massive fraud.
It would nationalize ballot harvesting by insisting that every state allow partisan activists to go door-to-door collecting ballots, a process that is illegal in most states.
This is a glimpse of what the left will do if it gets the White House and Senate back this November. They will ram through an agenda that will guarantee Republicans never win another national election.
Coronavirus & Impeachment
While a deadly virus was getting ready to attack America in January, the Democrat Party and its media allies were in an all-out attack on the commander-in-chief.
Let’s revisit what was happening back in January of this year. That’s the period of time when Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are suggesting that the president should have been taking dramatic steps to fight this virus. Had he done so then, they claim we would not be in this mess now.
I’m still waiting for them acknowledge the two months we lost because China lied about the outbreak in Wuhan. But the left hates Trump more than it hates Chinese communists.
President Trump did take dramatic action in January by cutting off travel to China. All the critics viciously attacked his decision, and used it as another opportunity to attack Trump as a “racist.”
But put all that aside for a moment. What else was going on in January?
On December 31st, China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that it was dealing with a new virus, but insisted it was under control. Two weeks later, on January 14th, the WHO told the rest of the world that there was nothing to worry about because Chinese authorities said that the virus wasn’t contagious.
And what were Schumer and Pelosi doing at that time? They spent the entire month telling us that the most important foreign phrase we needed to know wasn’t “coronavirus pandemic,” but the Latin phrase “quid pro quo.”
They spent the entire month trying to impeach the president, and tying his administration in knots!
They demanded that multiple officials leave their posts to testify about a phone call. They tried to force the president out of office, nine months before the American people could render their own judgment about his leadership and policies.
They did this knowing there was a looming threat on the horizon. Yet they insist that Trump should have understood what was coming and should have done more.
By the way, I’ve noticed in recent days that the media are cutting off the president’s press briefings. Five of the six networks ended their coverage of Trump’s briefing yesterday once he started answering questions.
But in January there was never enough time for “quid pro quo.” Whenever Democrats wanted to talk about impeachment, the media covered every word of it. Now that we’re dealing with the coronavirus, the media doesn’t want Trump talking to the American people.
Stop The Spread
As the number of coronavirus infections and deaths continues to grow, the White House is once again urging everyone to do what they can to stop the spread of the coronavirus. We are now well into in a 15-day campaign to slow the infection rate. Here’s what you need to know:
Follow the directions of your state and local authorities.
If you feel sick, stay home. Contact your medical provider.
If your children are sick, keep them at home. Contact your medical provider.
If someone in your household has tested positive for the coronavirus, keep the entire household at home.
Older Americans should stay home and away from other people.
Those with serious underlying health conditions should stay home and away from other people.
In addition, the White House is also urging Americans to:
Work from home whenever possible.
Avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.
Avoid bars, restaurants and food courts. Use delivery, pickup and drive-thru options.
Avoid discretionary travel.
Avoid unnecessary visits to nursing homes and retirement centers.
Return To Normal?
More and more experts are suggesting that we need to shift our approach to combating the virus as soon as possible, as the economic destruction increases with each passing day.
Those over a particular age and those with compromised immune systems may need to continue following strict quarantine provisions. The rest of America should return to work as soon as possible in order to limit the economic damage.
The president has suggested that the cure must not be worse than the problem. This morning, the stock market opened significantly higher. I believe it was based largely on the hope that the president is signaling a possible end to these onerous restrictions. There may be light at the end of the tunnel!
During a town hall event today on Fox News, President Trump said he wanted to see the country “reopen” by Easter. “We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu. We don’t turn the country off,” Trump said. “We have to get back to work.”
This decision will be one of the most consequential decisions of Trump’s presidency. You can guarantee that his political enemies will try to exploit it to the fullest.
There are suggestions that a huge debate is going on within the administration over the best way to proceed. This decision could be impacted by signs that the virus may be peaking in Italy, as well as reports that there are a number of drugs that may ameliorate the worst consequences of the coronavirus for patients.
——————- Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer) is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, The Democrats’ Quid Pro Quo, Coronavirus & Impeachment, Return To NormalTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Mike Gonzalez: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste,” Obama adviser Rahm Emanuel said during the country’s last major emergency. Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is bringing this noxious idea back as she uses the coronavirus pandemic to permanently stamp identity politics on corporate America.
Pelosi’s coronavirus relief bill is a veritable pork barrel for programs that would force corporations receiving government aid to implement “diversity and inclusion” initiatives that have nothing to do with combating COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and preventing its spread.
In an age when the word “outrage” has lost its meaning through overuse, one is left speechless that the speaker of the House would hold the country’s physical and financial health hostage in an attempt to remake the corporate world along the lines of identity politics.
Pelosi’s bill uses the words diversity or diverse 63 times, the word inclusion 14 times, and the word minority 109 times as it lays money aside for large and small pet projects based on national divisions that depend on race, ethnicity, sex, disability status, etc.
This is not showing compassion for those in need; this is abusing the coronavirus emergency to reorder America.
Title V of Pelosi’s bill, “Investing in a Sustainable Recovery,” has sections on “Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity” and “Diverse Investment Advisers.”
The bill is meticulous in its attempt to coerce companies to count Americans along identity categories in every nook and cranny of corporate activity.
The legislation stipulates: “Any corporation that receives federal aid related to COVID-19 must maintain officials and budget dedicated to diversity and inclusion for no less than 5 years after disbursement of funds.”
The oversight panel set up to distribute the funds “shall collect diversity data from any corporation that receives Federal aid related to COVID-19 and issue a report that will be made publicly available no later than one year after the disbursement of funds.”
That report must include:
the gender, race and ethnic identity (and to the extent possible results disaggregated by ethnic group) as otherwise known or provided voluntarily, for the total number of employees (full and part-time) and the career level of employees (executive and managers versus employees in other roles). … The number and dollar value invested with minority- and women-owned suppliers (and to the extent possible results disaggregated by ethnic group) including professional services (legal and consulting) and asset managers, and deposits and other accounts with minority depository institutions, as compared to all vendors investments.Pelosi’s legislation would require companies to supply a comparison of pay among sexes and racial and ethnic minorities. They would have to equally hand over to the government demographic data on their corporate boards, the “reporting structure of lead diversity officials,” and the size of the budget and staff of offices dedicated to “diversity and inclusion.”
Pelosi’s bill would order the Securities and Exchange Commission to set up a Diversity and Advisory Group composed of college professors, government bureaucrats, and members of the private sector to carry out a study that would propose strategies to “increase gender, racial and ethnic diversity” on corporate boards.
Even grantees that hire service personnel who assist elderly households “shall consider and hire, at all levels of employment, and to greatest extent possible, a diverse staff, including by race, ethnicity, gender and disability status.”
No stone is left unturned in Nancy Pelosi’s effort to use the greatest crisis this country has faced in years to stamp identity politics on all aspects of the economy.
But as Emanuel, who would become chief of staff to President Barack Obama, made clear in 2008, the moments of greatest urgency and fear create opportunities to do things that are completely unrelated to the crisis at hand—even if one must make one’s fellow citizens suffer a little longer.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., told fellow lawmakers in a conference call last week, according to The Hill newspaper.
Indeed.
——————— Mike Gonzalez (@Gundisalvus) is a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, is a widely experienced international correspondent, commentator and editor who has reported from Asia, Europe and Latin America. He served in the George W. Bush Administration first at the Securities and Exchange Commission and then at the State Department.
Tags:Mike Gonzalez, The Daily Signal, Nancy Pelosi, Identity Politics, pork barrelTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Tags:AF Branco, editorial cartoon, This Little Piggy, Pelosi and the Democrats, not letting, coronavirus crisis, go to waste, trying to throw, unrelated pet pork projects, into the rescue billTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Nate Jackson: House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) gave the game away in remarks he made recently to fellow Democrats regarding how they should hijack Congress’s $1.8 trillion relief: “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
Democrats twice derailed the Senate bill over the last two days. What makes that even more appalling is that it was a bipartisan effort hailed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as recently as Saturday night.
Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew back from House recess, offered her own $2.5 trillion alternative, and it all went to heck.
Clyburn’s comments shed light on why. As millions of Americans are losing their jobs and income, getting pummeled in the stock market, and are generally worried about their future, the original aim for Congress was to send relief money as quickly as possible. That would go to individuals hurt by the crisis and to businesses to ensure that more jobs could be retained.
Yet here are just a few of the things Democrats have decided to demand (largely courtesy of the White House 1600 Daily email and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)):
•Audits of election results•Airline carbon emissions
•Corporate diversity requirements
•Collective bargaining for Federal workers
•Expansion of wind/solar credits
•Bailing out $11 billion in debt for U.S. Postal Service
•Giving another $20 billion in cash to U.S. Postal Service
•$10k bailout for everyone with student loans
•$15 minimum wage at companies receiving assistance
•Retirement plans for community newspaper employeesThe White House concludes, “And the list goes on and on — for 1,119 pages in Speaker Pelosi’s bill, to be exact.”
The real aim? As Mark Alexander put it, “Democrats have disgracefully derailed emergency COVID-19 funding by claiming it helps corporations too much. They know that is a lie — relief for hard-hit corporate sectors IS relief for employees in those sectors, but the lie plays well in the Leftmedia.”
Democrats clearly want a recession, so dragging this out makes sense. Worse, the poison pills they insist on adding will likely slow the recovery, much like they did during Barack Obama’s administration.
Sen. Cotton rightly noted, “The Democrats see an opportunity in this crisis. Not to help the American people, but to hold an emergency relief bill hostage until they get their radical wish list. How long will … Americans across the country have to wait?”
And Rep. Dan Crenshaw delivered an appropriately blistering rebuke: “Do Dems want a recession? A depression? How can they justify this? This bill is critical for the livelihood of millions. Our country will be devastated without immediate help. Dems can lie all they want about ‘helping workers’ but now they are destroying their lives.” He added, “This will go down as one of the most cynical, disgusting, malevolent actions in history. Millions are losing jobs while they play these games.”
Nevertheless, Congress will (eventually) hammer out a deal, probably in the neighborhood of $2 trillion. And the relief to average Americans will be larded up with pork for Democrat constituencies, the $23.5 trillion national debt notwithstanding. Future generations will pay dearly for the Democrats’ cynical political hackery.
——————— Nate Jackson is managing editor at The Patriot Post.
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. . . And why it won’t work. Don Feder: Now that he’s all but won his party’s nomination, Joe Biden can follow the time-honored strategy of Democratic presidential candidates by scurrying to the political center.
He’ll pretend he didn’t say what he said (in Joe’s case, the age-associated-memory-loss thing will help), or he’ll offer an explanation so incoherent that everyone will fall asleep trying to figure out what he means, or he’ll tell skeptics, “Don’t be such a horse’s ass.”
It won’t work.
The Sanders-AOC-Tlaib-Omar gang won’t shut up. They’ll keep barging into the conversation and embarrassing him with middle-class voters. But if he disowns them, he risks losing half the party.
Throughout the primary season, the media did its best to sell Biden as a moderate, a regular guy — good ol’ Lunch Bucket Joe, a throwback to the days when Democrats stole your money, but didn’t give it to illegal aliens.
Biden the moderate is pure media hype. Lately, Joe has been telling the Resistance: I’m Sanders too, but a Sanders who doesn’t scare the hell out of normal people – a Sanders who can win.
Here are a few of his channeling-my-inner-Bernie moments:
1. Immigration – “Lunch bucket Joe” wants wide-open borders: free health care for illegals and no deportation except for felonies committed in the United States (felonies in Mexico don’t count, neither does drunk driving, says Joe). Biden demonstrated his clear-thinking and firm grasp of the issue when he proclaimed during a speech in January that DACA recipients become Americans before many Americans do. (He neglected to explain the process whereby Americans become Americans.) A November report showed that 1 in 10 “Dreamers” have a criminal record – but they may have been tagged for something inconsequential, like drunk driving.
2. Taxes – In the words of the 5th Dimension song, “Up, up and away.” Repeal the Trump tax cuts and double the capital gains tax. In all, Biden envisions $3.2 trillion in tax increases. With the country trying to make up for the economic losses of COVID-19, punishing investment will work wonders.
3. College Tuition – Biden recently adopted Sanders’ College-for-All Act — free tuition for students at public colleges and universities whose family income is below $125,000, and regardless of the student’s major. Why should those majoring in transgender studies be denied public support for training that will allow them to make a crucial contribution to society.
4. Government health care – While criticizing Sanders’ Medicare for all, Biden’s plan has been called Medicare for Most: Bringing back the individual mandate and spending $750 billion to expand Obama Care.
5. Climate and energy – Joe’s positions here might be called the Lime Green New Deal. He started with the grandiose pronouncement, “We are going to get rid of fossil fuels.” This includes no new fracking, off-shore drilling or spending for pipeline infrastructure. The candidate who’s said to have blue-collar appeal told miners to learn computer programing – Hillary-style elitism at its worst. There goes Pennsylvania, Wyoming and West Virginia. There’s also $1.7 billion to establish the framework for his plan to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.
6. Gun control – Biden says Beto O’Rourke (“Hell yes, we’re going to take away your AR-15!”) will be in charge of firearms policy in his administration, because no one needs “a clip that holds 100-rounds.” There goes every state with a large contingent of sportsmen.
7. Abortion – Biden wants publicly funded abortion. He’ll also use abortion as a litmus test for court appointments. This will be a big hit with traditional Catholics. The South Carolina priest who refused to give communion to Joe in November may have started a trend.
8. Bringing civility back to government – Joe told the Human Rights Campaign that with Trump as president, “virulent people” and “the dregs of society” have a friend in the White House. Basket of intolerables here we come.
All of this puts the Vice President far outside the mainstream of American politics. If that weren’t enough, while he’s trying to rationalize, modify and explain away what he said, like the ghosts of dialectical Christmas past, Sanders, Warren and the squad will relentlessly try to pull him to the left.
The Trump campaign can reasonably ask what Biden will give Bernie and company if elected. Will he make Sanders Secretary of HHS, Warren Secretary of Treasury, Ilhan Omar Ambassador to Israel?
While the Vice President scurries to the middle, the radical rodents will block his way and gnaw away at his credibility.
——————– Don Feder writes for FrontPage Mag.
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by Thomas Gallatin: The Justice Department “quietly” petitioned Congress last week to grant it greater powers. Specifically, Politico reported that the DOJ “has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the coronavirus spreads through the United States.” In other words, the DOJ wants new power to essentially suspend habeas corpus whenever the DOJ deems it necessary.
Politico further noted that “the proposal — which the agency hopes to have included in the next round of pandemic legislation — would let the DOJ and its sister agency, the FTC, add 15 days onto merger timelines during emergencies, such as disease outbreaks, natural disasters or government shutdowns. … The proposal would also grant those top judges broad authority to pause court proceedings during emergencies. It would apply to ‘any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil process and proceedings.'”
The DOJ’s proposal is troubling and arguably dangerous, as it seeks to set a precedent that during extraordinary or crisis circumstances the government should enjoy greater power that literally strips Americans of their constitutional rights. Abraham Lincoln was wrong to suspend habeas corpus protections during a literal war. How much worse of an overreach is it during peacetime, even if it is an extraordinary national crisis?
As Scott Bullock, president and general counsel for the Institute for Justice, warns, “History demonstrates again and again that governments use a crisis to expand power and violate vital constitutional principles. And when the supposed emergency is over, the expanded powers often become permanent.”
Echoing Bullock’s warnings, Cato Institute vice president for criminal justice Clark Neily states, “If history is any indication, it’s a near certainty that these powers will be abused and that DOJ will try to hide those abuses when they occur. This is simply not an agency that has earned the kind of trust implied by these requests for increased authority and discretion.”
Ironically, the DOJ still hasn’t fully answered for its abuse of the secretive FISA court system, and now it’s asking to be trusted with even more power. Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) is correct in responding, “Congress must loudly reply NO.”
———————- Thomas Gallatin is a Features Editor at The Patriot Post.
Tags:Thomas Gallatin, The Patriot Post, DOJ, Uses Pandemic, to Request, Greater PowerTo share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
by Bill Wilson: The words “treason” and “traitor” are derived from the Latin tradere, “to deliver or hand over”. In modern times, “traitor” and “treason” are mainly used with reference to a person helping an enemy in time of war or conflict. From these it is crystal clear that the corporate media in the United States are committing acts of treason on an hourly basis.
As John Nolte of Breitbart News has shown in his meticulous accounting of the outright lies spread by the establishment corporate media, the “narrative readers” and so-called “journalists” have been engaged in an active campaign to distort and hide the efforts of the administration to stem the tide of the Chinese virus and the devastating impact on the economy and the livelihoods of millions of American families.
From the beginning they have been active agents for the Chinese Communist Party. When President Trump imposed a travel ban from China — the single most crucial step to slow the spread of the virus in the United States — in January, these provocateurs condemned him. Joe Biden was given a script to attack the travel restrictions as, of course, xenophobic. And as if signaled on cue, the corporate media dismissed and heaped ridicule on the effort. Today, we know that the restrictions have played a significant role in slowing the spread and giving us precious time to direct resources to where they are most needed.
Likewise, for much of February all mainstream media mouthpieces used the terms “Wuhan Virus” or “Chinese Virus” — right until the Communist Party in China denounced it and demanded it be called by its clinical name. Then, as if a light switch had been flicked, the corporate media denounced anyone — most obviously President Trump — who dared call the virus by its name. It was suddenly “racist” to say China Virus.
From start to today, the corporate establishment legacy media has taken the side of China. They do assure us all that the massive cash investments made by Chinese front companies into their corporate masters have nothing to do with it. And they are a touch indignant that it is pointed out that they can’t seem to be anywhere close to consistent with their politically correct nonsense.
Still, the latest ploy shows beyond any question their real motivations. Toward the end of last week, the call went out from the vapid Queen of Leftist Cable — Rachel Maddow — to block President Trump from speaking to the American people. Think for one minute about this. The President of the United States is speaking on a regular basis to the people at a time of unprecedented crisis and this extremist calls to have him censored! She is demanding that the corporate media review what he says and they decide what the people should and should not hear.
And, again on cue, the lemmings in the corporate media echo this disgusting demand. The Washington Post’s so-called “media correspondent” Margaret Sullivan issued the same edict in Sunday’s edition of the Post. Almost word for word, Sullivan wants the corporate media to decide.
There is a good reason for this in their view but it has nothing to do with what they are saying. They have to shut down the President for the simple reason that his bold, aggressive defense of the American People is winning him converts in all demographic groups — even among Democrats. The corporate thugs know that Joe Biden is no match for the President, that he only demonstrates more clearly how physically and mentally unfit he is for the office. So, the only way the Maddows and the Sullivans can see to blunt the impact is to silence the President.
It will not happen. And, it cannot be allowed to happen. Lives depend on it. Should this transparent political act happen, should Comcast or Disney or Viacom — owners of the three networks — refuse to air the President’s briefings on the virus, then action should be taken immediately. And what action?
To start the FCC should pull the licenses to broadcast. Harsh? Not really. FDR moved more aggressively against the media in his day. Lincoln went further still. And, to be honest, the challenge we face today is greater by a large magnitude than the challenges these icons of the political establishment faced.
Shaming and shunning is in order. Every patriot should refuse to comment to, appear on or otherwise engage these fake news purveyors. They only exist because their corporate masters see them as viable vehicles to spread the corporate propaganda line. Take that away from them and they are reduced to the nagging harpies of the insane Left they are. Simply refuse to speak with them. Give them nothing.
And finally, the entire financial structure of these corporate media outlets needs to be reviewed. What subsidies are they getting from federal, state or local governments? To what extent are these corporations based on monopoly arrangements such as Comcast franchise agreements that block competition? What is the nature of their advertising revenue? Does it amount to nothing more than a taxpayer subsidized pass through from elites? Each and every one of these unfair, corporatist supports should be removed.
The time has passed to ignore the threat that corporate control of media poses to the American people. Their servile parroting of the Chinese Communist line, their call for censoring the . President of the United States are the final nails in the coffin. Corporate media constitutes a threat to the very survival of our nation and must be addressed accordingly.
—————— Bill Wilson is the President of the Market Research Foundation and a former board member and former President of Americans for Limited Government.
Tags:Bill Wilson, Americans for Limited Government, Why Is The Corporate Media, Taking China’s Side, On The Origin,s Of The Virus, Silencing President Trump?To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!
Cliff Kincaid: In another Trump-bashing piece in the Washington Post, a professor noted, in passing, that “several Chinese labs participated more than 20 years ago in the human genome project,” as if this were a good thing. In fact, the Human Genome Project (HGP) opened the door to a Communist Frankenstein project of human genetic modification and manipulation. The Chinese Reds are the new Nazis.
If there is anything to be learned from this disaster, it is that America must become self-sufficient in terms of medicine and medical production capabilities and avoid entanglements with China. President Trump was moving in the direction of America-first policies before the Chinese unleashed their virus on the world.
Assuming that President Trump (with the reluctant support of congressional Democrats) can save our nation from an economic apocalypse, it will be necessary for America to remain on guard against even more Chinese biological threats. And one of the most significant is Chinese communist scientific and genetic manipulation of what it means to be human. “China is fast becoming the world capital of controversial science,” notes one report.
A Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, went public in November 2018 with this dangerous effort, declaring that he had created the world’s first genetically-altered babies. The communist authorities were caught off-guard by this unauthorized disclosure. In a show-trial, the regime sentenced the scientist to three years in prison for practicing illegal medicine.
Though the project was presented as an effort to identify hereditary illnesses, we can easily see how it could be used to produce a “master race.”
China certainly seems to think it’s superior to the West. “Made in China 2025” is a state-led industrial strategy intended to make China the dominant power in high-tech manufacturing. At the same time, its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched in 2013 and is designed as a global infrastructure development project focused on Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Italy, now leading the world in Chinese virus deaths, was the first big European economy to join China’s enormous BRI project. As a visitor to Italy earlier this year, I can vouch for the fact that Chinese were flooding into the country.
The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium included the Beijing Genomics Institute/Human Genome Center and its Institute of Genetics.
It would have been far wiser to invest the HGP money in rectifying the actual basis for human disease and conditions, such as dirty water, infections, and bad dietary habits. Instead, however, a decision was made to allow the Medical Deep State to practice genetic engineering, in cooperation with China.
As President Trump puts the U.S. on a war footing to confront this threat, public interest attorney Larry Klayman, as well as the Berman law group, have filed suits against China for covering up the release of the virus, causing human suffering and thousands of deaths.
But the Chinese are moving forward, asserting that their “socialist market economy” is superior to ours. President Trump sees the danger for our own economy. “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” he notes.
After saving the U.S. economy (if he ever gets Democratic Party support), he will have to investigate how the NIH and CDC enabled China’s biomedical industry to progress to the point where it has become a Frankenstein monster threatening the world.
Incredibly, the CDC’s website still touts “collaboration” with the regime. The CDC and the government of China “have collaborated for the past 30 years addressing public health priorities affecting the U.S., China, and the world,” the CDC website proclaims. The CDC says it has three employees in the country and 11 “locally employed” individuals assisting the office.
One CDC document asserts, “With a population of nearly 1.4 billion and 50% of the world’s livestock, China’s ecology poses a risk for emerging, re-emerging, and novel diseases that could threaten China, the U.S., and the rest of the world. Moreover, the world’s growing network of air travel routes dramatically increases the risk for infections to rapidly spread, and for potential pandemics that can cause illness, death, and costly disruption to global trade.”
All of this foreshadowed what has happened in China and the rest of the world with the virus outbreak. But according to published reports, China informed the CDC and the UN’s China-friendly World Health Organization (WHO) about the mysterious cases of “pneumonia” on December 31, 2019, three weeks after the first case was documented. It took several more weeks, until January 30, before the WHO alerted the world to a public health emergency. China refused offers of CDC personnel to investigate the nature of the disease, indicating a nefarious reason for the cover-up.
It looks like the “cooperation” with China has been a one-way street. The Medical Deep State has helped create a monster.
——————— Cliff Kincaid is a veteran journalist, media critic, director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, and writes for RenewAmerica.
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Instead Of Promising Immediate Action On the Crucial Bipartisan CARES Act, Speaker Pelosi Introduced Her Own Bill Stuffed With An Unrelated Ideological Wish List
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY):“[T]here’s a role and responsibility of us to step in and do what the role of government ought to be in this case of crisis. The crisis caused by both a disease and the economy, the government’s action to shut down the economy, and yet, Democrats one after another continue to block it. And they’re not blocking it for things that have to do with actually helping the American people. It is a wish list, a liberal wish list. It is astonishing they are delaying direct assistance so they can play to the liberal left…. We’re here trying to fight for the man and woman on the street in our hometowns, and yet they’re fighting for the Green New Deal. … The Speaker is pushing for diversity on corporate boards, for collective bargaining, for election reform. There are proposals here in her proposal … requiring early voting, requiring same-day voter registration. Where does that fit into a bill to rescue the American people who right now find themselves in the throes of a disease that may kill them and an economy that has been shut down? That’s why the Democrats aren’t on this floor, because what they are doing cannot be defended. So I would just say – and would appeal to my colleagues — let us do the work of the Senate. It is time for everyone to stand up and be responsible. Let us get this done. Let us get this passed. The days for political games are now behind us.” (Sen. Barrasso, Floor Remarks, 3/23/2020)
“DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES. — Any corporation that receives Federal aid related to COVID–19 must maintain officials and budget dedicated to diversity and inclusion initiatives for no less than 5 years after disbursement of funds.” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
PAGES 975-976: Imposing new emission standards and carbon offsets on airlines
“Not later than 90 days after the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall require each air carrier receiving assistance under section 101, to fully offset the annual carbon emissions of such air carriers for domestic flights beginning in 2025.” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
“CARBON EMISSIONS GOAL.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall require each air carrier receiving assistance under section 101 to—(A) make and achieve a binding commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the domestic flights of such air carrier in every calendar year, beginning with 2021 …” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
PAGE 979: Requiring airline literature on flight emissions
“Not later than January 1, 2023, the Secretary of Transportation shall develop and implement, by regulation, a program to require air carriers that receive assistance under section 101 provide passengers with information regarding greenhouse gas emissions resulting from each individual flight …” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
PAGES 908-910: Promoting federal public employee unions
“This division may be cited as the ‘Protecting Collective Bargaining and Official Time for Federal Workers Act’…. The current administration has acted through Executive Orders and official memorandums to … set an aggressive schedule for unions to engage in collective bargaining, while also slashing the unions official time for performing union duties by over 91 percent in some cases.” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
“Each of the following Executive Orders and presidential memorandum are rescinded and shall have no force or effect: (1) Executive Order 13837 (relating to the use of official time). (2) Executive Order 13836 (relating to Federal collective bargaining).” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
One of the executive orders Democrats would overturn was designed to “cap the amount of paid time that workers can take off to conduct union-related business.” (Politico, 5/25/2018)
PAGES 740-741: Imposing an expensive “permanent” minimum wage hike on employers
“PERMANENT REQUIREMENTS ON ALL CORPORATIONS RECEIVING FEDERAL AID RELATED TO COVID–19.—Any corporation that receives Federal aid related to COVID–19 shall permanently comply with the following … MINIMUM WAGE.—The corporation shall pay each employee (full-time and part-time) of the corporation a wage of not less than $15 an hour …” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
PAGE 896: Canceling U.S. Postal Service debt
“[A]ny outstanding debt of the United States Postal Service owed to the Treasury pursuant to sections 2005 and 2011 of title 5, United States Code, on the date of the enactment of this Act is hereby cancelled …” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
PAGE 1170: Granting “special rules” to community newspaper retirement plans
“MODIFICATION OF SPECIAL RULES FOR MINIMUM FUNDING STANDARDS FOR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER PLANS. (a) AMENDMENT TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986.—Subsection (m) of section 430 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, is amended to read as follows: ‘(m) SPECIAL RULES FOR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER PLANS.— ‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible newspaper plan sponsor of a plan under which no participant has had the participant’s accrued benefit increased (whether because of service or compensation) after April 2, 2019, may elect to have the alternative standards described in paragraph (4) apply to such plan.” (U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, 3/23/2020)
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by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced Sunday he has covid-19,” The Washington Postreports, “and four other GOP senators are quarantined. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) disclosed Monday that her husband, too, is infected with the virus.”
Social media was not uniformly brimming with support for the Kentucky senator, of course, and some folks noted, in earnest horror, that the Republican who had been shot at by a Bernie Bro and blindsided by his deranged Democrat neighbor had dared work six days in the Senate after being tested but before receiving his diagnosis.
He should have been sequestered!
To let the big “stimulus” packages sail through Congress?
But there are work-arounds.
“We should not be physically present on this floor at this moment,” argued Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) yesterday, urging the Senate to facilitate social distancing by allowing remote voting. Asked about it at his Sunday news conference, President Trump gave thumbs up: “I would be totally in favor of it on a temporary basis.”
I say, let’s take this a step further: do it permanently.
Remote voting makes sense in an emergency. Sure. But it also makes sense all the time, because legislators voting from their home states and districts rather than within the Washington swamp would hear more from constituents than special interest lobbyists and, therefore, likely represent us better.
Plus, not tethered to life in Washington, or the confines of the capitol, we might reduce the size of congressional districts from over 700,000 people to more like 70,000 and see real representation return to our land.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
—————— Paul Jacob (@Common_Sense_PJ) is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacob is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.
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by Kerby Anderson: Often when I talk about the “deaths of despair” affecting so many young people, I am asked, “why are so many unhappy?” There are a number of reasons, but first let’s discuss how serious this problem has become.
In the US, the suicide rate quadrupled for young men (ages 15-24) and doubled for young women from 1946 to 2006. Another study found that “suicidal thinking, severe depression, and rate of self-injury among US college students more than doubled over less than a decade.”
Dennis Prager suggests that the reasons for such despair can be put into two categories: loss of values and loss of meaning. The loss of values is easy to document in this country. Judeo-Christian values were important in the founding of this country and important in the maintenance of the republic. Also “middle-class values” were important. This would include getting married, making a family, getting a good job, demonstrating self-discipline, and patriotism.
Values were also lost when various communal associations declined. The Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville explained that the strength of America derived from these professional, social, civil, political, artistic, philanthropic, and religious institutions.
A second reason for despair is lack of meaning. Viktor Frankl in his classic work, Man’s Search for Meaning, reminds us how meaning (or the lack of it) can explain so much about human nature. Poor people can be happy if they have meaning, while rich people who have money, but no meaning, are usually unhappy.
Religious faith can give life meaning. But more and more young people have no connection to religion. The fastest growing demographic among young people are the “nones” (those who define themselves as atheist, agnostic, or no preference).
So many young people today are unhappy because of the loss of values and the loss of meaning.
—————- Kirby Anderson is an author, lecturer, visiting professor and radio host and contributor on nationally syndicated Point of View and the “Probe” radio programs.
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by Dr. Kevin Pham: The rapid spread of the coronavirus has completely upended daily life for all Americans and shows no sign of letting up.
Harsh orders from numerous state governors require Americans to stay home except for essential activities in an effort to halt, or at least slow, new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
These indefinite shelter-in-place orders leave many Americans wondering if relief will ever come.
We have seen several glimmers of hope, however, particularly in the realm of pharmaceuticals, although these treatments are far from certain and will take time to become available.
The first of these is a vaccine against COVID-19, which is in phase one trials. Considering that COVID-19 first reached America in mid-January and the vaccine is in trials by mid-March, this approval process has been moving at breakneck speed.
Even so, this vaccine is expected to take at least one year before it can pass all three phases and be used by the general population.
Another promising development is a new drug called remdesivir, developed by Gilead Sciences. It is currently in phase two clinical trials in Nebraska that began late in February, and two phase three trials in Asia that began early in March.
This is only the beginning, though, and the first study enrollee has not yet completed the test protocol in the phase two trial; the phase three trials only have begun to recruit participants. The phase two trial will involve close to 400 enrollees, and the phase three trials together will involve close to 1,000 enrollees.
These processes may take anywhere from several months to several years. Given the importance of finding a cure for COVID-19, the effort probably will be accelerated as much as possible. But there is a limit to how fast these trials may proceed.
These trials are intended to show the efficacy of the drug and therefore require a large number of participants, half of whom will receive either a placebo (phase two study) or receive the standard of care (phase three studies) rather than remdesivir.
These measures will ensure that any improvement due to the drug is not a fluke.
Drug trials must pass through three phases before they can be marketed. In phase one, healthy volunteers are given the drug to monitor for adverse reactions. If a drug is unsafe for a healthy individual, it could cause immense harm in a sick individual for whom the drug was intended in the first place.
Drugs that pass phase one trials are shown to be relatively safe and undergo phase two trials to show efficacy against the illness they are intended to treat. Phase three trials introduce many more participants and are intended to show whether the drug is more efficacious than existing treatments.
A fourth phase occurs after a drug is available to the public and includes postmarket surveillance for adverse effects.
The process is long and time consuming because it needs to be. Especially for a disease such as COVID-19, a drug must be safe, it must work, and it must work better than what doctors already are doing. If not for those three attributes, the new drug only would hurt the patients it was intended to help.
The good news is that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin have gotten through these trials for other diseases, so they are available for doctors to prescribe.
There are no drugs that are approved to treat COVID-19, but drugs approved for other diseases may be prescribed for off-label use.
So why haven’t doctors around the world begun ordering these drugs for all COVID-19 patients?
Plaquenil, the brand name of hydroxychloroquine, commonly is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. As soon as news broke that it might be effective for treating COVID-19, medical demand for the drug quickly depleted pharmacy supplies, depriving patients of their needed medication.
Also, as is true of all drugs, hydroxychloroquine is not benign; it can cause a heart condition that increases the chance of a deadly arrhythmia.
Another reason is that the evidence, though promising, is minimal.
The buzz that these drugs have generated is due in large part to a French study that showed that patients treated with the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin recovered faster and more completely compared to patients who were not treated with these drugs.
This sounds promising, but the study involved only 36 patients, of whom 20 were given these drugs and 16 acted as a control group who did not receive the drugs. By comparison, this study population is about one-tenth the size of the Gilead phase two study population, which will include 400 participants.
Furthermore, the French study excluded patients who were later admitted to the intensive care unit, so it says nothing about whether these drugs will help with severe illness. In fact, it may suggest that the drugs were unable to prevent disease progression in those patients.
One of the truly promising aspects of this study is that it measured viral loads and found that patients who completed the test protocol with the hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combination were virologically cured—that is, they had no detectable viral RNA. This is important because a person infected with COVID-19 still may be shedding viruses up to 37 days after developing the disease.
At Day Six of the study, 100% of the patients treated with the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin had undetectable viral loads, compared to 12.5% of patients in the control group.
One patient who was treated only with hydroxychloroquine still had detectable viral loads on Day Six; she was given azithromycin on Day Nine, which cleared her infection. However, a different patient initially treated with the combination tested positive again on Day Eight.
Clearly, the study leaves many questions to answer and is lacking in rigor, at least compared to a three-phase drug approval process, but it does show promise. Enough promise that New York state will begin a large trial Tuesday.
For now, hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin; remdesivir; and a vaccine are all pharmaceutical therapies in the works for the fight against COVID-19.
Although none of these is guaranteed to work, each represents a small ray of hope, a reason for cautious and guarded optimism, for a return to normal life.
————————- Kevin Pham, a medical doctor, is a contributor to The Daily Signal and a former graduate fellow in health policy at The Heritage Foundation.
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by Mario Murillo Ministries: What if a year ago, someone had told you that overnight all the bars, nightclubs, strip joints, casinos, and porn studios would shut down? And, on top of that, over 6 million California children would be spared LGBTQ classroom indoctrination for 6 months. You would have called it the greatest moral awakening in history.
But it’s a virus, not a revival that brought about those things. It is a tragedy of worldwide proportions that is killing innocent people and heaping misery on humanity.
Unbelievably, that is not the main reason that millions of American Christians are rejecting the idea that God has anything to do with this pandemic. The reason they reject the idea of judgment, is because along with the strip clubs, porno studios, and gambling halls, coronavirus has closed down their mega-church. Apparently, the virus makes no distinction between any of those institutions.
Empty MEGA Church
Is the virus the judgment of God? All I know is that God told me this was coming. On May 1, 2018, I wrote about a crisis that could empty mega-churches overnight. I wrote, “Can this mean that lavish centers of worship can suddenly go missing? Can we afford to assume they cannot?”
Evil men brought this upon us. Scientists knew about this threat 13 years ago. Experts warned the world’s leaders that the Chinese needed to stop eating bats, and that it could transfer the coronavirus to humans and cause a worldwide infection. But, no one listened. (Keep that ‘no one listened’ part handy, because it will keep coming up).
Biden says his handling of the swine flu will show Americans he’s better than Trump. Liz Peek wrote, “Biden frequently boasts that his management of the swine flu epidemic should convince voters that he is better equipped than Trump to combat the coronavirus. That disease, which broke out in 2009, infected 60.8 million Americans, hospitalized 274,000 and killed 12,469, according to the CDC. In fact, Biden had little to do with the response to the swine flu outbreak; rather, the CDC managed the epidemic.”
Obama put no social distancing, no testing, and no travel bans in place. Worst of all, they did not use the crisis to set up a system to handle future pandemics. Evil men have brought this upon us. And evil men ran cover for Obama over that epidemic.
America asked God to get out of every aspect of our lives. The pagan American culture pushed sexual debauchery to the limit, supported the human sacrifice of 54,000,000 babies who were killed by abortion, and then arrogantly assumed nature would just go along with it.
“All those who hate Me, love death.” Prov. 8:36.
The earth was created by God. The earth draws its life from God. The earth is made up of both natural and moral protections. Man, rebelling against God, brings about death. That is not religious guessing, it is just plain fact. We have tampered with protections we don’t even understand. We did not listen.
Many American Christians are still not listening, and neither are many preachers. There is no indication that the church at large has learned any lesson from the shutdown. We see no sign of permanent change on any major issue. Most leaders are just hankering for this crisis to pass and for things to open back up, so they can restart the engines of their empires. They don’t realize that the era of their man driven preaching-palaces is at an end.
No soul-searching or repenting for grieving the Holy Spirit is apparent. Worst of all, there is no promise that these Liberal people-pleasing preachers will stop quenching the Holy Spirit and weakening believers.
And when someone does make a statement of repentance, it is at best, half-hearted and feeble. They suddenly start talking about repentance, soul winning, and prayer. You ask, “Mario, what could be wrong with that?” To demonstrate what is wrong with it, I want to highlight a moment in the 1950’s Quiz Show Scandal.
Charles Van Doren, of the celebrated literary and intellectual family of Van Dorens, became a national celebrity in the 1950s on the quiz show 21. After a long winning streak—and mounting evidence that he was cheating with the help of the show’s producers—he appeared before a Congressional subcommittee and confessed his wrong doing.
Corrupt politicians, trying to protect the reputation of Television, commended Charles for his confession. Then the congressman from New York, Steven Boghos Derounian said, “Mr. Van Doren, I am happy that you made the statement, but I cannot agree with most of my colleagues who commended you for telling the truth, because I don’t think an adult of your intelligence ought to be commended for, at long last, telling the truth.”
Neither should Preachers of the Gospel be commended for declaring the need for repentance, soul winning, and prayer—if they don’t also repent of years of deliberate neglect and even opposition to these vital truths. It would be different if they would say, “I have lied. I have grieved God with my need for a big ministry. I abandoned my duty, tickled the ears of my flock, and allowed immorality to spread unchecked.” Otherwise, why should we applaud them for at long last telling the truth?
Here is the list of things the Body of Christ does that must stop.
Preaching a seductive Gospel.
Obscene amounts of money being paid to Christian concert artists
Mass gatherings without altar calls or any intention of preaching the Gospel.
Waffling in media interviews about same-sex marriage and abortion.
Spirit-filled believers turning the Holy Gifts of God into New Age toys.
Drunkenness and addiction to pornography.
Pentecostal pastors who left the Holy Spirit behind in favor of marketing schemes from popular evangelical church-growth gurus.
We must not, and we cannot return to any of these things. They are the old wine skins from a corrupt system. They must be tossed into the dustbin of history. Wanting to go back to any of these things proves the American church has learned nothing from this crisis.
However, a glorious new work of the Holy Spirit is coming at the end of this shut down. There is a core of believers and preachers who are using this time wisely. They are on their faces, weeping their way to a fresh anointing and a pure heart that can be trusted with the that glorious work that is coming. That outpouring will only come upon those who follow Revelation 3 where Jesus said, “if anyone hears my voice and opens the door… The burning question is, “Are you listening?” “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelations 2:29
———————— Mario Murillo is an evangelist Mario Murillo, minister, blogger.
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ARRA News Service: There are many people, many voters, simply stunned at how the Democrats are trying to use the COVID-19 economic emergency to add unrelated ideological elements to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) walks through some of the items the Democrats are demanding before they will allow economic relief to U.S. companies and workers.
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Nurses in protective suits distribute meals to patients at a
temporary hospital at Tazihu Gymnasium in Wuhan in
central China’s Hubei province. (Img via AP/ 2/21/2020)
by Joseph V. Micallef: As of March 23, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, there are 353,692 people infected with the novel coronavirus, officially known as SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, worldwide. A total of 15,430 have died, while 100,443 people have recovered.
In the United States, the number of cases has reached 35,345 with 459 deaths.
In addition to the human suffering, the pandemic has produced worldwide economic dislocations that have led to chaotic, and plunging, financial markets’ dropping economic output; and burgeoning unemployment. World trade and associated global supply chains have been disrupted. The net result is a deepening sense of fear and anxiety around the world.
The crisis has also given rise to an enormous amount of deliberate misinformation about the crisis, its origins and its eventual consequences. Some of that misinformation is fueled by fear and ignorance — some by crasser financial motives.
In the case of China, Russia and several other countries, however, misinformation is deliberately being spread by state media to deflect criticisms of their government actions, or lack thereof, and to push the blame onto someone else. Misinformation is also being weaponized as part of a broader foreign policy agenda that seeks to secure national advantage from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Weaponizing Misinformation
Every tragedy requires a culprit. Even so-called acts of God, like floods, earthquakes or disease outbreaks, invariably produce a culprit — a badly designed building that collapsed; a dam that wasn’t probably maintained; or civil administrators who were unprepared, failed to act or responded incompetently. It is a deeply rooted human tendency to find someone to blame when things go wrong, a fact long understood and exploited by tort lawyers.
It should not be a surprise, then, that the finger pointing has already begun in earnest.
The coronavirus’ origins are still unknown. The fact that the outbreak occurred in Wuhan, the city that hosts China’s only Level IV biomedical laboratory for dealing with infectious diseases, has fueled countless conspiracy theories that the virus is manmade and that somehow it “escaped” from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The available evidence suggests that the origin of COVID-19 is consistent with the origin of other coronaviruses, including those that led to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) in 2002-2004 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012-2014, and which every year lead to the development of several new strains of influenza. There is no evidence that the coronavirus is a man-made bio-weapon that somehow escaped from a research lab.
On the other hand, the evidence that East Asia has been at the center of successive epidemics of diseases linked to the coronavirus is clear and unmistakable.
Since 1957, there have been more than a dozen major coronavirus-linked infections that have emerged, almost all of them from East Asia. Several of them have reached pandemic proportions.
The 1957 Asian flu (H2N2) pandemic was responsible for the deaths of approximately 2 million people. Other pandemics were caused by the 1968 Hong Kong Flu, H3N2, (1 million deaths) and the 2009 Swine flu, H1N1, (500,000 deaths).
In addition, there have been three major outbreaks of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that are linked to coronaviruses: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2004, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012-2014 and COVID-19. Only the COVID-19 outbreak rose to the level of a pandemic.
The good news is that these sort of outbreaks have happened before. The bad news is that these types of outbreaks will happen again.
China Blames America
Early on, Chinese state media suggested that the U.S. was responsible for the outbreak, and that it was an attempt by the U.S. to cripple the Chinese economy. Much the same thing happened during the SARS epidemic, leading to a deluge of conspiracy theories across Chinese social media sites that the virus was a CIA creation.
In late January, a Chinese military website, Xilu, which is owned and funded by China’s Ministry of Defense, claimed that the coronavirus had been specifically engineered by the U.S. to target people of Han Chinese ancestry. The Han represent some 99% of China’s population. Supposedly, according to Xilu, the virus was introduced into Wuhan by American servicemen participating in the Military World Games in October 2019. The report claimed that the “poor performance of the American athletes” was evidence that they were not in fact athletes but “biowarfare operatives.”
In the meantime, Chinese media have been emphasizing China’s “heroic actions” in fighting the pandemic, describing its actions when the outbreak emerged as a “selfless sacrifice to buy the world more time.” Beijing has also cracked down on the western media, limiting their ability to report on the coronavirus pandemic in China. Reporters from The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others, have been expelled. Additionally, Chinese natives who have been working for foreign news bureaus have been dismissed by the Chinese government.
The Chinese press has extensively covered the spread of the coronavirus around the world, pointing out other countries’ failure to contain the virus, in particular Italy and Spain. They continue to stress the foreign origins of the virus. The consistent talking points across a broad number of media underscore that this is a widespread media campaign to shift blame away from the Chinese government.
Beijing has also continued to allow conspiracy theories that blame the U.S. to proliferate uncensored on Chinese social media. Beijing’s censors are usually quick to delete comments that vary with the government’s official position. The extent and continued presence of these conspiracy theories on Chinese social media represents a tacit endorsement by Beijing.
Likewise, Chinese media have been quick to label references to the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan flu” as racist and xenophobic — a charge that has been echoed uncritically by certain elements of the American media.
The search for a cure, either in the form of a vaccine or a drug regime that will mitigate the worst effects of COVID-19, has become the latest geopolitical arena between China and the U.S. Both countries are rushing to find a cure so they can take credit for “saving” the rest of the world.
Europe has also emerged as the main arena where the Sino-American propaganda war is playing out. Beijing banned the export of most crucial medical supplies to the U.S., including face masks, testing swabs, hand sanitizer and surgical gowns. The ubiquitous N95 masks, for which China is the world’s leading supplier, were reserved almost exclusively for Chinese customers.
In the meantime, however, both Chinese and European media outlets have been trumpeting Chinese aid in the form of the same badly needed medical supplies to European countries. In some cases, this aid is taking the form of “gifts” from leading Chinese companies like Huawei to their European business partners.
Russia is following suit. According to Reuters, following a Saturday telephone call between Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Defense Ministry announced “that military transport planes would deliver eight mobile brigades of military medics, special disinfection vehicles and other medical equipment to Italy from Sunday.”
Russian state media has also been quick to take up and amplify the conspiracy theories from China. Multiple Russian media outlets have echoed the claim that the coronavirus is an American-designed bio-weapon intended to cripple the Chinese economy.
Zvevda, a news outlet controlled and funded by the Russian Ministry of Defense, for example, published an article, “Coronavirus: American Biological Warfare Against Russia and China,” which claimed the virus was intended to weaken the Chinese economy in order to increase American leverage during the next round of trade talks. Numerous Russian politicians, most notably ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, have echoed those claims, blaming the Pentagon as the source of the coronavirus.
The Russian misinformation campaign has also taken the form of widespread inflammatory comments on social media by thousands of accounts believed to be Russian controlled, designed to stoke public fear about the virus and its effects.
On Feb. 22, the U.S. State Department accused Russia of an “intent to sow discord and undermine U.S. institutions and alliances from within by spreading disinformation about coronavirus.”
In many cases, Russian agents are, in a technique honed during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, simply amplifying and endorsing comments that are already circulating on social media and that often originated in the U.S. In this way, “fringe” comments that might otherwise have received little exposure get far broader circulation, building momentum and often become “trending” enough to attract the attention of the national media.
It should be noted, however, that Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites claim they cannot find evidence of a deliberate Russian disinformation campaign. The Kremlin has labeled the State Department charges “a deliberate false story.”
Not surprisingly, Iranian state media has largely echoed Chinese and Russian stories blaming the U.S. for developing coronavirus and using it as a bioweapon. Tehran has claimed that the virus is part of the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian government. The Iranian government has pushed for the elimination of American sanctions against Iran in response to the disease outbreak. Similar sentiments have cropped up in Venezuelan media and elsewhere.
The use of disinformation as a propaganda tool, and as an instrument of foreign policy, is nothing new. The Soviets were masters of it and employed it extensively during the Cold War to shape and create anti-American sentiments around the world. The advent of social media, however, has made this a far more potent weapon. Not only does it allow foreign countries to speak directly to Americans, but the freewheeling and uncensored nature of the Internet means that, in many cases, it can also serve to heighten and fan societal divisions and, in particular, fears and anxieties.
This is hardly the first time that America’s adversaries have looked to blame it for their own shortcomings and problems, or have sought to capitalize on America’s own problems and fears to their advantage. What the coronavirus does underscore is how prevalent such tactics have become and how even a global medical crisis can be used by an opponent to its advantage.
The Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on China’s Future
Beijing has good reason to try to deflect the blame for the outbreak. For now, governments around the world have their hands full dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no question however that the epidemic started in China, as have many of the coronavirus-linked influenza and ARDS disease outbreaks over the last half century.
It’s equally clear that Chinese authorities suppressed information of the outbreak, initially denied the Centers for Disease Control and other national health authorities around the world access to samples, critical information about the disease pathogen and the pattern of disease transmission and were in general slow to advise the rest of the world on the outbreak.
The question of whether and, if so, how Beijing should be held responsible for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is not one that world leaders want to deal with currently. The question has come up at the daily White House briefings on several occasions and was deflected by President Donald Trump. Several members of Congress have already suggested that the U.S. Treasury should unilaterally cancel a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt held by China’s central bank to offset the costs of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s not clear whether the U.S. government could unilaterally cancel a portion of its debt held by foreign entities. Such a move would certainly roil financial markets and damage the standing of U.S. government debt.
On the other hand, there are clearly going to be consequences to China from how Beijing has dealt with the outbreak. Many companies have been reevaluating their dependence on China-centered global supply chains as a result of the trade war between Washington and Beijing. The realization that those supply chains are also vulnerable to disease outbreaks in East Asia is another strong reason to diversify global supply chains away from China.
Secondly, it is likely that at some point the Trump administration will intensify its efforts to get American companies to repatriate their manufacturing and cut their ties with foreign suppliers of critical items. Medical supplies and equipment, antibiotics and key components of essential drugs are all likely to be targeted with tax incentives, enabling legislation and/or grants to encourage or even force their manufacturing back to the U.S.
Ditto for many other products and industries where repatriation will be seen as a national security issue. It’s likely that the Defense Department and defense contractors will be further mandated to seek out American suppliers for the hundreds of billions of dollars of goods they purchase. Other government departments won’t be far behind.
Expect renewed pressure on China and other Asian countries to do away with so-called “wet markets” where live animals, both wild and domestic, are sold for human consumption. China banned wet markets during the 2002-2004 SARS crisis but allowed them to resume when the crisis ended. This may also lead to a broader reform of factory farming around the world and more stringent regulations on the use of antibiotics on farm animals.
It’s also likely that some kind of medical screening will become standard for incoming passengers on overseas flights to the U.S., especially for those passengers arriving from countries that have wet markets. It may be nothing more than a temperature check initially, with a more rigorous regime as back up whenever major disease outbreaks occur elsewhere in the world.
In a broad sense, Beijing’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is no different than how it has handled other disease outbreaks in the past. In fact, notwithstanding its initial reluctance to share information, Chinese authorities were probably more open in this instance then they have been in the past, even if they fell short of what was necessary.
The problem is that China plays a different role in the world today than it did 50 years ago. Given that role, its centrality to world manufacturing output and the significant presence of Chinese citizens around the world, the consequences of anything less than immediate and complete transparency when disease outbreaks occur are far graver on the rest of the world.
When China emerged from behind the “bamboo curtain,” the presumption was that it would become more like the rest of the world — that over time, Beijing’s authoritarianism would give way to more open, freer markets and civil society. Instead, Beijing has been pushing the rest of the world to become more like China.
The rest of the world, beginning with the U.S., is going to be pushing back hard.
———————- Joseph V. Micallef (@JosephVMicallef) writes for Military.com and is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker.
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by Gayle Ruzicka: Overnight our world has changed! The threat is real. The fear of the Coronavirus Pandemic has caused the government to unjustifiably use a heavy hand to force us to change our behaviors and infringe on our God given, constitutionally protected Liberty.
Force creates fear, non-productive behavior, and economic chaos. This is not the time for fear, but for clear-headed thought through faith in God, our spiritual leaders, rational government leadership at all levels, and our capacity to unite and work together. Anne Schlafly Cori, Chairman of National Eagle Forum and daughter of founder, Phyllis Schlafly, wisely said, “In previous pandemics, the sick were isolated. In this pandemic, every single person is isolated.” Stay-at-home orders are already a fact in more than a fourth of the states and may soon be ordered in all states.
Utah Eagle Forum believes that our personal Liberty is the most important thing to protect, and we all need to recognize that with Liberty comes responsibility. It is not the proper role of government to force private businesses to close. This will force small business owners, the foundation of our economy, to lose their businesses, employees to be out of work, causing lives to be ruined and families put at risk because there is no income for food, rent, and the necessities of life. There are no financial reserves to carry them through this crisis. When the pandemic is defeated, large and small businesses and their employees will have to live with the reality of the financial dilemma forced on them by government, and the general conversation will be focused mostly on the economic catastrophe and its ongoing fallout. Families will mourn the loss of their loved ones. Faith in government will be further eroded.
Government does have a proper role in any situation of this nature, and its role should be to facilitate and provide every possible resource necessary to prevent contamination from the Coronavirus as well as developing and distributing all possible solutions and materials for those who ultimately contract the disease. We further believe government has a vital role and responsibility to disseminate, without spin or agenda, the most current, accurate and relevant information regarding threat status and local conditions. In order to promote consistency and continuity, guidelines for the public and the private business sector on how to protect themselves and each other are also an appropriate and needed government responsibility. These defensive measures are appropriate for the common good.
Utah Eagle Forum does not believe that applying force in our current situation, individually or collectively, is appropriate within the scope of the proper role of government, or necessary in promoting the common good. The only exception may be in a specific situation to protect individual lives in imminent danger. We have seen the result of government forcing closures or shut-downs in the private sector. They are devastating and economically catastrophic individually and collectively. This is “shotgun” government mandating, producing no measurable results. Under no logical or rational definition can this be seen as working for the common good.
We believe the same result would be achieved voluntarily by virtue of realistic individual and corporate responsibility and self-interest. That is the virtue and reality of a free society and the free market. My husband Don and I have made the decision to stay in our home isolated from family and friends to protect ourselves. We are in the age category of high risk and Don had major heart surgery recently. We did not need the government to force us into quarantine. We also believe most Americans will make wise choices without government coercion. We have already seen this happen as churches and private schools have made the choice to close their doors without government mandates.
Utah Eagle Forum believes that people, given the truth about their situations will do the right thing. Blame is easy but counter-productive, and at this point, irrelevant. We also believe that our governments, federal and state, along with their agencies need to restore fundamental liberties to the people and to the private sector in order to begin to restore the faith they expect of us in them.
Now is the time for all to Stand Up For Liberty. Contact all elected officials, federal, state, counties and cities and let them know that it is not the proper role of government to unnecessarily force closure of private businesses or criminalize peaceful gatherings over an arbitrary limit, or to force citizens into quarantine unless they have tested positive for the virus. Also send this message to all your friends and family. Talk about it on all Social Media. Urgency and panic has prompted acceptance and we cannot, must not accept any unwarranted infringement on our Liberties. The message must be Protecting Liberty and the Proper Role of Government. Do not get into the “weeds” or most people will not listen. God has said, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants.” And that is what we must do.
May God bless us, and may God bless America.
—————— Gayle Ruzickais a member of the Utah Eagle Forum
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AMERICAN SPECTATOR
NBC
From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann and Melissa Holzberg
FIRST READ: Americans are living in two very different worlds in reacting to the coronavirus outbreak
Here’s the good news when it comes to American politics: Senate Republicans and Democrats – in a time of national alarm and tragedy – reached a bipartisan agreement last night on a $2 trillion spending deal to help workers and businesses affected by the coronavirus.
Here’s the bad news: Despite that spending agreement, much of our country and politics continue to be living in two completely different worlds when it comes to the virus.
Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
World 1: “We’re not slowing it, and it is accelerating on its own,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday. “One of the forecasters said to me, we were looking at a freight train coming across the country; we’re now looking at a bullet train, because the numbers are going up that quickly.”
World 2: “I would love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter [April 12],” President Trump said yesterday in a Fox News interview. “Wouldn’t it be great to have all of the churches full?”
World 1: “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Monday that he is closing the state’s K-12 schools for the remainder of the academic year,” per the Washington Post.
World 2: “As the coronavirus threatens to spread across the Lynchburg [Va.] region, Liberty University officials are preparing to welcome back up to 5,000 students from spring break this week,” the local News & Advance writes.
World 1: Whom Democrats trust for coronavirus information, per a CBS/YouGov poll: the CDC 87 percent, your governor 75 percent, the national media 72 percent, friends and family 72 percent, religious leaders 44 percent, President Trump 14 percent.
World 2: Whom Republicans trust, according to the same poll: Trump 90 percent, the CDC 84 percent, friends and family 81 percent, religious leaders 71 percent, your governor 65 percent, the national media 13 percent.
But we’re going to going to be blunt with you: This isn’t a normal policy debate, as NBC’s Benjy Sarlin points out.
Scientists and health experts are all living in World 1; those who aren’t heeding the scientists and health experts are living in World 2.
The stakes are high, and the effects will be felt soon. Choices our leaders are making right now could determine whether potentially hundreds of thousands of Americans or even millions might die in a short period and whether the country is plunged into a deep depression or a more manageable recession that goes away quickly once the threat passes.
Talking policy with Benjy: What separating the vulnerable and moving forward means
President Trump hasn’t quite spelled out what having the country “opened up and raring to go” by Easter exactly means, NBC’s Sarlin writes.
Trump said at yesterday’s White House press briefing that the date is a “a beautiful timeline” – but still up for discussion and that decisions would be informed by conditions on the ground.
In recent days, however, the president has hinted at one solution that world leaders rejected after health researchers said it would lead to catastrophic loss of life: Reopening businesses while isolating older and more vulnerable populations. Trump retweeted a user named “Steph93065” who floated it on Monday, tweeted something similar himself on Tuesday morning, then suggested “we can socially distance ourselves and go to work” at a Fox News town hall by doing things like washing hands more frequently.
Researchers at the Imperial College in London examined this strategy of separating only the most vulnerable populations and concluded it would be disastrous as the population would get sick too quickly for hospitals to respond. “Even if all patients were able to be treated, we predict there would still be in the order of 250,000 deaths in [Great Britain], and 1.1 to 1.2 million in the US.” This was, they wrote, “the more optimistic scenario.”
“If we move too soon, we will see a surge in infections that overwhelms our health systems and forces us to backtrack, causing even more damage to the economy than if we confronted the health crisis decisively now,” said Maurice Obstfeld, former IMF chief economist and now an adviser to California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has imposed a statewide lockdown.
781: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far. (That’s 231 more than yesterday morning).
About 368,000: The number of coronavirus TESTS that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project. (That’s about 65,000 more than yesterday morning.)
More than 9,000: That’s the number of Americans who have returned to the U.S. from other countries as nations around the globe impose travel restrictions and close their borders.
60 percent: That’s the share of the new cases in the United States in the New York City metropolitan area.
$1,200: That’s the value of the check that Americans making up to $75,000 per year will receive under the new compromise stimulus bill.
A year at the latest: That’s the expected length of the postponement of the 2020 Olympics, which now organizers say will be held by the summer of 2021.
TWEET OF THE DAY: The coronavirus hits the Royal Family
We have a deal (at last)
In the early hours of the morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced, “At last, we have a deal. After days of intense discussions the Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement on a historic relief package for this pandemic.” He added that the Senate will pass the legislation later today.
So what’s different than the original version? Text for the legislation hasn’t been released yet. But per NBC’s Capitol Hill team, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote his conference that changes include:
Increased unemployment benefits to a maximum of $600/week
Four full months of pay for laid-off workers
A $150 billion fund for state, tribal and local coronavirus relief
$55 billion increase in the Marshall Plan for the health care system
Rent, mortgage and utility costs became eligible for Small Business Administration loan forgiveness
The White House also looks ready to move forward. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that President Trump will “absolutely” sign the bill if it passes and he hopes Speaker Nancy Pelosi “takes it up and she passes as is.”
2020 VISION: Bernie Sanders is ready to debate in April (really?)
NBC’s Shaquille Brewster reports that Bernie Sanders’ campaign signaled yesterday that the candidate is remaining in the 2020 race for the long haul.
“His campaign announced a full organizing effort ahead of New York’s scheduled April 28 primary, and a spokesman said he would participate in a debate with former Vice President Joe Biden — if there is one.”
Really?
The Sanders campaign is thinking about – and wanting – a debate next month, given everything else that’s going on?
Ad watch from NBC’s Ben Kamisar: Susan Collins looks right at the camera
There are lots of ways to advertise in the time of coronavirus. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is staring down what could be the toughest re-lection bid of her career, is taking her message direct to camera.
She’s been advertising this week telling Mainers to stay calm and support their community, while laying out basics about handwashing and social distancing.
Don’t miss the pod from yesterday, when we asked how the president’s apparent approval ratings bump compares to how past presidents fared during the crises they faced.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world?
Insiders are opening up about how Sanders’ best shot at the nomination slipped away.
Democrats are worried that the nation isn’t hearing enough of a corona counterargument from their likely nominee.
President Trump said he hopes the U.S. economy will be up and running again by Easter, despite the advice of medical experts. Also, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pleads for federal help as the state remains the U.S.’s coronavirus epicenter. All that and all that matters in today’s Eye Opener. Your world in 90 seconds.
Watch Video +
Trump at odds with experts on coronavirus precautions
Watch Video +
Patients describe overcoming virus and breathing again
Read Story +
Some hospitals ban spouses from delivery rooms over coronavirus concerns
Watch Video +
Doctors, nurses being called out of retirement to fight coronavirus
Watch Video +
Surgeon uses his musical talents to lift spirits amid pandemic
Early administrative failings of the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control greatly exacerbated the Covid-19 crisis in the United States.
By James R. Copland City Journal Online
March 24, 2020
Years ago, hydroxychloroquine worked wonders on my arthritis; now, it is showing early promise as a potential treatment for those with Covid-19.
By Ted Gioia City Journal Online
March 24, 2020
“[When] schools return to normal, there still will be a crisis in the New York City school system: the persistent failure of schools in certain areas of the city.”
By Ray Domanico City & State
March 24, 2020
Based on an upcoming report
“Economies regularly go through recessions, but a sudden stop that is this sharp is not usual, and will put serious stress on the welfare system.”
By E21 Staff Economics21
March 25, 2020
“San Francisco is in a very similar position to New York. … [Its] housing crunch is fundamentally a consequence of being a magnet for job-creating businesses while limiting new housing through restrictive land-use regulations.”
By Eric Kober Economics21
March 25, 2020
Steven Malanga and Brian Anderson discuss how the economic shock resulting from the coronavirus—the closing of large sections of the American economy, the plunge of stock markets—is likely to undermine state and local budgets around the country.
To follow our continuous coverage by City Journal writers on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on New York, the United States, and the world, click here.
Manhattan Institute is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
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REALCLEARPOLITICS
03/25/2020
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Carl Cannon’s Morning Note
Freed Detainees; FDR or HH? ‘Howl’ About That!
By Carl M. Cannon on Mar 25, 2020 09:14 am
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, March 25, 2020. With most of the U.S. economy’s service sector shut down, basically on orders of the nation’s governors and local officials, Congress agreed very late last night to borrow $2 trillion to ease Americans’ pain. The relief will be welcomed by those whose jobs have disappeared. It’s a needed lifeline.
Nonetheless, as government rushes into the breech at a time of national peril, fundamental questions naturally arise when it exercises this much authority and borrows that much money from future generations: How much government do we want in this country? How much freedom are we willing to sacrifice in order to ensure our safety?
One would be foolish to minimize the threat of this pandemic. And still, an event that took place 63 years ago today reminds us what we risk when government plays too intrusive a role in our lives. On March 25, 1957, U.S. Customs agents seized 520 copies of a volume of avant-garde verses by Allen Ginsberg titled “Howl and Other Poems.” This episode didn’t go well for the censors.
I’ll have more on this story in a moment. First I’d point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters and contributors, including the following:
* * *
COVID-19 Was Catalyst in Fight to Free Detained Americans. Susan Crabtree has the story.
Within Parties, Trump’s Pandemic Approval Ratings Vary Widely. Views held by the moderate wings of both parties deserve close attention from COVID-19 policy makers, suggest David Brady, L. Sandy Maisel, and Brett Parker.
Will Trump Become the New Hoover or Roosevelt? Myra Adams writes that the president’s actions, or lack thereof, could very well determine his place in the history books — along with the country’s fate.
As Dems Play Politics, President Trump Puts Americans First. Ronna McDaniel offers these contrasting views of responses to the pandemic.
The New York Times Goes Low and Personal Against Fox News. Ed Rogers explains here.
Why a Fed/Treasury Lending Facility Would Worsen Our Problems. RealClearMarkets editor John Tamny argues that once politicians stop suffocating businesses, liquidity will return as investors trust companies’ future ability to prosper.
Accused in the DoJ’s Top Echelon, But Getting Off Scot-Free. In RealClearInvestigations, Eric Felten reports that the Justice Department regularly declines to prosecute misbehaving officials even when its internal watchdog has them pretty much dead to rights.
40 Years After Seneca Falls, a Litany of Gains and Goals. Our Women’s History Month series continues with this 1888 speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
* * *
Allen Ginsberg made his name in my hometown of San Francisco, on a single October day in 1955, but he wasn’t a Californian. He was a Jersey boy, born in Newark and raised in Patterson in a middle-class life that was anything but normal. His mother was a dedicated communist and schizophrenic who spent her adult life in and out of mental hospitals. She dragged the younger of her sons to Communist Party meetings and, on at least one traumatic occasion, to her shrink’s office. The boy immersed himself in the poems of Walt Whitman as an escape and found his way to the ivy-covered walls of Columbia University where he met and befriended various members of the “Beat Generation,” including Jack Kerouac, its iconic symbol.
Incongruously, perhaps, because it was a pretty quiet place at the time, Kerouac and Ginsberg ended up in 1954 in San Jose, Calif. Their stint there was brief, but eventful. In San Jose’s public library Kerouac stumbled across “A Buddhist Bible,” by former Christian missionary Dwight Goddard, a book which started him on the road to “On the Road,” his literary classic. Meanwhile, Allen Ginsberg was discovered in bed with Neal Cassady — by Cassady’s wife, Carolyn, who told Ginsberg to put his pants back on and split.
Cassady must have been some character. He was described a few years ago by New Yorker magazine writer Scott Staton as “a complicated soul whose creative energies found release through an immoderate enthusiasm for sex, automobiles, and drugs.” He not only made his way into “Howl” and “On the Road,” but he was also a central character in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” Tom Wolfe’s account of the epic bus trip taken by Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in 1964. But I’m digressing. This essay is about not about him; it’s about Allen Ginsberg and his book publisher.
So where was I? Oh, yes: Having decamped from San Jose, our hero checked into the Marconi Hotel, a low-rent San Francisco crash pad in North Beach. Ginsberg stayed a couple of months, hanging out at the nearby City Lights bookstore.
From there, he moved to rented rooms on Pine Street and then to another on Gough. Eventually, he settled into a furnished apartment at 1010 Montgomery St. with Peter Orlovsky, living off unemployment insurance. In that place he began to write.
“I sat idly at my desk…only a few blocks from City Lights literary paperback bookstore,” he wrote in his diary. “I had a secondhand typewriter, some cheap scratch paper. I began typing, not with the idea of writing a formal poem, but stating my imaginative sympathies.”
As was true of his boyhood hero Walt Whitman, Ginsberg’s output was initially considered too erotic and raw for polite company. That’s putting it mildly. The fact is that censorship laws being what they were, no American publisher would go near him. That changed after a public reading that took place on Oct. 7, 1955 at Six Gallery, a Fillmore Street art space where Ginsberg was invited to read “Howl” aloud. Ginsberg biographer Michael Schumacher set the scene:
“Jack Kerouac, siting at the edge of the platform, pounded in accompaniment on a wine jug, shouting, ‘Go!’ at the end of each long line. The crowd quickly joined him in punctuating Allen’s lines. … By the time he had concluded, [Ginsberg] was in tears.”
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a fellow Beat Generation poet who happened to be the co-owner of City Lights, was at the Six for the reading, and he was blown away. He also knew an opportunity when he saw it. Ferlinghetti sent Ginsberg a Western Union message that very night. “I greet you at the beginning of a great career,” it said. “When do I get the manuscript?”
Although the telegram echoed the words Ralph Waldo Emerson sent to Ginsberg’s boyhood hero after reading “Leaves of Grass,” the literary reference eluded Ginsberg. Nonetheless, he accepted the offer from Ferlinghetti, who also obtained a promise from the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to defend him in court if he were to run afoul of California’s sweeping anti-obscenity laws by selling Ginsberg’s poems as a book.
Ferlinghetti found a printer in London, then imported the books back to the United States. The first shipment was seized by customs agents. Ferlinghetti got them released, but the publicity alerted the San Francisco Police Department and on June 3, 1957, Shigeyoshi Murao, City Lights’ popular store manager, was arrested for selling “Howl and Other Poems” to two undercover cops assigned to the SFPD’s Juvenile Bureau.
San Francisco was much different than it is today. Although starting to become a counter-culture mecca, the city was still a maze of culturally conservative ethnic enclaves, whether they were Asian or the heavily Irish Catholic and Italian neighborhoods. The newest wave of pilgrims was made up of former U.S. servicemen who had shipped out from California during World War II on their way to war in the Pacific.
Fearing that any San Francisco jury would deem “Howl” obscene on its face, Ferlinghetti’s lawyers asked for a bench trial. The Municipal Court judge they drew was a Republican named Clayton W. Horn, a man who spent his weekends teaching Sunday school.
In accounts of the trial, Horn is often described as being so conservative and devout that he’d once sentenced five female thieves — the newspapers at the time called them “lady shoplifters” — to attend a showing of the movie “The Ten Commandments” and to write essays on the epic film’s lesson when it came to stealing. The anecdote was true — Judge Horn did hand down such a sentence — but it was out of context. The reason that the movie-going and essay-writing verdict had been controversial is that such alternative sentencing was considered too lenient: The prevailing sentiment in the community was that the “five ladies” deserved for jail time.
In any event, in California v. Ferlinghetti, Judge Horn proved himself up to the task. Over the prosecutor’s objections, he allowed testimony from nine literary experts, all of whom vouched for the social value of “Howl.” This was countered, feebly, by two prosecution witnesses, one of whom claimed that the book was merely an imitation of “Leaves of Grass” — and a poor one, at that — and therefore lacking in literary merit.
Siding with the defense, Judge Horn noted that California’s obscenity law said nothing at all about minors, a pithy observation that undercut the stated rationale of the SFPD (that it was protecting kids from smut). He also ruled that “Howl and Other Poems” did not violate the statute anyway. The U.S. Supreme Court had recently defined obscenity in the Roth case, and Horn relied on its standard in formulating his ruling. He quoted four different Supreme Court justices, along with Thomas Jefferson and Lord Macaulay, and cut to the heart of Allen Ginsberg’s work more insightfully than the defense witnesses had done.
“The first part of ‘Howl’ presents a picture of a nightmare world,” the judge wrote. “The second part is an indictment of those elements in modern society destructive of the best qualities of human nature; such elements are predominantly identified as materialism, conformity and mechanization leading toward war. …
“It ends in a plea for holy living,” Horn added, ending on the following note: “In considering material claimed to be obscene, it is well to remember the motto: ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense.'” (Shame to him who thinks evil).
Afterward, Ferlinghetti liked to rail against the prosecution as a grave injustice. In truth, he’d orchestrated the whole thing and done it masterfully. The case made Allen Ginsberg famous, put City Lights bookstore on the map, and engineered a victory for the First Amendment. It was also a proud moment for America’s judiciary and signaled the dawn of a new and freer form of writing in this country.
“Poetry,” Ferlinghetti once wrote, “is the shadow cast by our imaginations.” On this date in the mid-1950s, he himself helped draw those shadows out. Alone among the players in this drama, Lawrence Ferlinghetti is still with us. This is more than a footnote: At a time when the world is faced with the once-unthinkable dilemma of how limited life-saving medical care should be rationed during a pandemic, let’s remember that the masks covering the faces of coronavirus patients in their 60s and 70s and 80s should not obscure the fact that these are often vibrant and creative people with much to live for and much to still give us. If you doubt that, consider this: Ferlinghetti had a new novel published only last year. Yesterday was his birthday. He turned 101.
Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, Iran and China choose regime health at the expense of world health
The coronavirus outbreak has revealed the extent of the Tehran-Beijing relationship. The two countries’ political, commercial and technological ties most likely facilitated the rapid spread of the virus.
When the coronavirus hit Iran in early February, regime leadership chose to sustain the status quo of its economy. By choosing to prioritize the interests of the regime, officials jeopardized the containment of the disease.
“You want it bad, you get it bad” is a maxim that applies in spades to must-pass legislation. A case in point is the emergency bill now being finalized in Congress that’s ostensibly aimed at alleviating the damage being done to the American people and economy by the Chinese virus.
Unfortunately, House Democrats have seized upon the opportunity, in the words of their chamber’s third-ranking leader, Rep. Jim Clyburn, “to restructure things to fit our vision.” As a result, the House-passed version would enhance the power of unions, help advance the radical environmentalists’ “Green New Deal” agenda and enable voting fraud on an unprecedented scale.
Initially, Democratic Senators fell into line with Speaker Pelosi’s demands. While they ultimately won’t get everything she wanted, the $2 trillion bill rewards such shakedown artists at the expense – figuratively and literally – of suffering American taxpayers.
This is Frank Gaffney.
GRANT NEWSHAM, Senior Research Fellow at Japan Forum for Strategic Studies:
How are Asian countries coping with coronavirus?
Comparing the US response to the virus with other Asian countries
How are US troops on the ground in Asia dealing with the virus?
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800 Medical Specialists Caution Against Draconian Measures
By Edward Peter Stringham | If you depend only on mass media during this crisis, one’s perspective can become distorted. You might gain the impression that the whole world agrees that a full lockdown of life itself is the only way to control the…
By Art Carden | It likely cannot be fixed by electing or appointing “better” people or by giving regulatory agencies like the FDA bigger budgets. Their failures are a product of their incentives, not their intentions–and until their incentives…
Bitcoin’s Disappointing Performance Shows Why Having a…
By Max Gulker | Developers, miners, and other players in the Bitcoin community should not let the next opportunity to make the blockchain-based currency useful pass. Bitcoin can’t be the asset many of its developers want it to be without…
By Edward Peter Stringham | For centuries, economists have struggled for ways to impart economic lessons to the general public, with the hope of impressing upon people who are not studying formally the need to grasp the logic and meaning of…
By Raymond C. Niles | Can you hear the oinks of the pigs running toward the feeding trough now that Farmer Uncle Sam has rung the feeding bell? For several weeks politicians have been jockeying to up the ante with progressively higher bailout…
By John Tamny | At lunch last week at a diner-style restaurant with an old friend in a fancy part of northern Virginia, the friend talked of how his daughter had been working as a hostess at one of the most famous restaurants in a southern city…
Leaving People Alone Is the Best Way to Beat the Coronavirus
By Richard M. Ebeling | The problem is a social and medical one, and not a political one. The best methods and avenues for people as individuals and as members of groups and participants in society as a whole, to discover and apply that which…
Rethink the Disease-Spreading Hand Dryer in a Pandemic
By Phillip W. Magness | Pandemics are difficult to address precisely because of the vast information uncertainties they entail. As the ongoing coronavirus crisis reveals, broad and sweeping policy responses to the disease are often premised on…
In The Four Pillars of Economic Understanding, Peter J. Boettke has made a genuine contribution, building on the works of the great minds of the past to provide a new and unique presentation for the current age.
This work puts every reader in the position of being Professor Boettke’s student and holds the potential to be recognized as a seminal and classic statement concerning the implications of economics for our lives.
On the menu today: States are racing against the clock to increase capacity, but they might not be fast enough; what steps states are taking in preparation; and some unfortunate news from the direction of the New York Jets.
But there are a lot of corners of the United States where the coronavirus outbreak is starting to hit smaller cities, with fewer hospitals, beds, intensive-care units, and ventilators.
“Makes an original and compelling case for nationalism . . . A fascinating, erudite—and much-needed—defense of a hallowed idea unfairly under current attack.” — Victor Davis Hanson
BERNIE: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “plans to participate in the Democratic presidential debate in April if one is held, his campaign said on Tuesday, the strongest indication yet that he plans to continue competing against” former Vice President Joe Biden “in the 2020 primary for the foreseeable future.” The DNC “has said previously that there would be a debate in April, but one has not been scheduled. The committee has not announced a media partner or a site host.” (New York Times)
DE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY: Gov. John Carney (D) “announced on Tuesday that Delaware’s presidential primary election, originally scheduled for April 28, will now be held on June 2.” (WMDT)
MONTANA: The state Republican party “helped finance the effort to qualify the Green Party for Montana’s 2020 elections, paying $100,000 to groups that hired or financed mostly out-of-state signature-gatherers.” The Montana Democratic Party accused the GOP of “‘election fraud’ and said Republicans engineered the effort to drain votes from Democrats this November.” The Green Party “has made clear it did not do any work to qualify for the ballot this year and had not planned to run any candidates.” (KTVH)
REPUBLICANS: “Republicans said Tuesday they’re forging forward with their national convention in Charlotte, NC, this summer, even as the coronavirus is shuttering high-profile events across the country.” RNC chief of staff Richard Walters: “We have not had any substantive conversations about alternative scenarios.” The GOP has “so far received $51 million in commitments for the convention.” It has “set a goal of $65 million by the end of June, though it’s unclear how the public health crisis will affect fundraising.” (Politico)
KS SEN: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, 2018 GOV nominee Kris Kobach (R) “may no longer be able to rely on his loyal base. With Republican strategists expecting small-donor fundraising to dry up as the virus intensifies,” Rep. Roger Marshall‘s (R-01) positioning as a monied congressman next to a candidate who relies on retail politics is looking stronger, a reality admitted by Kobach himself. Kobach: “That’s my strength; grassroots conservatives have carried me through every major primary in the past. … My retail campaigning with grassroots conservatives is probably hurt more than an establishment Republican’s campaign.” (Hotline reporting)
UT GOV: Salt Lake City Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton (R) announced Tuesday that her running mate will be state Auditor John Dougall (R). (KSL)
Bernie Sanders announced that he will participate in the April debate, the clearest sign yet that he will not drop out and concede the nomination. He would need to win almost 60% of the remaining delegates in order to flip his deficit. With most of the primaries being pushed back to June 2, the Sanders campaign sees little downside to staying in the race. The coronavirus pandemic is consuming the news cycle, so the campaign doesn’t have to face calls to drop out every day, and can continue to advocate for its agenda and push Joe Biden further to the left. — Matt Holt
As his public appearances ramp up once again, Biden is now working to address what some see as his weaknesses. After a week outside of the national spotlight, he spent Tuesday on The View, CNN, and MSNBC, stepping back onto the national stage after some criticized him for not taking a bigger role amid the coronavirus crisis. Today, he’ll be focusing on a different campaign challenge, holding a virtual town hall with young people. It’s a Sanders has dominated in the primaries, but one Biden will almost certainly need to get behind him if he hopes to win in November. — Mini Racker
Though North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has suspended campaigning through May 15, his approval rating has hit an all-time high, according to polling conducted for the Civitas Institute (500 LVs; March 15-17; +/-4.4%). Cooper had a 62% approval rating, with 47% feeling that the state was on the right track, while 33% considered it on the wrong track. These are strong numbers heading into a reelection fight, and barring unforeseen missteps by Cooper, support the theory that in emergency or disaster situations, voters tend to favor an incumbent in an election year. — Madelaine Pisani
Fresh Brewed Buzz
“The National Rifle Association … is laying off employees and reducing salaries across the board in the largest personnel shake-up since the non-profit organization ousted its president at the annual meeting of members in 2019.” (Newsweek)
“Michael McKenna, the #2 aide in legislative affairs at the White House, was let go from his post” Tuesday. “He was told to exit [the] building immediately.” (Washington Post)
On Tuesday night, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) “tweeted ‘she’s retarded’ from his official senatorial account in reply to a Twitter post from right-wing news outlet The Daily Caller about … Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s proposal for an economic stimulus package. Cramer deleted the post about 10 minutes later and told Forum News Service he meant to write ‘she’s ridiculous,’ but the auto-correct function on his phone changed what he had typed.” (Fargo-Moorhead Forum)
“[T]he campaign manager for one of” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s (D) “2018 opponents,” former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner (I), “now has a ‘Thank you Gov Cuomo’ sign in his Albany window. ‘It is Andrew Cuomo’s moment,’” he said. (New York Times)
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) “has aggressively deployed executive orders over the past two weeks to contain the fallout from the coronavirus, which has killed two in the state. … [T]aken together, they represent a sweeping use of executive power at a time of crisis unlike anything Kansas has experienced in recent history.” (Kansas City Star)
“A North Carolina appeals court on Tuesday rejected a request by Republican lawmakers for its full cadre of judges to rehear a challenge over implementing voter photo identification.” (AP)
“Absent an unforeseen turn of events, Sanders has little realistic hope of overcoming Biden’s sizable lead in the race for enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Sanders, however, isn’t ready to quit.” (Politico)
Chaser…
“Some people are so far behind in a race that they actually believe they’re leading.” — Junior Soprano (The Sopranos)
Governor Steve Sisolak As reported earlier by Cristina Laila — Nevada’s Governor Steve Sisolak (D) on Tuesday issued an emergency order barring the use of… Read more…
Prince Charles from Great Britain tested positive for the coronavirus. The Prince is 71. Clarence House announced the news on Wednesday. The Prince last saw… Read more…
The Society of Critical Care Medicine released a report last week on the current US medical resource availability during the current COVID-19 crisis. Since the… Read more…
Actor Michael Rapaport viciously attacked Melania Trump after she shared a video on Twitter encouraging Americans during the coronavirus crisis. In the clip, the FLOTUS… Read more…
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that the city will be releasing 300 inmates from Rikers Island prison due to coronavirus concerns…. Read more…
The White House and Senate leaders reached a deal early Wednesday morning for a massive stimulus package to bolster the economy during the coronavirus outbreak…. Read more…
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that the city will be shutting off water and power to any non-essential businesses that defied orders and… Read more…
The United Nations has confirmed that 51 of their employees have tested positive for the coronavirus worldwide. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced the number during… Read more…
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@DaybreakInsider
White House and Senate negotiators announced an agreement early Wednesday morning on a massive financial rescue package designed to curb the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. “At last, we have a deal,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor a little after 1:30 a.m. Read More…
When Supreme Court justices speak at public universities across the country, they often travel in style — and, at times, at taxpayer expense. The justices’ travel perks have included private plane trips, blocs of fancy hotel rooms and VIP dinners where they rub elbows with large-dollar university donors. Read More…
Remote voting is not coming to the House anytime soon, according to a Rules Committee report. But some advocates say the report didn’t fully consider the options available, and members are still pushing for emergency alternatives. Read More…
OPINION — Former South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis lost his seat in the 2010 tea party wave over his vote for the so-called bank bailout two years earlier. He sees a similar dynamic at play on the policy front for the coronavirus stimulus package Congress now has to pass. Read More…
OPINION — Former Rep. Richard Hanna, who died on March 15, was not exactly a household name. But the New York Republican, who served from 2011 to 2017, was probably my favorite candidate interview — and that’s saying something, Stu Rothenberg writes. Read More…
Rep. Mark Meadows is not yet President Donald Trump’s chief of staff. Really. He’s not. The North Carolina Republican sure looked like the White House chief of staff as he made the rounds with top administration officials Tuesday. But Meadows insists that is not the case, at least not yet. Read More…
As legislation to address the coronavirus pandemic inched through Congress this week, business nearby was even slower. At four longtime drinking spots on Capitol Hill, the refrain was the same: No one has seen anything like this in the industry. Read More…
The push by governments, companies and educational institutions globally to have employees and students work from home has created a surge in demand for videoconferencing and internet access that their providers say so far are holding up. Read More…
The Justice Department closed two more immigration courts after announcing Tuesday that someone in each court system had tested positive for coronavirus, but more than three dozen other immigration courts remained open across the country despite widespread calls for their closure. Read More…
@joyofmuseums
“This is a wartime level of investment into our nation.”
Here are some details under negotiation.
“The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus.”
Can a U.S. president order a business to stay open?
“That will make them more severely impacted by an extended coronavirus shutdown of the economy.”
U.S. stock index futures rose.
March 25 2020
On the menu today: States are racing against the clock to increase capacity, but they might not be fast enough; what steps states are taking in preparation; and some unfortunate news from the direction of the New York Jets.
“Makes an original and compelling case for nationalism . . . A fascinating, erudite—and much-needed—defense of a hallowed idea unfairly under current attack.” — Victor Davis Hanson
Episode 8: Crisis Waste Not, Want… 
Pelosi: ‘Real Optimism’… 
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