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solarbirdAttacking health care workers has been part of the rightist strategy this whole time. The deliberate, performative cruelty of responses to doctors and nurses talking about what's going on in their hospitals is obscene. And now Donkeyballs Donald - the traitor - is attacking them, accusing them of stealing masks(!), and implying that's why there aren't enough.
The man is living filth and should be tried and convicted of treason, and then sentenced appropriately. Every single one of his supporters should be considered a rabid animal. My gods, the monstrosity of them all.
----- 1 -----
Donald Trump demands his own signature be on coronavirus stimulus checks to every American: report
March 27, 2020
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/donald-trump-demands-his-own-signature-be-on-coronavirus-stimulus-checks-to-every-american-report/
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed into law a record $2 trillion stimulus bill to help those suffering from the coronavirus pandemic — part of which involves one-time cash payments being sent out to tens of millions of American households.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump wants those checks to be sent out explicitly in his name.
“Mr. Trump has told people he wants his signature to appear on the direct payment checks that will go out to many Americans in the coming weeks, according to an administration official,” wrote Siobhan Hughes and Natalie Andrews. “Normally, a civil servant — the disbursing officer for the payment center — would sign federal checks, said Don Hammond, a former senior Treasury Department official.”
----- 2 -----
Trump promised scores of big-box retailers would offer parking lots for covid-19 testing. There are only five of them.
By Elizabeth Dwoskin, Abha Bhattarai, Juliet Eilperin and Ashley Parker
March 27, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-promised-scores-of-big-box-retailers-would-offer-parking-lots-for-covid-19-testing-there-are-only-five-of-them/2020/03/27/ece8ab06-703a-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html
Two weeks ago, President Trump promised a network of drive-through covid-19 testing sites across the country where people could be tested “very safely, quickly and conveniently.” In a Rose Garden news conference, chief executives of Target, Walgreens, Walmart and CVS said they would work with the government to provide space in store parking lots.
While the four retailers have a combined 26,400 U.S. stores, this vision of a proliferation of coronavirus testing sites has yet to materialize. Walgreens and CVS have opened one site each, while Walmart last weekend opened two drive-through testing locations near Chicago. Target hasn’t opened any. Rite Aid, which joined the effort later, has opened one drive-through facility in Philadelphia.
Like much of the nation’s coronavirus response, the burden of organizing and operating these testing sites has fallen to state and local governments. On occasion, they’ve enlisted the help of private industry. But an array of logistical challenges, ranging from a shortage of testing supplies to funding, has meant only a small fraction of Americans can get diagnosed for covid-19 in a way that is routine in South Korea and elsewhere.
----- 3 -----
Catherine Rampell
twitter.com/crampell
https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1243743233999544320
From just a few months ago.
[Quoted Tweet:]
House Judiciary Dems
twitter.com/HouseJudiciary
Dec 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/HouseJudiciary/status/1202271057253687297
Pamela Karlan: “What would you think if, when your governor asked the federal government for the disaster assistance that Congress has provided, the President responded, ‘I would like you to do us a favor.’ I’ll... send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal.”
----- 4 -----
A choir group had 60 people show up for practice. Now 45 are sick.
March 26, 2020, 6:15 p.m. ET
By Mike Baker
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/coronavirus-usa-03-26#a-choir-group-had-60-people-show-up-for-practice-now-45-are-sick
Before social distancing requirements were in place in Washington State earlier this month, members of a choir group took their own coronavirus precautions. They told singers not to attend practice if they had even a hint of illness.
Yet the virus has devastated the Skagit Valley Chorale, based in the rural valley north of Seattle that is famous for its tulip production. Of the 60 people who attended a March 10 practice, 45 have developed symptoms and 27 so far have tested positive, officials said. One of the group’s members has died, another has been hospitalized and others have struggled to overcome their illness.
Polly Dubbel, the communicable disease and environmental health manager at Skagit County Public Health, said the case was a disturbing example of how contagious coronavirus can be and how it can spread among groups even when no one is symptomatic.
----- 5 -----
Trump won’t stop American travelers, so governors do it instead
The decisions could face legal challenges and have raised questions about why Trump doesn’t act himself.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
03/27/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/27/trump-governors-coronavirus-travel-shutdown-152561
President Donald Trump won’t shut down travel from America’s coronavirus epicenters, so governors are doing it themselves — citing the White House as inspiration and bracing for constitutional challenges.
In rapid progression, four states have ordered 14-day quarantines for some or all travelers arriving from other states. While the orders from Texas, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Florida all vary in scope, each has little precedent and is legally questionable, according to legal experts. And the decisions have also raised questions about why Trump didn’t just act himself, after mulling the option earlier this month. Some governors have pressed Trump to take such a step, given his more clear-cut — and arguably more effective — emergency powers to regulate travel between states in times of pandemic.
“I know this is unusual. I know it’s extreme. And I know some people don’t agree with it,” Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, told reporters Friday as she announced her order, which quickly drew fire from civil liberties advocates.
“There are plenty of legal and constitutional issues involved in this,” acknowledged Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, when asked on Friday what further steps he might take. “There are certain things we definitely can do and there are certain things we can’t. … Some of it has to do with where federal authority begins and ends.”
The flurry of orders appears to have been triggered by an increasing exodus of New York City and New Orleans residents to other states as the situation in those locales becomes more dire and dangerous.
----- 6 -----
ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital’s coronavirus protections has been fired
By Ron Judd
Seattle Times staff reporter
March 27, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/er-doctor-who-criticized-bellingham-hospitals-coronavirus-protections-has-been-fired/
BELLINGHAM – An emergency room physician who publicly decried what he called a lack of protective measures against the novel coronavirus at his workplace, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, has been fired.
Ming Lin, who has worked at the hospital for 17 years and became a local cause célèbre for his pleas for more safety equipment and more urgent measures to protect staff, was informed of his termination as he was preparing for a shift at the hospital Friday afternoon, he said.
“I got a message that said, ‘Your shift has been covered,’” Lin told The Seattle Times. He phoned his supervisor and was told, “You’ve been terminated.” Lin said he was told he would be contacted by human resources staff from his employer, TeamHealth, a national firm that contracts with PeaceHealth’s emergency department.
TeamHealth could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesperson for PeaceHealth St. Joseph confirmed that Lin had been fired but said the hospital had no comment because Lin wasn’t a PeaceHealth employee.
----- 7 -----
How and where to be tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — and who qualifies
March 19, 2020
By Ryan Blethen
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/how-and-where-to-be-tested-for-the-coronavirus-that-causes-covid-19/
More labs around the Puget Sound region are gaining the capacity to test specimens for the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Getting those specimens to the labs has been another story.
The official advice, if you believe you’ve been exposed to the virus and you’re experiencing a fever, cough or difficulty breathing — some of the most common symptoms — is to call your doctor so they can determine whether testing is necessary. In reality, many patients have called their doctors only to be told there’s no way for them to get tested and they should just stay home and take care.
----- 8 -----
Senator says White House turned down emergency coronavirus funding in early February
Suzanne Smalley, Reporter, Yahoo News
March 27, 2020
https://news.yahoo.com/senator-says-white-house-turned-down-emergency-coronavirus-funding-in-early-february-003319950.html
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus.
The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they “didn’t need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,” Murphy recalled in an interview with Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast.
“What an awful, horrible catastrophic mistake that was,” Murphy said.
On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”
----- 9 -----
Trump suggests, providing no evidence, that there is something nefarious going on with New York's use of a large number of masks
Daniel Dale [CNN reporter]
twiter.com/ddale8
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1244383303802793987
Trump suggests, providing no evidence, that there is something nefarious going on with New York's use of a large number of masks: "Something's going on, and you oughtta look into it. Where are the masks going? Are they going out the back door?"
[LINK TO EMBEDDED VIDEO: https://twitter.com/KevinlyFather/status/1244384238771658753 ]
----- 10 -----
Brazil’s Bolsonaro makes life-or-death coronavirus gamble
March 28, 2020
By David Biller
The Associated Press
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/brazils-bolsonaro-makes-life-or-death-coronavirus-gamble/
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Even as coronavirus cases mount in Latin America’s largest nation, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has staked out the most deliberately dismissive position of any major world leader, calling the pandemic a momentary, minor problem and saying strong measures to contain it are unnecessary.
Bolsonaro says his response to the disease matches that of President Donald Trump in the U.S., but the Brazilian leader has gone further, labeling the virus as “a little flu” and saying state governors’ aggressive measures to halt the disease were crimes.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro told reporters in the capital, Brasilia, that he feels Brazilians’ natural immunity will protect the nation.
“The Brazilian needs to be studied. He doesn’t catch anything. You see a guy jumping into sewage, diving in, right? Nothing happens to him. I think a lot of people were already infected in Brazil, weeks or months ago, and they already have the antibodies that help it not proliferate,” Bolsonaro said. “I’m hopeful that’s really a reality.”
A video titled “Brazil Cannot Stop” that circulated on social media drew a rebuke from Monica de Bolle, a Brazilian senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“Do you know what will happen, Bolsonaro? Brazil WILL stop. Your irresponsibility will bring thousands to avoidable deaths,” she tweeted Friday. “The destroyed lungs of these people, as well as the organs of those who won’t be able to have medical care, will fall on your lap. And Brazil will not spare you.”
----- 11 -----
US agency includes gun sellers as ‘critical’ infrastructure
March 28, 2020 at 8:45 pm
By The Associated Press
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/us-agency-includes-gun-sellers-as-critical-infrastructure/
WASHINGTON (AP) — A gun rights group is cheering the Trump administration’s designation of the firearms industry, including retailers, as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure during the coronavirus emergency.
The designation by the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is advisory. The agency notes that the designation does not override determinations by individual jurisdictions of what they consider critical infrastructure sectors.
The firearms industry was not part of the federal agency’s original list of critical infrastructure issued just over a week ago. The designation in an update released Saturday follows a brewing legal battle between gun rights groups and California officials.
The group Gun Owners of America says in a statement Saturday that it is encouraged that the Trump administration is not ignoring what it calls “the ability to protect yourself” during the emergency stemming from the pandemic.
----- 12 -----
Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too
The decision by the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., to partly reopen his evangelical university enraged residents of Lynchburg, Va. Then students started getting sick.
By Elizabeth Williamson
March 29, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/coronavirus-liberty-university-falwell.html
LYNCHBURG, Va. — As Liberty University’s spring break was drawing to a close this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., its president, spoke with the physician who runs Liberty’s student health service about the rampaging coronavirus.
“We’ve lost the ability to corral this thing,” Dr. Thomas W. Eppes Jr. said he told Mr. Falwell. But he did not urge him to close the school. “I just am not going to be so presumptuous as to say, ‘This is what you should do and this is what you shouldn’t do,’” Dr. Eppes said in an interview.
So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.
“Liberty will be notifying the community as deemed appropriate and required by law,” Mr. Falwell said in an interview on Sunday when confronted with the numbers. He added that any student now returning to campus would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
The man is living filth and should be tried and convicted of treason, and then sentenced appropriately. Every single one of his supporters should be considered a rabid animal. My gods, the monstrosity of them all.
- Donald Trump demands his own signature be on coronavirus stimulus checks to every American: report
- Trump promised scores of big-box retailers would offer parking lots for covid-19 testing. There are only five of them.
- A choir group had 60 people show up for practice. Now 45 are sick.
- Trump won’t stop American travelers, so governors do it instead
- ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital’s coronavirus protections has been fired
- Senator says White House turned down emergency coronavirus funding in early February
- Trump suggests, providing no evidence, that medical workers in New York are stealing masks
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro makes life-or-death coronavirus gamble
- US agency includes gun sellers as ‘critical’ infrastructure
- Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too
----- 1 -----
Donald Trump demands his own signature be on coronavirus stimulus checks to every American: report
March 27, 2020
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/donald-trump-demands-his-own-signature-be-on-coronavirus-stimulus-checks-to-every-american-report/
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed into law a record $2 trillion stimulus bill to help those suffering from the coronavirus pandemic — part of which involves one-time cash payments being sent out to tens of millions of American households.
But according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump wants those checks to be sent out explicitly in his name.
“Mr. Trump has told people he wants his signature to appear on the direct payment checks that will go out to many Americans in the coming weeks, according to an administration official,” wrote Siobhan Hughes and Natalie Andrews. “Normally, a civil servant — the disbursing officer for the payment center — would sign federal checks, said Don Hammond, a former senior Treasury Department official.”
----- 2 -----
Trump promised scores of big-box retailers would offer parking lots for covid-19 testing. There are only five of them.
By Elizabeth Dwoskin, Abha Bhattarai, Juliet Eilperin and Ashley Parker
March 27, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-promised-scores-of-big-box-retailers-would-offer-parking-lots-for-covid-19-testing-there-are-only-five-of-them/2020/03/27/ece8ab06-703a-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html
Two weeks ago, President Trump promised a network of drive-through covid-19 testing sites across the country where people could be tested “very safely, quickly and conveniently.” In a Rose Garden news conference, chief executives of Target, Walgreens, Walmart and CVS said they would work with the government to provide space in store parking lots.
While the four retailers have a combined 26,400 U.S. stores, this vision of a proliferation of coronavirus testing sites has yet to materialize. Walgreens and CVS have opened one site each, while Walmart last weekend opened two drive-through testing locations near Chicago. Target hasn’t opened any. Rite Aid, which joined the effort later, has opened one drive-through facility in Philadelphia.
Like much of the nation’s coronavirus response, the burden of organizing and operating these testing sites has fallen to state and local governments. On occasion, they’ve enlisted the help of private industry. But an array of logistical challenges, ranging from a shortage of testing supplies to funding, has meant only a small fraction of Americans can get diagnosed for covid-19 in a way that is routine in South Korea and elsewhere.
----- 3 -----
Catherine Rampell
twitter.com/crampell
https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1243743233999544320
From just a few months ago.
[Quoted Tweet:]
House Judiciary Dems
twitter.com/HouseJudiciary
Dec 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/HouseJudiciary/status/1202271057253687297
Pamela Karlan: “What would you think if, when your governor asked the federal government for the disaster assistance that Congress has provided, the President responded, ‘I would like you to do us a favor.’ I’ll... send the disaster relief once you brand my opponent a criminal.”
----- 4 -----
A choir group had 60 people show up for practice. Now 45 are sick.
March 26, 2020, 6:15 p.m. ET
By Mike Baker
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/coronavirus-usa-03-26#a-choir-group-had-60-people-show-up-for-practice-now-45-are-sick
Before social distancing requirements were in place in Washington State earlier this month, members of a choir group took their own coronavirus precautions. They told singers not to attend practice if they had even a hint of illness.
Yet the virus has devastated the Skagit Valley Chorale, based in the rural valley north of Seattle that is famous for its tulip production. Of the 60 people who attended a March 10 practice, 45 have developed symptoms and 27 so far have tested positive, officials said. One of the group’s members has died, another has been hospitalized and others have struggled to overcome their illness.
Polly Dubbel, the communicable disease and environmental health manager at Skagit County Public Health, said the case was a disturbing example of how contagious coronavirus can be and how it can spread among groups even when no one is symptomatic.
----- 5 -----
Trump won’t stop American travelers, so governors do it instead
The decisions could face legal challenges and have raised questions about why Trump doesn’t act himself.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
03/27/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/27/trump-governors-coronavirus-travel-shutdown-152561
President Donald Trump won’t shut down travel from America’s coronavirus epicenters, so governors are doing it themselves — citing the White House as inspiration and bracing for constitutional challenges.
In rapid progression, four states have ordered 14-day quarantines for some or all travelers arriving from other states. While the orders from Texas, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Florida all vary in scope, each has little precedent and is legally questionable, according to legal experts. And the decisions have also raised questions about why Trump didn’t just act himself, after mulling the option earlier this month. Some governors have pressed Trump to take such a step, given his more clear-cut — and arguably more effective — emergency powers to regulate travel between states in times of pandemic.
“I know this is unusual. I know it’s extreme. And I know some people don’t agree with it,” Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, told reporters Friday as she announced her order, which quickly drew fire from civil liberties advocates.
“There are plenty of legal and constitutional issues involved in this,” acknowledged Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, when asked on Friday what further steps he might take. “There are certain things we definitely can do and there are certain things we can’t. … Some of it has to do with where federal authority begins and ends.”
The flurry of orders appears to have been triggered by an increasing exodus of New York City and New Orleans residents to other states as the situation in those locales becomes more dire and dangerous.
----- 6 -----
ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital’s coronavirus protections has been fired
By Ron Judd
Seattle Times staff reporter
March 27, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/er-doctor-who-criticized-bellingham-hospitals-coronavirus-protections-has-been-fired/
BELLINGHAM – An emergency room physician who publicly decried what he called a lack of protective measures against the novel coronavirus at his workplace, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, has been fired.
Ming Lin, who has worked at the hospital for 17 years and became a local cause célèbre for his pleas for more safety equipment and more urgent measures to protect staff, was informed of his termination as he was preparing for a shift at the hospital Friday afternoon, he said.
“I got a message that said, ‘Your shift has been covered,’” Lin told The Seattle Times. He phoned his supervisor and was told, “You’ve been terminated.” Lin said he was told he would be contacted by human resources staff from his employer, TeamHealth, a national firm that contracts with PeaceHealth’s emergency department.
TeamHealth could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesperson for PeaceHealth St. Joseph confirmed that Lin had been fired but said the hospital had no comment because Lin wasn’t a PeaceHealth employee.
----- 7 -----
How and where to be tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — and who qualifies
March 19, 2020
By Ryan Blethen
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/how-and-where-to-be-tested-for-the-coronavirus-that-causes-covid-19/
More labs around the Puget Sound region are gaining the capacity to test specimens for the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Getting those specimens to the labs has been another story.
The official advice, if you believe you’ve been exposed to the virus and you’re experiencing a fever, cough or difficulty breathing — some of the most common symptoms — is to call your doctor so they can determine whether testing is necessary. In reality, many patients have called their doctors only to be told there’s no way for them to get tested and they should just stay home and take care.
----- 8 -----
Senator says White House turned down emergency coronavirus funding in early February
Suzanne Smalley, Reporter, Yahoo News
March 27, 2020
https://news.yahoo.com/senator-says-white-house-turned-down-emergency-coronavirus-funding-in-early-february-003319950.html
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus.
The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they “didn’t need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,” Murphy recalled in an interview with Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast.
“What an awful, horrible catastrophic mistake that was,” Murphy said.
On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”
----- 9 -----
Trump suggests, providing no evidence, that there is something nefarious going on with New York's use of a large number of masks
Daniel Dale [CNN reporter]
twiter.com/ddale8
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1244383303802793987
Trump suggests, providing no evidence, that there is something nefarious going on with New York's use of a large number of masks: "Something's going on, and you oughtta look into it. Where are the masks going? Are they going out the back door?"
[LINK TO EMBEDDED VIDEO: https://twitter.com/KevinlyFather/status/1244384238771658753 ]
----- 10 -----
Brazil’s Bolsonaro makes life-or-death coronavirus gamble
March 28, 2020
By David Biller
The Associated Press
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/brazils-bolsonaro-makes-life-or-death-coronavirus-gamble/
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Even as coronavirus cases mount in Latin America’s largest nation, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has staked out the most deliberately dismissive position of any major world leader, calling the pandemic a momentary, minor problem and saying strong measures to contain it are unnecessary.
Bolsonaro says his response to the disease matches that of President Donald Trump in the U.S., but the Brazilian leader has gone further, labeling the virus as “a little flu” and saying state governors’ aggressive measures to halt the disease were crimes.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro told reporters in the capital, Brasilia, that he feels Brazilians’ natural immunity will protect the nation.
“The Brazilian needs to be studied. He doesn’t catch anything. You see a guy jumping into sewage, diving in, right? Nothing happens to him. I think a lot of people were already infected in Brazil, weeks or months ago, and they already have the antibodies that help it not proliferate,” Bolsonaro said. “I’m hopeful that’s really a reality.”
A video titled “Brazil Cannot Stop” that circulated on social media drew a rebuke from Monica de Bolle, a Brazilian senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“Do you know what will happen, Bolsonaro? Brazil WILL stop. Your irresponsibility will bring thousands to avoidable deaths,” she tweeted Friday. “The destroyed lungs of these people, as well as the organs of those who won’t be able to have medical care, will fall on your lap. And Brazil will not spare you.”
----- 11 -----
US agency includes gun sellers as ‘critical’ infrastructure
March 28, 2020 at 8:45 pm
By The Associated Press
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/us-agency-includes-gun-sellers-as-critical-infrastructure/
WASHINGTON (AP) — A gun rights group is cheering the Trump administration’s designation of the firearms industry, including retailers, as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure during the coronavirus emergency.
The designation by the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is advisory. The agency notes that the designation does not override determinations by individual jurisdictions of what they consider critical infrastructure sectors.
The firearms industry was not part of the federal agency’s original list of critical infrastructure issued just over a week ago. The designation in an update released Saturday follows a brewing legal battle between gun rights groups and California officials.
The group Gun Owners of America says in a statement Saturday that it is encouraged that the Trump administration is not ignoring what it calls “the ability to protect yourself” during the emergency stemming from the pandemic.
----- 12 -----
Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too
The decision by the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., to partly reopen his evangelical university enraged residents of Lynchburg, Va. Then students started getting sick.
By Elizabeth Williamson
March 29, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/coronavirus-liberty-university-falwell.html
LYNCHBURG, Va. — As Liberty University’s spring break was drawing to a close this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., its president, spoke with the physician who runs Liberty’s student health service about the rampaging coronavirus.
“We’ve lost the ability to corral this thing,” Dr. Thomas W. Eppes Jr. said he told Mr. Falwell. But he did not urge him to close the school. “I just am not going to be so presumptuous as to say, ‘This is what you should do and this is what you shouldn’t do,’” Dr. Eppes said in an interview.
So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.
“Liberty will be notifying the community as deemed appropriate and required by law,” Mr. Falwell said in an interview on Sunday when confronted with the numbers. He added that any student now returning to campus would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-30 01:09 pm (UTC)Re: Daniel Dale
Date: 2020-03-30 02:04 pm (UTC)Re: Daniel Dale
Date: 2020-03-31 03:33 am (UTC)Thank you again for collecting these.
Date: 2020-03-30 05:25 pm (UTC)Same old song: 'It's not that welfare/food-stamp benefits are too tiny, it's that recipients fritter them away on buying Cadillacs!"
The Bellingham ER doctor story is especially alarming because who fires doctors at a time like this?!
Also, that division between TeamHealth and PeaceHealth sounds like the kind of 'outsourcing' that is specifically intended to remove worker protections and employer liability.
Re: Thank you again for collecting these.
Date: 2020-03-31 03:34 am (UTC)I'd rather be posting game clips tbh, but, well. Life is war.
Ethics mean something else now...
Date: 2020-03-30 10:52 pm (UTC)To be stamped onto all the medical bills, funeral expenses, grocery bills, rent and mortgage foreclosures...💀✍️
I always thought of myself as lawful good. Seems to mean something else, when the society's laws are unjust, and good is caring for EVERYONE. Please see the Captain or appropriate crew from Firefly saying that last bit. ;-)
Re: Ethics mean something else now...
Date: 2020-04-04 04:22 am (UTC)