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solarbirdAs I'm writing this up - a bit late, but I'm still calling it the 12th - "California and Washington" are trending on Twitter in response to Dumpster talking about domestic travel bans, and it's a hilarious mix of "COOL WE OUT" and "Y'know if they just left could you blame 'em at this point?"
You might also check out #WeGotThisSeattle - though be warned, as always, MAGAts are pooping in the pool. But stick to "top" and you should be okay.
And now the news.
----- 1 -----
Trump fears emergency declaration would contradict coronavirus message
Trump is concerned that declaring an emergency would hamper his narrative that the coronavirus is similar to the seasonal flu.
By ANITA KUMAR
03/11/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/trump-emergency-declaration-coronavirus-message-125902
President Donald Trump is reluctant to declare an expansive emergency to combat the escalating coronavirus outbreak, fearful of stoking panic with such a dramatic step, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Instead, the president is expected to sign within days what the White House calls a more limited designation to allow the federal government to cover small business loans, paychecks for hourly workers and delay tax bills, giving him a way to begin boosting the economy without waiting for Congress to sign off on an economic stimulus package.
Any emergency declaration would go significantly beyond that move, bringing in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and freeing up funding and resources for states struggling to contain the rapidly spreading virus.
Trump’s concern at this point is that going further could hamper his narrative that the coronavirus is similar to the seasonal flu and could further agitate Wall Street, said the three people familiar with the discussions.
“The president isn’t persuaded because [an emergency declaration] contradicts his message that this is the flu,” said a Republican who speaks to Trump.
---- 2 -----
White House Removes Public Health Experts from Coronavirus Discussions
Michael Halpern, Deputy director, Center for Science & Democracy | March 11, 2020, 3:33 pm EDT
https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/white-house-removes-public-health-experts-from-coronavirus-discussions
The White House held dozens of meetings about coronavirus response that excluded government experts because the discussions were unnecessarily classified over the objections of HHS Secretary Alex Azar, reports Reuters. Experts were not just barred from speaking openly about what we knew about the emerging pandemic. Apparently, they weren’t even allowed in the room.
“It is not normal to classify discussions about a response to a public health crisis,” an unnamed official from the Republican George W. Bush administration told the wire service. Yet this is President Trump’s approach to nearly every public health and environmental threat: find some way to exclude the experts, stop them from speaking publicly, and make decisions in a vacuum. The deliberate sidelining of public health experts and science leads to bad policy, and ultimately, to more sickness and death.
----- 3 -----
Stonekettle
twitter.com/Stonekettle
2020/3/11
[EDITOR: THREAD starting at link]
https://twitter.com/Stonekettle/status/1237780697173147648
Pence: "...There is no question. As Dr. Fauci said just a few days ago, we would be in a very different place if President Trump did not suspend all travel from China..."
Wait what?
Back up. Back the big orange bus up. Back it up.
Say that again.
1/
----- 4 -----
Op-Ed: I’m an American in Italy, where 60 million are trapped by the coronavirus. It’s horrific
By DAVID C. UNGER
MARCH 11, 20201:44 PM
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-11/coronavirus-italy-quarantine-infection
Camogli, Italy — Under other circumstances, being homebound here might not seem a bad thing. Not for nothing is this stretch of the Italian Riviera called the Golfo Paradiso, the Gulf of Paradise. From our apartment, my wife and I look out at the Mediterranean, the nearby city of Genoa and the snow-capped mountains beyond. Now, with no one supposed to leave home, there are no errands to run, grace periods have been granted on mortgage, utility and tax bills. My shelves bulge with books that I now have more time to read.
But these circumstances are horrific. Italy is living through a national tragedy of incomprehensible proportions. More than 10,000 people here are ill with the coronavirus and more than 800 have died. Things could get worse, much worse, before they get better.
And no one knows when this will end.
----- 5 -----
Fresh Air
twitter.com/nprfreshair
https://twitter.com/nprfreshair/status/1238186469690429440
A previous tweet of this quote did not make it adequately clear that it is Trump who did not push for adequate testing, not Secretary of Health and Human Services Azar. Here is the whole quote for context.
[IMAGE] [TRANSCRIPTION BY EDITOR FOLLOWS]
"In the case of Alex Azar, he did go to the President in January, he did push past resistance from the president's political aides to warn the president that the new coronavirus could be a major problem. There were aides around Trump, Kellyanne Conway had some skepticism at times, that this was something that needed to be a presidential priority.
But at the same time, Secretary Azar has not always given the president the worst case scenario of what could happen. My understanding is that he [President Trump] did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that's partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential reelection this fall."
----- 6 -----
How Fox News misled viewers about the coronavirus
By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business
Updated 9:21 PM ET, Thu March 12, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/media/fox-news-coronavirus/index.html
New York (CNN Business)As the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country over the last several weeks, television viewers — especially those supportive of President Donald Trump —- had one place they could go to for some sense of solace: Fox News.
"If you are over the mass hysteria, if you're over politicizing and weaponizing of the coronavirus, you are not alone," Sean Hannity, the highest-rated host on Fox News, assured the network's prime time audience this week.
Indeed, over the past several weeks, top hosts and personalities on the conservative cable news network downplayed concerns about the virus, baselessly accusing credible news organizations of overhyping the crisis to hurt Trump politically.
----- 7 -----
Trump: Restricting travel in U.S. a 'possibility' if coronavirus pandemic gets 'too hot'
Trump also defended his restrictions on travel from Europe, which excludes the U.K. and Ireland.
March 12, 2020, 10:26 AM PDT
By Dartunorro Clark
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-restricting-travel-u-s-possibility-if-coronavirus-pandemic-gets-n1156851
President Donald Trump said Thursday it's a "possibility" that the administration could impose travel restrictions within the U.S. to limit exposure to the coronavirus if certain areas get "too hot."
"We haven't discussed that yet," Trump said when asked about the option at a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. "Is it a possibility? Yes. If somebody gets a little bit out of control, if an area gets too hot.
You might also check out #WeGotThisSeattle - though be warned, as always, MAGAts are pooping in the pool. But stick to "top" and you should be okay.
And now the news.
- Trump fears emergency declaration would contradict coronavirus message
- White House Removes Public Health Experts from Coronavirus Discussions
- Back up. Back the big orange bus up. Back it up.
- Op-Ed: I’m an American in Italy, where 60 million are trapped by the coronavirus. It’s horrific
- "It is Trump who did not push for adequate testing, not Secretary of Health and Human Services Azar."
- How Fox News misled viewers about the coronavirus
- Trump: Restricting travel in U.S. a 'possibility' if coronavirus pandemic gets 'too hot'
----- 1 -----
Trump fears emergency declaration would contradict coronavirus message
Trump is concerned that declaring an emergency would hamper his narrative that the coronavirus is similar to the seasonal flu.
By ANITA KUMAR
03/11/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/trump-emergency-declaration-coronavirus-message-125902
President Donald Trump is reluctant to declare an expansive emergency to combat the escalating coronavirus outbreak, fearful of stoking panic with such a dramatic step, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Instead, the president is expected to sign within days what the White House calls a more limited designation to allow the federal government to cover small business loans, paychecks for hourly workers and delay tax bills, giving him a way to begin boosting the economy without waiting for Congress to sign off on an economic stimulus package.
Any emergency declaration would go significantly beyond that move, bringing in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and freeing up funding and resources for states struggling to contain the rapidly spreading virus.
Trump’s concern at this point is that going further could hamper his narrative that the coronavirus is similar to the seasonal flu and could further agitate Wall Street, said the three people familiar with the discussions.
“The president isn’t persuaded because [an emergency declaration] contradicts his message that this is the flu,” said a Republican who speaks to Trump.
---- 2 -----
White House Removes Public Health Experts from Coronavirus Discussions
Michael Halpern, Deputy director, Center for Science & Democracy | March 11, 2020, 3:33 pm EDT
https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/white-house-removes-public-health-experts-from-coronavirus-discussions
The White House held dozens of meetings about coronavirus response that excluded government experts because the discussions were unnecessarily classified over the objections of HHS Secretary Alex Azar, reports Reuters. Experts were not just barred from speaking openly about what we knew about the emerging pandemic. Apparently, they weren’t even allowed in the room.
“It is not normal to classify discussions about a response to a public health crisis,” an unnamed official from the Republican George W. Bush administration told the wire service. Yet this is President Trump’s approach to nearly every public health and environmental threat: find some way to exclude the experts, stop them from speaking publicly, and make decisions in a vacuum. The deliberate sidelining of public health experts and science leads to bad policy, and ultimately, to more sickness and death.
----- 3 -----
Stonekettle
twitter.com/Stonekettle
2020/3/11
[EDITOR: THREAD starting at link]
https://twitter.com/Stonekettle/status/1237780697173147648
Pence: "...There is no question. As Dr. Fauci said just a few days ago, we would be in a very different place if President Trump did not suspend all travel from China..."
Wait what?
Back up. Back the big orange bus up. Back it up.
Say that again.
1/
----- 4 -----
Op-Ed: I’m an American in Italy, where 60 million are trapped by the coronavirus. It’s horrific
By DAVID C. UNGER
MARCH 11, 20201:44 PM
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-11/coronavirus-italy-quarantine-infection
Camogli, Italy — Under other circumstances, being homebound here might not seem a bad thing. Not for nothing is this stretch of the Italian Riviera called the Golfo Paradiso, the Gulf of Paradise. From our apartment, my wife and I look out at the Mediterranean, the nearby city of Genoa and the snow-capped mountains beyond. Now, with no one supposed to leave home, there are no errands to run, grace periods have been granted on mortgage, utility and tax bills. My shelves bulge with books that I now have more time to read.
But these circumstances are horrific. Italy is living through a national tragedy of incomprehensible proportions. More than 10,000 people here are ill with the coronavirus and more than 800 have died. Things could get worse, much worse, before they get better.
And no one knows when this will end.
----- 5 -----
Fresh Air
twitter.com/nprfreshair
https://twitter.com/nprfreshair/status/1238186469690429440
A previous tweet of this quote did not make it adequately clear that it is Trump who did not push for adequate testing, not Secretary of Health and Human Services Azar. Here is the whole quote for context.
[IMAGE] [TRANSCRIPTION BY EDITOR FOLLOWS]
"In the case of Alex Azar, he did go to the President in January, he did push past resistance from the president's political aides to warn the president that the new coronavirus could be a major problem. There were aides around Trump, Kellyanne Conway had some skepticism at times, that this was something that needed to be a presidential priority.
But at the same time, Secretary Azar has not always given the president the worst case scenario of what could happen. My understanding is that he [President Trump] did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that's partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential reelection this fall."
----- 6 -----
How Fox News misled viewers about the coronavirus
By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business
Updated 9:21 PM ET, Thu March 12, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/media/fox-news-coronavirus/index.html
New York (CNN Business)As the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country over the last several weeks, television viewers — especially those supportive of President Donald Trump —- had one place they could go to for some sense of solace: Fox News.
"If you are over the mass hysteria, if you're over politicizing and weaponizing of the coronavirus, you are not alone," Sean Hannity, the highest-rated host on Fox News, assured the network's prime time audience this week.
Indeed, over the past several weeks, top hosts and personalities on the conservative cable news network downplayed concerns about the virus, baselessly accusing credible news organizations of overhyping the crisis to hurt Trump politically.
----- 7 -----
Trump: Restricting travel in U.S. a 'possibility' if coronavirus pandemic gets 'too hot'
Trump also defended his restrictions on travel from Europe, which excludes the U.K. and Ireland.
March 12, 2020, 10:26 AM PDT
By Dartunorro Clark
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-restricting-travel-u-s-possibility-if-coronavirus-pandemic-gets-n1156851
President Donald Trump said Thursday it's a "possibility" that the administration could impose travel restrictions within the U.S. to limit exposure to the coronavirus if certain areas get "too hot."
"We haven't discussed that yet," Trump said when asked about the option at a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. "Is it a possibility? Yes. If somebody gets a little bit out of control, if an area gets too hot.
