Today's News (2020/3/25) Catch Up
Mar. 25th, 2020 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdSorry it's been a while, it's been a busy time. It's a big block so I've bolded a few I think are particularly important to remember.
----- 1 -----
Trump Cabinet Bible Teacher Blames Coronavirus Pandemic on God’s Wrath — Somehow It Involves China, Gay People, and Environmentalists
Lee Fang
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/24/trump-cabinet-bible-studies-coronavirus/
Ralph Drollinger, a minister who leads a weekly Bible study group for President Donald Trump’s cabinet, released a new interpretation of the coronavirus pandemic this week, arguing that the crisis represents an act of God’s judgment.
The coronavirus, Drollinger argues in two blog posts and a rambling Bible study guide published in the past few days, is a form of God’s wrath upon nations, but not one as severe as the floods described in the Old Testament or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
...
Neither does he miss a chance to condemn those who worship the “religion of environmentalism” and express a “proclivity toward lesbianism and homosexuality.” These individuals, Drollinger argues in “Is God Judging America Today?”, one of the minister’s posts about coronavirus pandemic, have infiltrated “high positions in our government, our educational system, our media and our entertainment industry” and “are largely responsible for God’s consequential wrath on our nation.”
...
The Drollinger-led Bible study meets every Wednesday morning with members of Trump’s cabinet, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Health Secretary Alex Azar. Carson and Azar, notably, are members of the Coronavirus Task Force guiding the federal government response to the pandemic.
Vice President Mike Pence, a member of the task force and a listed host of Capitol Ministries, is also tied to the Bible study. Emails obtained by Gizmodo show administration officials coordinating with Drollinger’s group to schedule a session of the Bible study, including the possibility of hosting the weekly event in Pence’s West Wing office.
----- 2 -----
A restless Trump wants to end the country's isolation -- and his own
By Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins and Kate Bennett, CNN
Updated 8:36 PM ET, Tue March 24, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/politics/donald-trump-white-house-life-coronavirus/index.html
(CNN)He's sitting through glitchy conference calls, and friends say he's thinking about his job security. Cabin fever amid the coronavirus pandemic has set in and tensions on the team are brewing. No one quite knows when it will end.
As Americans enter another week of self-isolation, President Donald Trump is enduring the same Covid-era hazards befalling the rest of the country. Visits from friends and outside advisers have been limited, making the always-isolating White House feel even more so.
----- 3 -----
Matthew Gertz
twitter.com/MattGertz
Mar 24
Really no more obvious prediction than "at some point Trump is going to lie and say the coronavirus death toll is much lower than it actually is."
https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1242433564718792706
It'll be Hurricane Maria all over again, he'll insist that only cases with an explicit positive test should count and lash out at anyone who says otherwise.
5:50 AM · Mar 24, 2020·TweetDeck
[EDITOR'S NOTE: He's already done this. Back at the beginning.]
----- 4 -----
What We’re Up Against
By David Kurtz
March 24, 2020
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/covid-19-sacrifice-old-people-for-the-economy
...
But, there was a second group that more closely aligned with this new Trump/Dan Patrick thinking. The comments I heard went something like this, “This is going to sound bad, but 2% really isn’t that many people and it’s mostly old people anyway. They’ve lived a good life. Overpopulation is a major problem and it will also help with social security.”
I’m writing in because I fear we are treating this as a more fringe idea than it actually is. I don’t think this is Trump reacting to his properties being forced to close or to a Fox News segment he saw. I think this has serious legs.
----- 5 -----
As things fall apart, remember how we got here.
twitter.com/solarbirdy
[My own thread, but I still think it's worthwhile]
https://twitter.com/solarbirdy/status/1242259158558101505
The US has ≈330 million people.
Under what the GOP are floating, almost all severe cases die. Anybody else who needs an ICU also dies, and you get 2.6%+ fatality & 70%+ infection rates.
2.6% * 70% * 330 million = 6 million Americans dead.
In a year.
For the stock market.
[THREAD]
----- 6 -----
Coronavirus Treatment Developed by Gilead Sciences Granted “Rare Disease” Status, Potentially Limiting Affordability
Sharon Lerner, Lee Fang
March 23 2020
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/23/gilead-sciences-coronavirus-treatment-orphan-drug-status/
On Monday afternoon, the Food and Drug Administration granted Gilead Sciences “orphan” drug status for its antiviral drug, remdesivir. The designation allows the pharmaceutical company to profit exclusively for seven years from the product, which is one of dozens being tested as a possible treatment for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Experts warn that the designation, reserved for treating “rare diseases,” could block supplies of the antiviral medication from generic drug manufacturers and provide a lucrative windfall for Gilead Sciences, which maintains close ties with President Donald Trump’s task force for controlling the coronavirus crisis. Joe Grogan, who serves on the White House coronavirus task force, lobbied for Gilead from 2011 to 2017 on issues including the pricing of pharmaceuticals.
“The Orphan Drug Act is for a rare disease, and this is about as an extreme opposite of a rare disease you can possibly dream up,” said James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International, a watchdog on pharmaceutical patent abuse.
----- 7 -----
Trump says he wants country 'opened up' by Easter, despite caution from health experts
Public health experts have said easing restrictions too early could put an enormous strain on hospitals and lead to even more deaths and economic damage.
March 24, 2020, 10:50 AM PDT / Updated March 24, 2020, 12:57 PM PDT
By Shannon Pettypiece and Peter Alexander
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-he-wants-country-open-back-april-12-easter-n1167721
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants to have the country getting back to business by April 12, Easter Sunday, even as the coronavirus pandemic worsens.
“I would love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter,” Trump said during a Fox News interview.
Public health experts and local and state leaders have cautioned against easing restrictions too early, saying it could put an enormous strain on hospitals and lead to even more deaths and economic damage. But Trump said Tuesday that he believed the human toll would be greater should Americans continue to stay at home.
"This cure is worse than the problem," Trump said, adding that "in my opinion, more people are going to die if we allow this to continue."
----- 8 -----
Josh Marshall
twitter.com/joshtpm
March 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1242533718620876800
On Governors asking for help, Trump says, "It's a two way street they have to treat us well too."
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 9 -----
Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here's How The Results Could Help All Of Us.
The small island nation’s large-scale testing strategy includes people who don’t have any symptoms.
Posted on March 18, 2020
https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/coronavirus-testing-iceland
As countries around the world scramble to fight back the spread of the coronavirus, Iceland is doing things a little differently from the rest — and the approach could have a much larger impact on our understanding of the virus.
The small island nation of 364,000 is carrying out large-scale testing among its general population, making it the latest country to put aggressive testing at the heart of its fight against the pandemic.
But — crucially — the testing also includes people who show no symptoms of the disease.
----- 10 -----
Seth Cotlar
twitter.com/SethCotlar
https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1241746809392730114
“Needlessly scorching your nasal passages with a hairdryer because OANN falsely told you it would cure COVID-19...to own the libs.” I most assuredly did not have that on my 2020 MAGA bingo card.
[VIDEO EMBEDDED]
----- 11 -----
Ryan Goodman
twitter.com/rgoodlaw
22 March 2020
https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1241722027528146944
What if America were attacked and the President left us defenseless?
FEMA head admits to twitter.com/jaketapper: despite Trump’s lauding #DefenseProductionAct Executive Order, Trump HAS NOT implemented it.
Their plan: rely on corporations’ voluntary contributions
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 12 -----
Amy Siskind
twitter.com/Amy_Siskind
22 March 2020
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1241726180979597313
Trump writes a letter to Kim Jong-un offering help in North Korea...
While telling the governors of the United States, “we’re not a shipping clerk.”
[LINK TO STORY]
----- 13 -----
Senator Richard Burr Sold a Fortune in Stocks as G.O.P. Played Down Coronavirus Threat
After the sales in February, the North Carolina Republican warned a group that the virus could soon cause a major disruption in the United States. Three other senators also sold major holdings around the same time.
By Eric Lipton and Nicholas Fandos
March 19, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/richard-burr-stocks-sold-coronavirus.html
WASHINGTON — Senator Richard M. Burr sold hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in major companies last month, as President Trump and others in his party were still playing down the threat presented by the coronavirus outbreak and before the stock market’s precipitous plunge.
The stocks were sold in mid-February, days after Mr. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, wrote an opinion article for Fox News suggesting that the United States was “better prepared than ever before” to confront the virus. At least three other senators sold major stock holdings around the same time, disclosure records show.
Two weeks after Mr. Burr sold his stocks, he spoke at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington to a nonpartisan group called the Tar Heel Club, warning that the virus could soon cause a major disruption in the United States.
The gathering, which drew fewer than 100 people, included representatives from the North Carolina governor’s office, as well as staff members from other congressional offices in the state.
“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history,” Mr. Burr said, according to a recording obtained by NPR, which reported on his remarks on Thursday. “It’s probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”
He added: “Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel. You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they’re making to Europe is essential or whether it can be done on video conference.”
----- 14 -----
A White Nationalist Has Rebranded Himself as Coronavirus Expert. And People Are Flocking to Him.
Tom Kawcyznski has one of the most popular podcasts on the Apple “Health & Fitness” charts right now. He also has advocated for a nearly all-white monarchy in New England.
Will Sommer
Published Mar. 18, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-white-nationalist-has-rebranded-himself-as-coronavirus-expert-and-people-are-flocking-to-him
At first glance, Maine resident Tom Kawcyznski seems like just another person talking about the coronavirus pandemic. His daily “Coronavirus Central” podcast has consistently been in the top 20 podcasts on the Apple charts for “Health & Fitness,” and at one point earlier this month it hit the fifth spot in the category.
But anxious listeners flocking to Kawcyznski’s podcast for more information about the disease’s spread may not be aware of his background. Before he rebranded himself as a coronavirus expert, Kawcyznski was a notorious white nationalist advocating for a nearly all-white monarchy in New England—with himself as its king.
Kawcyznski’s surprising reinvention and his success on podcast apps demonstrate the degrees to which concerned Americans are turning to anyone on the internet for coronavirus information, without much consideration of the source. As rumors about coronavirus and the government’s response circulate via text message and hoax cures proliferate online, extremist figures like Kawcyznski have seen an opening of their own.
“I think the coronavirus is creating a brand new world,” Kawcyznski told The Daily Beast, when asked about his new role as a would-be coronavirus expert.
----- 15 -----
GOP Rep Tells Seniors To Ignore “Beer Virus” Hysteria
March 19, 2020
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/03/gop-rep-tells-seniors-to-ignore-beer-virus-hysteria/
The Anchorage Daily News reports:
Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House, Rep. Don Young, told a gathering of senior citizens last week that dangers posed by the coronavirus pandemic — the “beer virus,” he called it — have been overblown due to media-fueled hysteria.
Speaking on Friday at Mat-Su Senior Services, a Palmer nonprofit that provides housing and services for the elderly, Young urged calm and told the crowd that COVID-19 is not as deadly as some past viruses, according to a recording of the luncheon. The remarks by Young, a Republican, were first reported by the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
----- 16 -----
Weeks Before Virus Panic, Intelligence Chairman Privately Raised Alarm, Sold Stocks
March 19, 2020
Tim Mak - Morning Edition
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192535/burr-recording-sparks-questions-about-private-comments-on-covid-19
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned a small group of well-connected constituents three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic and societal effects of the coronavirus, according to a secret recording obtained by NPR.
The remarks from U.S. Sen. Richard Burr were more stark than any he had delivered in more public forums.
On Feb. 27, when the United States had 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19, President Trump was tamping down fears and suggesting that the virus could be seasonal.
"It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear," the president said then, before adding, "it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens."
----- 17 -----
Trump Told Governors to Buy Own Virus Supplies, Then Outbid Them
By Jordan Fabian
March 19, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/trump-told-governors-to-buy-own-virus-supplies-then-outbid-them
President Donald Trump’s directive for governors to buy their own medical supplies to fight the coronavirus has run into a big problem -- the federal government.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told Trump during a video conference on Thursday that his state three times lost out to the federal government on purchases of critical supplies, creating an awkward moment during the made-for-TV event at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington.
“I’ve got a feeling that if someone has the chance to sell to you and to sell to me, I am going to lose on every one of those,” a sheepish-sounding Baker told Trump, who chuckled at the remark.
The president replied he still wants governors to seek out their own medical equipment, like protective gear for doctors and nurses as well as respirators, but acknowledged the federal government has greater buying power than any state.
----- 18 -----
Don Lemon says Trump is gaslighting you and rolls the tape
17 March 2020
CNN
[VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYUP95sw1IM ]
----- 19 -----
White nationalist hate groups have grown 55% in Trump era, report finds
Southern Poverty Law Center warns of growing movement driven by ‘fear of demographic change’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/white-nationalist-hate-groups-southern-poverty-law-center
White nationalist hate groups in the US have increased 55% throughout the Trump era, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and a “surging” racist movement continues to be driven by “a deep fear of demographic change”.
Nationally, there were 155 such groups counted last year, and they were present in most states. These groups were counted separately from Ku Klux Klan groups, racist skinheads, Christian Identity groups, and neo-Confederate groups, all of which also express some version of white supremacist beliefs.
Since the turn of the millennium, the report says, “American racists have fretted over what they fear will be the loss of their place of dominance in society” as its racial composition changes.
The report notes that the perpetrator of a massacre on 3 August 2019 in El Paso, Texas, where 26 were killed, and another man who attacked a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one woman and wounding three more, claimed to be motivated by the idea that white people were being replaced.
----- 20 -----
Rand Paul: ‘Non-People’ Shouldn’t Get Federal Tax Credit
Sam Brodey, Congressional Reporter
Updated Mar. 18, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rand-paul-says-non-people-shouldnt-get-federal-tax-credit
In a Senate floor speech Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul appeared to describe undocumented immigrants as not “legitimate” people while making the case that they should not be given access to federal child tax credits. His office later said he was referring to people who fraudulently claimed a child in order to reap the federal benefit.
----- 21 -----
Justice Dept. abandons prosecution of Russian firm indicted in Mueller election interference probe
By Spencer S. Hsu
March 16, 2020 at 4:29 p.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-justice-dept-abandons-prosecution-of-russian-firm-indicted-in-mueller-election-interference-probe/2020/03/16/5f7c3fd6-64a9-11ea-912d-d98032ec8e25_story.html
The Justice Department on Monday dropped its two-year-long prosecution of a Russian company charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by orchestrating a social media campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
The stunning reversal came a few weeks before the case — a spinoff of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe — was set to go to trial.
Assistants to U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea of Washington and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers cited an unspecified “change in the balance of the government’s proof due to a classification determination,” according to a nine-page filing accompanied by facts under seal.
Prosecutors also cited the failure of the company, Concord Management and Consulting, to comply with trial subpoenas and the submission of a “misleading, at best” affidavit by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a co-defendant and the company’s founder. Prigozhin is a catering magnate and military contractor known as “Putin’s chef” because of his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
----- 22 -----
German officials to discuss reported U.S. attempt to buy exclusive rights to coronavirus vaccine
By Loveday Morris
March 15, 2020 at 4:28 p.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/germany-coronavirus-curevac-vaccine-trump-rights/2020/03/15/8d684c68-6702-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html
BERLIN — German officials will discuss a reported U.S. attempt to secure the rights to any coronavirus vaccine developed by a German pharmaceutical company in crisis meetings on Monday, the country's interior minister said, amid concerns that the Trump administration was trying to monopolize the market.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, when asked to confirm a report the Trump administration was attempting to secure exclusive rights to any vaccine created by the German biopharmaceutical firm CureVac, said he had “heard from several other members of government today that is the case.”
Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday that the administration wanted to secure the rights and move research and development to the United States. The vaccine would be developed “only for the USA,” the newspaper said.
----- 23 -----
Trump weighs restarting economy despite warnings from U.S. public health officials
By Josh Dawsey, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Jeff Stein and John Wagner
March 23, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-signals-growing-weariness-with-social-distancing-and-other-steps-advocated-by-health-officials/2020/03/23/0920ea0a-6cfc-11ea-a3ec-70d7479d83f0_story.html
President Trump on Monday said he is considering scaling back steps to constrain the spread of the coronavirus in the next week or two because of concerns that the impact on the economy has become too severe.
But loosening restrictions on social distancing and similar measures soon probably would require him to override the internal warnings of senior U.S. health officials, including Anthony S. Fauci, who have said that the United States has not yet felt the worst of the pandemic, according to several people with knowledge of the internal deliberations.
Trump said at a news conference Monday night that at some point soon the damage being done to the economy could be worse than the threat of the virus spreading further. He said the decision could be based geographically with areas of the country with a low number of positive cases moving back to a normal routine while areas such as New York remain under restrictions.
----- 24 -----
Tucker Carlson Tonight | March 23, 2020 | Lt Gov Dan Patrick
[VIDEO: Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says grandparents should be glad to die for the economy.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9k-GeCtK9o
----- 25 -----
It’s Hard to Believe David A. Clarke Was Recommended for a Real Job in Homeland Security
By Jared Holt | March 16, 2020
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-hard-to-believe-david-a-clarke-was-recommended-for-a-real-job-in-homeland-security/
Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke melted down in a profanity-laced Twitter rant on Sunday in which he encouraged the public to defy the government’s precautionary warnings meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, alleging that liberal billionaire George Soros was somehow involved in the “FLU panic.”
“GO INTO THE STREETS FOLKS. Visit bars, restaurants, shopping malls, CHURCHES and demand that your schools re-open. NOW! If government doesn’t stop this foolishness…STAY IN THE STREETS. END GOVERNEMNT CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? THIS IS AN EXPLOITATION OF A CRISIS,” Clarke posted on his Twitter account, where he has nearly one million followers.
In another tweet, Clarke called the United States’ response to the COVID-19 coronavirus the byproduct of “several decades of liberal wussification.” Clarke wrote, “We closed America, we crashed the economy not on the basis of factual information but out of panic, fear & hysteria.”
On Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Sunday the cancellation of all events of 50 or more people in the United States for the next eight weeks. Across the nation, businesses, restaurants, and bars are operating at limited capacities and people are practicing social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus. New York City has ordered the closure of restaurants, except for take-out. Clarke’s tweets were widely panned as dangerous.
- Trump Cabinet Bible Teacher Blames Coronavirus Pandemic on God’s Wrath — Somehow It Involves China, Gay People, and Environmentalists
- A restless Trump wants to end the country's isolation -- and his own
- Really no more obvious prediction than "at some point Trump is going to lie and say the coronavirus death toll is much lower than it actually is."
- What We’re Up Against
- The US has ≈330 million people
- Coronavirus Treatment Developed by Gilead Sciences Granted “Rare Disease” Status, Potentially Limiting Affordability
- Trump says he wants country 'opened up' by Easter, despite caution from health experts
- On Governors asking for help, Trump says, "It's a two way street they have to treat us well too."
- Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here's How The Results Could Help All Of Us.
- "Needlessly scorching your nasal passages with a hairdryer because OANN falsely told you it would cure COVID-19...to own the libs."
- What if America were attacked and the President left us defenseless?
- Trump writes a letter to Kim Jong-un offering help in North Korea...
- Senator Richard Burr Sold a Fortune in Stocks as G.O.P. Played Down Coronavirus Threat
- A White Nationalist Has Rebranded Himself as Coronavirus Expert. And People Are Flocking to Him.
- GOP Rep Tells Seniors To Ignore “Beer Virus” Hysteria
- Weeks Before Virus Panic, Intelligence Chairman Privately Raised Alarm, Sold Stocks
- Trump Told Governors to Buy Own Virus Supplies, Then Outbid Them
- Don Lemon says Trump is gaslighting you and rolls the tape
- White nationalist hate groups have grown 55% in Trump era, report finds
- Rand Paul: ‘Non-People’ Shouldn’t Get Federal Tax Credit
- Justice Dept. abandons prosecution of Russian firm indicted in Mueller election interference probe
- German officials to discuss reported U.S. attempt to buy exclusive rights to coronavirus vaccine
- Trump weighs restarting economy despite warnings from U.S. public health officials
- Tucker Carlson Tonight | March 23, 2020 | Lt Gov Dan Patrick (This is the video where Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says grandparents should be glad to die for the economy.)
- It’s Hard to Believe David A. Clarke Was Recommended for a Real Job in Homeland Security
----- 1 -----
Trump Cabinet Bible Teacher Blames Coronavirus Pandemic on God’s Wrath — Somehow It Involves China, Gay People, and Environmentalists
Lee Fang
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/24/trump-cabinet-bible-studies-coronavirus/
Ralph Drollinger, a minister who leads a weekly Bible study group for President Donald Trump’s cabinet, released a new interpretation of the coronavirus pandemic this week, arguing that the crisis represents an act of God’s judgment.
The coronavirus, Drollinger argues in two blog posts and a rambling Bible study guide published in the past few days, is a form of God’s wrath upon nations, but not one as severe as the floods described in the Old Testament or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
...
Neither does he miss a chance to condemn those who worship the “religion of environmentalism” and express a “proclivity toward lesbianism and homosexuality.” These individuals, Drollinger argues in “Is God Judging America Today?”, one of the minister’s posts about coronavirus pandemic, have infiltrated “high positions in our government, our educational system, our media and our entertainment industry” and “are largely responsible for God’s consequential wrath on our nation.”
...
The Drollinger-led Bible study meets every Wednesday morning with members of Trump’s cabinet, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Health Secretary Alex Azar. Carson and Azar, notably, are members of the Coronavirus Task Force guiding the federal government response to the pandemic.
Vice President Mike Pence, a member of the task force and a listed host of Capitol Ministries, is also tied to the Bible study. Emails obtained by Gizmodo show administration officials coordinating with Drollinger’s group to schedule a session of the Bible study, including the possibility of hosting the weekly event in Pence’s West Wing office.
----- 2 -----
A restless Trump wants to end the country's isolation -- and his own
By Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins and Kate Bennett, CNN
Updated 8:36 PM ET, Tue March 24, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/politics/donald-trump-white-house-life-coronavirus/index.html
(CNN)He's sitting through glitchy conference calls, and friends say he's thinking about his job security. Cabin fever amid the coronavirus pandemic has set in and tensions on the team are brewing. No one quite knows when it will end.
As Americans enter another week of self-isolation, President Donald Trump is enduring the same Covid-era hazards befalling the rest of the country. Visits from friends and outside advisers have been limited, making the always-isolating White House feel even more so.
----- 3 -----
Matthew Gertz
twitter.com/MattGertz
Mar 24
Really no more obvious prediction than "at some point Trump is going to lie and say the coronavirus death toll is much lower than it actually is."
https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1242433564718792706
It'll be Hurricane Maria all over again, he'll insist that only cases with an explicit positive test should count and lash out at anyone who says otherwise.
5:50 AM · Mar 24, 2020·TweetDeck
[EDITOR'S NOTE: He's already done this. Back at the beginning.]
----- 4 -----
What We’re Up Against
By David Kurtz
March 24, 2020
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/covid-19-sacrifice-old-people-for-the-economy
...
But, there was a second group that more closely aligned with this new Trump/Dan Patrick thinking. The comments I heard went something like this, “This is going to sound bad, but 2% really isn’t that many people and it’s mostly old people anyway. They’ve lived a good life. Overpopulation is a major problem and it will also help with social security.”
I’m writing in because I fear we are treating this as a more fringe idea than it actually is. I don’t think this is Trump reacting to his properties being forced to close or to a Fox News segment he saw. I think this has serious legs.
----- 5 -----
As things fall apart, remember how we got here.
twitter.com/solarbirdy
[My own thread, but I still think it's worthwhile]
https://twitter.com/solarbirdy/status/1242259158558101505
The US has ≈330 million people.
Under what the GOP are floating, almost all severe cases die. Anybody else who needs an ICU also dies, and you get 2.6%+ fatality & 70%+ infection rates.
2.6% * 70% * 330 million = 6 million Americans dead.
In a year.
For the stock market.
[THREAD]
----- 6 -----
Coronavirus Treatment Developed by Gilead Sciences Granted “Rare Disease” Status, Potentially Limiting Affordability
Sharon Lerner, Lee Fang
March 23 2020
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/23/gilead-sciences-coronavirus-treatment-orphan-drug-status/
On Monday afternoon, the Food and Drug Administration granted Gilead Sciences “orphan” drug status for its antiviral drug, remdesivir. The designation allows the pharmaceutical company to profit exclusively for seven years from the product, which is one of dozens being tested as a possible treatment for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Experts warn that the designation, reserved for treating “rare diseases,” could block supplies of the antiviral medication from generic drug manufacturers and provide a lucrative windfall for Gilead Sciences, which maintains close ties with President Donald Trump’s task force for controlling the coronavirus crisis. Joe Grogan, who serves on the White House coronavirus task force, lobbied for Gilead from 2011 to 2017 on issues including the pricing of pharmaceuticals.
“The Orphan Drug Act is for a rare disease, and this is about as an extreme opposite of a rare disease you can possibly dream up,” said James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International, a watchdog on pharmaceutical patent abuse.
----- 7 -----
Trump says he wants country 'opened up' by Easter, despite caution from health experts
Public health experts have said easing restrictions too early could put an enormous strain on hospitals and lead to even more deaths and economic damage.
March 24, 2020, 10:50 AM PDT / Updated March 24, 2020, 12:57 PM PDT
By Shannon Pettypiece and Peter Alexander
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-he-wants-country-open-back-april-12-easter-n1167721
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants to have the country getting back to business by April 12, Easter Sunday, even as the coronavirus pandemic worsens.
“I would love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter,” Trump said during a Fox News interview.
Public health experts and local and state leaders have cautioned against easing restrictions too early, saying it could put an enormous strain on hospitals and lead to even more deaths and economic damage. But Trump said Tuesday that he believed the human toll would be greater should Americans continue to stay at home.
"This cure is worse than the problem," Trump said, adding that "in my opinion, more people are going to die if we allow this to continue."
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Josh Marshall
twitter.com/joshtpm
March 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1242533718620876800
On Governors asking for help, Trump says, "It's a two way street they have to treat us well too."
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
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Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here's How The Results Could Help All Of Us.
The small island nation’s large-scale testing strategy includes people who don’t have any symptoms.
Posted on March 18, 2020
https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/coronavirus-testing-iceland
As countries around the world scramble to fight back the spread of the coronavirus, Iceland is doing things a little differently from the rest — and the approach could have a much larger impact on our understanding of the virus.
The small island nation of 364,000 is carrying out large-scale testing among its general population, making it the latest country to put aggressive testing at the heart of its fight against the pandemic.
But — crucially — the testing also includes people who show no symptoms of the disease.
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Seth Cotlar
twitter.com/SethCotlar
https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1241746809392730114
“Needlessly scorching your nasal passages with a hairdryer because OANN falsely told you it would cure COVID-19...to own the libs.” I most assuredly did not have that on my 2020 MAGA bingo card.
[VIDEO EMBEDDED]
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Ryan Goodman
twitter.com/rgoodlaw
22 March 2020
https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1241722027528146944
What if America were attacked and the President left us defenseless?
FEMA head admits to twitter.com/jaketapper: despite Trump’s lauding #DefenseProductionAct Executive Order, Trump HAS NOT implemented it.
Their plan: rely on corporations’ voluntary contributions
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
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Amy Siskind
twitter.com/Amy_Siskind
22 March 2020
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1241726180979597313
Trump writes a letter to Kim Jong-un offering help in North Korea...
While telling the governors of the United States, “we’re not a shipping clerk.”
[LINK TO STORY]
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Senator Richard Burr Sold a Fortune in Stocks as G.O.P. Played Down Coronavirus Threat
After the sales in February, the North Carolina Republican warned a group that the virus could soon cause a major disruption in the United States. Three other senators also sold major holdings around the same time.
By Eric Lipton and Nicholas Fandos
March 19, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/richard-burr-stocks-sold-coronavirus.html
WASHINGTON — Senator Richard M. Burr sold hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in major companies last month, as President Trump and others in his party were still playing down the threat presented by the coronavirus outbreak and before the stock market’s precipitous plunge.
The stocks were sold in mid-February, days after Mr. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, wrote an opinion article for Fox News suggesting that the United States was “better prepared than ever before” to confront the virus. At least three other senators sold major stock holdings around the same time, disclosure records show.
Two weeks after Mr. Burr sold his stocks, he spoke at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington to a nonpartisan group called the Tar Heel Club, warning that the virus could soon cause a major disruption in the United States.
The gathering, which drew fewer than 100 people, included representatives from the North Carolina governor’s office, as well as staff members from other congressional offices in the state.
“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history,” Mr. Burr said, according to a recording obtained by NPR, which reported on his remarks on Thursday. “It’s probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”
He added: “Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel. You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they’re making to Europe is essential or whether it can be done on video conference.”
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A White Nationalist Has Rebranded Himself as Coronavirus Expert. And People Are Flocking to Him.
Tom Kawcyznski has one of the most popular podcasts on the Apple “Health & Fitness” charts right now. He also has advocated for a nearly all-white monarchy in New England.
Will Sommer
Published Mar. 18, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-white-nationalist-has-rebranded-himself-as-coronavirus-expert-and-people-are-flocking-to-him
At first glance, Maine resident Tom Kawcyznski seems like just another person talking about the coronavirus pandemic. His daily “Coronavirus Central” podcast has consistently been in the top 20 podcasts on the Apple charts for “Health & Fitness,” and at one point earlier this month it hit the fifth spot in the category.
But anxious listeners flocking to Kawcyznski’s podcast for more information about the disease’s spread may not be aware of his background. Before he rebranded himself as a coronavirus expert, Kawcyznski was a notorious white nationalist advocating for a nearly all-white monarchy in New England—with himself as its king.
Kawcyznski’s surprising reinvention and his success on podcast apps demonstrate the degrees to which concerned Americans are turning to anyone on the internet for coronavirus information, without much consideration of the source. As rumors about coronavirus and the government’s response circulate via text message and hoax cures proliferate online, extremist figures like Kawcyznski have seen an opening of their own.
“I think the coronavirus is creating a brand new world,” Kawcyznski told The Daily Beast, when asked about his new role as a would-be coronavirus expert.
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GOP Rep Tells Seniors To Ignore “Beer Virus” Hysteria
March 19, 2020
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/03/gop-rep-tells-seniors-to-ignore-beer-virus-hysteria/
The Anchorage Daily News reports:
Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House, Rep. Don Young, told a gathering of senior citizens last week that dangers posed by the coronavirus pandemic — the “beer virus,” he called it — have been overblown due to media-fueled hysteria.
Speaking on Friday at Mat-Su Senior Services, a Palmer nonprofit that provides housing and services for the elderly, Young urged calm and told the crowd that COVID-19 is not as deadly as some past viruses, according to a recording of the luncheon. The remarks by Young, a Republican, were first reported by the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
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Weeks Before Virus Panic, Intelligence Chairman Privately Raised Alarm, Sold Stocks
March 19, 2020
Tim Mak - Morning Edition
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192535/burr-recording-sparks-questions-about-private-comments-on-covid-19
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned a small group of well-connected constituents three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic and societal effects of the coronavirus, according to a secret recording obtained by NPR.
The remarks from U.S. Sen. Richard Burr were more stark than any he had delivered in more public forums.
On Feb. 27, when the United States had 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19, President Trump was tamping down fears and suggesting that the virus could be seasonal.
"It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear," the president said then, before adding, "it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens."
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Trump Told Governors to Buy Own Virus Supplies, Then Outbid Them
By Jordan Fabian
March 19, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-19/trump-told-governors-to-buy-own-virus-supplies-then-outbid-them
President Donald Trump’s directive for governors to buy their own medical supplies to fight the coronavirus has run into a big problem -- the federal government.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told Trump during a video conference on Thursday that his state three times lost out to the federal government on purchases of critical supplies, creating an awkward moment during the made-for-TV event at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington.
“I’ve got a feeling that if someone has the chance to sell to you and to sell to me, I am going to lose on every one of those,” a sheepish-sounding Baker told Trump, who chuckled at the remark.
The president replied he still wants governors to seek out their own medical equipment, like protective gear for doctors and nurses as well as respirators, but acknowledged the federal government has greater buying power than any state.
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Don Lemon says Trump is gaslighting you and rolls the tape
17 March 2020
CNN
[VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYUP95sw1IM ]
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White nationalist hate groups have grown 55% in Trump era, report finds
Southern Poverty Law Center warns of growing movement driven by ‘fear of demographic change’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/white-nationalist-hate-groups-southern-poverty-law-center
White nationalist hate groups in the US have increased 55% throughout the Trump era, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and a “surging” racist movement continues to be driven by “a deep fear of demographic change”.
Nationally, there were 155 such groups counted last year, and they were present in most states. These groups were counted separately from Ku Klux Klan groups, racist skinheads, Christian Identity groups, and neo-Confederate groups, all of which also express some version of white supremacist beliefs.
Since the turn of the millennium, the report says, “American racists have fretted over what they fear will be the loss of their place of dominance in society” as its racial composition changes.
The report notes that the perpetrator of a massacre on 3 August 2019 in El Paso, Texas, where 26 were killed, and another man who attacked a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one woman and wounding three more, claimed to be motivated by the idea that white people were being replaced.
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Rand Paul: ‘Non-People’ Shouldn’t Get Federal Tax Credit
Sam Brodey, Congressional Reporter
Updated Mar. 18, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rand-paul-says-non-people-shouldnt-get-federal-tax-credit
In a Senate floor speech Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul appeared to describe undocumented immigrants as not “legitimate” people while making the case that they should not be given access to federal child tax credits. His office later said he was referring to people who fraudulently claimed a child in order to reap the federal benefit.
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Justice Dept. abandons prosecution of Russian firm indicted in Mueller election interference probe
By Spencer S. Hsu
March 16, 2020 at 4:29 p.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-justice-dept-abandons-prosecution-of-russian-firm-indicted-in-mueller-election-interference-probe/2020/03/16/5f7c3fd6-64a9-11ea-912d-d98032ec8e25_story.html
The Justice Department on Monday dropped its two-year-long prosecution of a Russian company charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by orchestrating a social media campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
The stunning reversal came a few weeks before the case — a spinoff of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe — was set to go to trial.
Assistants to U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea of Washington and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers cited an unspecified “change in the balance of the government’s proof due to a classification determination,” according to a nine-page filing accompanied by facts under seal.
Prosecutors also cited the failure of the company, Concord Management and Consulting, to comply with trial subpoenas and the submission of a “misleading, at best” affidavit by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a co-defendant and the company’s founder. Prigozhin is a catering magnate and military contractor known as “Putin’s chef” because of his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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German officials to discuss reported U.S. attempt to buy exclusive rights to coronavirus vaccine
By Loveday Morris
March 15, 2020 at 4:28 p.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/germany-coronavirus-curevac-vaccine-trump-rights/2020/03/15/8d684c68-6702-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html
BERLIN — German officials will discuss a reported U.S. attempt to secure the rights to any coronavirus vaccine developed by a German pharmaceutical company in crisis meetings on Monday, the country's interior minister said, amid concerns that the Trump administration was trying to monopolize the market.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, when asked to confirm a report the Trump administration was attempting to secure exclusive rights to any vaccine created by the German biopharmaceutical firm CureVac, said he had “heard from several other members of government today that is the case.”
Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday that the administration wanted to secure the rights and move research and development to the United States. The vaccine would be developed “only for the USA,” the newspaper said.
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Trump weighs restarting economy despite warnings from U.S. public health officials
By Josh Dawsey, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Jeff Stein and John Wagner
March 23, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-signals-growing-weariness-with-social-distancing-and-other-steps-advocated-by-health-officials/2020/03/23/0920ea0a-6cfc-11ea-a3ec-70d7479d83f0_story.html
President Trump on Monday said he is considering scaling back steps to constrain the spread of the coronavirus in the next week or two because of concerns that the impact on the economy has become too severe.
But loosening restrictions on social distancing and similar measures soon probably would require him to override the internal warnings of senior U.S. health officials, including Anthony S. Fauci, who have said that the United States has not yet felt the worst of the pandemic, according to several people with knowledge of the internal deliberations.
Trump said at a news conference Monday night that at some point soon the damage being done to the economy could be worse than the threat of the virus spreading further. He said the decision could be based geographically with areas of the country with a low number of positive cases moving back to a normal routine while areas such as New York remain under restrictions.
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Tucker Carlson Tonight | March 23, 2020 | Lt Gov Dan Patrick
[VIDEO: Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says grandparents should be glad to die for the economy.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9k-GeCtK9o
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It’s Hard to Believe David A. Clarke Was Recommended for a Real Job in Homeland Security
By Jared Holt | March 16, 2020
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-hard-to-believe-david-a-clarke-was-recommended-for-a-real-job-in-homeland-security/
Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke melted down in a profanity-laced Twitter rant on Sunday in which he encouraged the public to defy the government’s precautionary warnings meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, alleging that liberal billionaire George Soros was somehow involved in the “FLU panic.”
“GO INTO THE STREETS FOLKS. Visit bars, restaurants, shopping malls, CHURCHES and demand that your schools re-open. NOW! If government doesn’t stop this foolishness…STAY IN THE STREETS. END GOVERNEMNT CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? THIS IS AN EXPLOITATION OF A CRISIS,” Clarke posted on his Twitter account, where he has nearly one million followers.
In another tweet, Clarke called the United States’ response to the COVID-19 coronavirus the byproduct of “several decades of liberal wussification.” Clarke wrote, “We closed America, we crashed the economy not on the basis of factual information but out of panic, fear & hysteria.”
On Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Sunday the cancellation of all events of 50 or more people in the United States for the next eight weeks. Across the nation, businesses, restaurants, and bars are operating at limited capacities and people are practicing social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus. New York City has ordered the closure of restaurants, except for take-out. Clarke’s tweets were widely panned as dangerous.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-25 07:27 pm (UTC)As usual, the fundagelicals think God has really bad aim.
"Coronavirus Treatment Developed by Gilead Sciences Granted “Rare Disease” Status, Potentially Limiting Affordability"
Rare disease. A pandemic. Is a rare disease?!?
Thank you for doing these roundups. These days, it is hard to keep track.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-25 08:07 pm (UTC)Riposte
Date: 2020-03-25 11:18 pm (UTC)Re: Riposte
Date: 2020-03-25 11:33 pm (UTC)Not one. single. fuck.
It doesn't matter what you point out, it doesn't matter how nonsensical it is, it just does. not. matter.
Acting as if it does is part of how we got here.