The right-corner lead:
Baker activates National Guard as coronavirus crisis grows
I already covered that yesterday (Today Is Doomsday)
China investigating ex-Biogen employee who fled there while sick with coronavirus
Mystery surrounds why the woman left her Belmont home and flew to China last week as he tried to hide her sickness. For shame!
Related: ‘Quarantine shaming’: US navigates radical new social norms
This stuff is beginning to read like it is straight from Poe.
"Colleges plead for bailout amid coronavirus losses; Without aid, they warn, many schools are likely to collapse" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
Empty dormitories, canceled recruiting tours, cratering endowment investments — the coronavirus has turned college campuses into ghost towns and sent a financial tremor throughout the industry.
On Thursday, colleges and their lobbying groups urged Congress to include an estimated $50 billion in any federal coronavirus stimulus package for higher education institutions and their students. Many schools are likely to collapse without a federal bailout, colleges warned.
“Most colleges and universities are facing an immediate cash flow crisis," said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president of government affairs at the American Council on Education, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.
Many higher education institutions are digging into their reserves to pay off millions of dollars in room and board refunds to students who have been forced off campus and ordered to study online in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. They’ve suddenly had to invest in online classes and additional cleaning services to ensure that dorm rooms are disinfected. Many are also facing a potentially disastrous fall, uncertain whether the public health crisis will continue and students, particularly those from abroad, will stay away from campus.
For anyone reading the Globe like I have, it is clear that the colleges are going to be turned into quarantine camps. Many will fall by the wayside, and perhaps they should seeing as education is now an industry. Unfortunately, that means the ladder has just been pulled up on middle class kids (the days of unpayable student debt are over) with higher education limited to the upper cru$t. Heading back to Lords and Serf stuff, folks, Elysium-style.
Beyond that, what is this crisis going to do to public education in terms of high schools? The tax base has just dried up. I guess we will all have to go to charter schools like what Bloomberg wanted. Who cares, though? As long as the ruling cla$$ can save us and bail us out of the me$$ that fabulou$ly enriched them all.
This week, Chartwells, the food service company, laid off dining hall workers at several institutions, including Northeastern University, where dorms were closed. At other colleges, such as Tufts and Harvard universities, workers will be paid at least for a few weeks.
“We regret to have to make this decision and understand the impact this will have on our associates and their families,” said Meredith Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for the company. “Our hope, along with the rest of country, is that this is temporary and we will return to normal service as soon as possible."
The new normal or the old normal?
Btw, $poke$woman is a polite term for $hit-$linger.
Earlier this week, the bond-rating firm Moody’s Investors Services warned that the outlook for higher education had deteriorated from stable to negative. According to Moody’s 30 percent of universities were in a weak financial position before the coronavirus upended life; now the fight for survival has become even tougher.
A federal bailout for all colleges is crucial, Hartle said, but whether the Republican-controlled Senate and President Trump, who have been hostile to private, elite universities, would agree to a relief package that could benefit them as well, remains an open question.
“The future is not what is used to be,” said Lee Pelton, the president of Emerson College. “A microscopic but very deadly virus has dealt a body blow to higher education.”
At least we will soon be returning to normal.
Pelton established an economic recovery team at Emerson this week, tasked with addressing the financial effects of the virus. The college is leaning toward offering most students who left campus due to the virus a financial credit instead of an actual refund on their room and dining costs. The decision could be unpopular with families, but that option could allow colleges to spread out the losses over several semesters instead of taking the hit all this school year, Pelton said.
“I’ve been a college president for more than two decades. This crisis is different than any other I’ve encountered," he said.
Yeah, but what hasn't changed is they already have your money and don't want to give it back while you are left to fend for yourselves. What $cum.
For small, private colleges, particularly in New England, the coronavirus couldn’t have come at a worse time. Many of them have closed or merged in recent years as their enrollments have dropped and their finances were squeezed. Others struggle every year.
Barbara Brittingham, president of the New England Commission of Higher Education, the primary accreditor for colleges and universities in the region, said she worries that the virus could precipitate the closure of some institutions.
Many schools rely on room and dining fees to help balance their budgets, Brittingham said. Tuition, on the other hand, can be a less consistent revenue stream because colleges often offer discounts on their sticker price through grants and financial aid to lure students to campus.
Turns out that "universities facing budget shortfalls or pushback over tuition hikes are increasingly looking to dining halls as a way to generate revenue, as cheaper alternatives threaten to upend those profit margins, so being able to compete with a rising tide of quick delivery options not only keeps those dollars on campus, but is increasingly important to universities’ bottom lines."
It's enough to really pi$$ you off, huh?
Now, many are refunding a portion of room and board, even as they aren’t sure how many students will enroll next year or if revenue-generating summer programs can still go on.
After experiencing the disruption caused by the coronavirus, some students from out of state may want to study closer to home in the fall. Parents may have lost their jobs due to shutdowns and can no longer afford to pay for their children to return to the same pricey college they left this spring, experts said.
“Predicting enrollment is somewhere between difficult and impossible,” Brittingham said.
Colleges are already freezing hires and pausing their planned capital projects and will likely have to lay off workers, said Susan Fitzgerald, an associate managing director at Moody’s.
Some colleges may face even more pressure to offer students bigger financial aid packages to ensure that they enroll, adding to their budget woes, Fitzgerald said.
Colleges send out their admissions notices to incoming freshmen in late March, and the gap between the institutions with healthy endowments and secure finances and those on shaky ground will become clearer, said Todd Weaver, a Boston-area admissions counselor with Strategies for College.
“You’ll see the have and have-nots separate rapidly this month,” Weaver said. “Colleges that are perceived to be highly desirable will likely stick with the initial aid offer and the May 1 deposit date. Other colleges that are a bit more challenged in filling their seats each year, may be more willing to extend the deadline to June 1, and give a little extra aid.”
A$ if we didn't have enough wealth inequality already.
That means, for example, Harvard — with $41 billion endowment — is far more likely to emerge relatively unscathed than the region’s myriad small colleges with dramatically smaller financial cushions.
What about community colleges?
You know, the stepping stones for us all to lift ourselves up.
The coronavirus could dramatically change higher education, experts said.
Many, for example, point out that faculty and some institutions were reluctant to adopt online or remote learning models, but now many are racing to do so. One unnamed New England college with a costume design program even sent students home with sewing machines to ensure that they could continue with their education, Brittingham said.
Still, how deep the ultimate financial impact will be on colleges and universities depends on how long the public health crisis lasts and when students will return, but the financial repercussions are likely to be felt for years, Hartle said.
Even if universities get some federal relief in the short term, many states are likely to make budget cuts, including to public college funding, because of a decline in tax revenue, Hartle said.
“We have a short-term emergency but we’re not looking at a sunrise down the road,” he said.
So the $UN NEVER RI$E$ as the darkne$$ of a nuclear winter becau$e all the tax revenue is going to bail out the corporate sector and wealthy concerns -- to keep the $y$tem $table.
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The comments are correct as these bloated institutions have become an indu$try for the well-connected
"Amid an unprecedented financial crisis, the university has hired at least seven people with connections to state government and politics as administrators with salaries between $81,000 and $222,000 in the past year and a half, records show. The hires include the former head of the state Democratic Party, a former legislative aide, and a former state commissioner of environmental protection. Together, the seven people earn nearly $1 million. A UMass campus spokesman said in a statement that hiring is based on merit, and the hires underscore UMass’s reputation as a place where the politically connected of Beacon Hill can land a job with a single phone call. It’s an attractive place to work in part because the UMass system is part of the state retirement system, so state employees can continue to earn toward their pensions, which are based on their three highest years of pay and their number of years of service, and the campus’s location is for many more appealing than traveling to the other campuses in Lowell, Dartmouth, Worcester, or Amherst."
Those are the same people saying they have to cut the budgets.
(flip to below fold)
"The world hasn’t seen a public health threat like this since the Spanish flu killed millions around the world starting in 1918, said John Maraganore, chief executive of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, which is collaborating with a California biotech to develop gene-silencing drugs to treat COVID-19. “The difference," he said, "is we’re technologically and scientifically better prepared to fight it.”..... Massachusetts life-sciences industry at forefront of worldwide fight against coronavirus; Companies like Alnylam, Moderna, and Thermo Fisher are mobilizing" by Jonathan Saltzman and Felice J. Freyer Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
It'[s nice to know who is benefiting, and the $elf-$erving and mixed me$$ages come when they are following that playbook (testing vaccines they were) when there was more social distance then. Now the pharmaceuticals are on the front lines with their vaccines, tests, drugs, and local leadership!!! Embedded even more in our lives as this start to look like a BRAVE NEW WORLD!
Related: Biotech, bracing for widespread coronavirus fallout, hopes for the best and prepares for the worst
Feuerstein says they have been disputed for the last nine days!
"Mass. biotech groups seek donations of emergency supplies to combat coronavirus; In less than one day, more than 160 businesses and organizations have responded to the call for help" by Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
Four trade groups that represent biotechs, medical device firms, and hospitals in Massachusetts have requested that members donate emergency supplies - everything from face masks to diagnostic equipment — to help the state fight COVID-19.
“It’s incumbent upon all of us to do everything we can to address the COVID-19 pandemic and aid the first responders and healthcare providers who are putting their health on the line every day to help patients,” said a letter to members of the trade groups late Wednesday.
In less than 24 hours, more than 160 members made offers of emergency supplies, according to Robert Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, one of the four trade groups. The supplies included surgical masks, protective suits and goggles.
The trade groups plans to relay the offers to the state Department of Public Health, which has struggled to provide enough laboratory tests for people suspected of having the new coronavirus. Donors were asked to contact supplyhub@massbio.org
In addition to Mass BIO, the groups behind the effort include the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, and the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals.
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Better get your gear on:
"Shortage of protective equipment at hospitals threatens health care providers, as numbers of admitted patients rise; One hospital chief considered creative measures, like cutting up paper gowns to make face masks" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey and Liz Kowalczyk Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
The number of patients possibly infected with coronavirus continues to rise in Massachusetts hospitals, while staff agonize over a more immediate crisis: a lack of protective gear to keep them safe from this highly contagious disease.
In a matter of days, hospital workers have gone from worrying about shortages to rationing, and fearing that they actually could run out of supplies.
The slow turnaround of test results is worsening the problem. While hospitals are admitting many patients suspected of being infected with the coronavirus, they may have to wait days before learning whether a patient tests positive. In the meantime, health care workers must act as if the patient has the virus ― using up protective gear.
Dr. Ravin Davidoff, chief medical officer at Boston Medical Center, said the hospital is ordering welder shields from Amazon to bolster supplies. The lack of surgical masks and N95 masks is the hospital’s biggest concern now, along with testing delays. Because the state was not able to test quickly last week, the hospital mailed swabs to a company in Utah, and results are taking three to seven days.
State health officials said they received 73,000 pieces of equipment from the national stockpile last week — just 10 percent of what they requested. A portion went to Berkshire Medical Center. State officials said they’re requesting and expect more supplies from the federal government, and will distribute them based on need.
That 10% was also defective, as those reading the Globe know, and the web version added this:
In a conference call with President Trump, meanwhile, Governor Charlie Baker told the president that Massachusetts tried to obtain medical equipment from suppliers, but lost out to the federal government "on three big orders,'' according to ABC News.
“I got a feeling that if somebody has a chance to sell to you or to sell to me,” Baker said, “that I’m going to lose every one of those.”
Chump hung up on him.
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Also see: Inside the state’s first large-scale drive-through coronavirus testing facility
Sure looks like Doomsday to me.
Italian death toll overtakes China’s as virus spreads
The Cannes Film Festival was postponed.
Younger adults are large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations in United States, according to new CDC data
The Washington Post says that "maybe some young people who were tested happen to be in cities or industrial areas with a lot of pollution that might affect their susceptibility to serious respiratory illness, or the bar for admission to the hospital and the quality of treatments may vary enough by country that it affects the course of the illness; however....."
Could also be young smokers. They need numbers, numbers, numbers, folks.
Coronavirus ravages 7 members of a single family, killing 3
So the NYT says, and I wonder if the family is getting paid:
"Cash-payments plan sowing division among Republicans" by Jeff Stein, Mike DeBonis, Erica Werner and Paul Kane Washington Post, March 19, 2020
WASHINGTON — Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell released a massive economic stimulus bill Thursday to fight the coronavirus’s fallout, even as opposition emerged from some key Republicans to one of the central elements of the plan: direct cash payments to many Americans.
President Trump has expressed support for that in recent days, but he has also shifted between numerous ideas amid waves of opposition.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a Trump ally, was among several GOP senators voicing concern or outright opposition to the idea on Thursday. A number of economists have predicted that the US economy will plunge into a recession and that the unemployment rate could spike, because so many Americans are staying home for fear of catching the coronavirus.
Many businesses are struggling to pay their bills and laying off workers.
The travel industry has been hit particularly hard, but a widening range of companies are now raising alarms.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street stocks ended slightly higher Thursday, after a volatile session, as investors weighed fresh evidence of a sharp economic decline against efforts in the United States and Europe to offset the damage.
By the end of the day, which had started with a sharp drop, the S&P 500 index had risen by less than 1 percent. Shares in Europe also scratched out small gains.
Oil prices, which had collapsed by more than 20 percent on Wednesday, rebounded strongly.
The legislation would would provide checks of $1,200 per adult for many families, as well as $500 for every child in that family.
Families filing joint tax returns would receive up to $2,400 for the adults.
The size of the checks would diminish for those earning more than $75,000 and phase out completely for those earning more than $99,000.
The poorest families, those with no federal income tax liability, would see smaller benefits, though the minimum would be set at $600.
The precise design of the payments had remained fluid as talks on Capitol Hill continued, with lawmakers scrambling to finalize the legislation. The emerging opposition to direct payments underscored that key elements of the plan could be very much subject to change — especially since it still must be negotiated with Democrats in both chambers of Congress.
As the administration tries to get ahead of the cascading impacts of the coronavirus, Trump has already shifted course once this week, abandoning, for now, a proposed payroll tax cut in favor of direct payments, which he said could have a faster impact.
Some of his allies, though, aren’t convinced.
“Direct payments make sense when an economy is beginning to restart. Makes no sense now, because it’s just money. What I want is income, not one check. I want you to get a check you count on every week, not one week,” Graham told reporters, adding that he was about to talk to the newly named White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to share his views.
(Palm to forehead)
How tone deaf, callou$, in$en$itive, and eliti$t can you be?
What a f***ing a$$hole -- literally!
Senate Appropriations chairman Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama, also voiced opposition to direct cash payments.
“I personally think that if we are going to help people, we ought to direct the cash payments maybe as a supplement to unemployment, not to the people that are still working everyday,” Shelby said.
“You know, just a blanket cash check to everybody in America that’s making up to $75,000, I don’t know the logic of that.”
BANK BAILOUTS and CORPORATE BAILOUTS to the tune of TRILLIONS, those are logical!
Oftentimes, congressional leaders will try to get broad support for legislation before introducing it, but many are now rushing to complete a bill fast, given the growing fears about the economy’s downward trajectory.
Still, the newly voiced opposition to cash payments added to the uncertainty about how quickly Congress would be able to finalize the giant stimulus plan all parties agree is needed as the coronavirus overtakes American life and the economy.
You will NOT BE GETTING a CHECK from CHUMP, Americans!!!
Democrats were working on their own proposals, which shun corporate loan programs being included by the Republicans — such as $50 billion for airlines — suggesting that there will be difficulty in reaching bipartisan agreement.
The small-business section, which Rubio led, would offer loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees; it’s aimed at helping them survive the downturn.
The $300 billion for the loans would be made available through lenders certified by the Small Business Administration, like banks and credit unions, with the maximum loan capped at $10 million.
The portion of the loan used by a small businesses to cover payroll could be forgiven if the employees are retaimed through June 30. Loans given to firms with tipped employees, such as bars and restaurants, could be forgiven if they are used to provide additional wages to employees.
Loans are not the an$wer. Loading more debt on is not the an$wer.
The bill also outlines in greater detail the terms for receiving targeted help from the federal government, as proposed earlier by the Trump administration. The legislation includes $50 billion in “loans and loan guarantees” for passenger airlines; $8 billion for “cargo air carriers”; and $150 billion for other “eligible businesses,” a category administration officials have suggested could include the hotel and cruise industries. The legislation appears to give the Treasury Department wide authority to say which businesses qualify for this $150 billion fund.
Can you $ay BAILOUT?
But NO CHECK FOR YOU!
Democrats have demanded that any companies receiving bailouts adopt things like a $15 minimum wage and end stock buybacks. The GOP bill says no “officer or employee” could get compensation above $425,000 until after March 1, 2022.....
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You knew there were strings attached, right?
Turn the page to A5 and the right-hand column is this:
"Pressure grows on Trump as hospitals sound virus alarms" by Associated Press March 19, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Insisting the federal government is not a “shipping clerk,” President Donald Trump on Thursday called on states to do more to secure their own critically needed masks, ventilators and testing supplies as the pressure mounted on hospitals struggling to cope with a rising number of coronavirus patients.
During another fast-moving day in the capital, Trump and his administration took additional, once-unthinkable steps to try to contain the pandemic. The State Department issued a new alert urging Americans not to travel abroad under any circumstances, and Trump said the government should take partial ownership of companies bailed out during the pandemic, a step that would mark an extraordinary federal reach into the private sector.
Hoping to inject some good news into the dreary outlook, Trump held a White House briefing trying to highlight new efforts underway to find treatments for COVID-19 as infections in the country climbed past 11,000, with at least 168 deaths.
He offered an upbeat promotion of therapeutic drugs in early testing that he said could be “a game-changer” in treating those suffering, but critics quickly accused him of spreading misleading information and overly optimistic projections after the head of the Food and Drug Administration made clear that the drugs Trump discussed were still being tested for their effectiveness and safety. That process takes months and may or may not yield any results.
The FDA later reminded the public in a statement that there are “no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure or prevent COVID-19.”
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers worked urgently toward a $1 trillion aid package to prop up households and the U.S. economy that would put money directly into American’s pockets. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed making direct payments of $1,200 per person, $2,400 for couples and $500 for each child, according to a copy of the legislation obtained by The Associated Press.
You aren't getting a check, or have you not been paying attention? He's going to bail out the private equity vulture capitali$ts and nationalize their garbage. So much for hollering $ociali$t at the Democrap.
Congress has also been discussing loans that would have to be paid back to shore up airlines and other industries and was working to increase production of medical supplies and build temporary field hospitals under new authorities unlocked when Trump invoked the Defense Production Act Wednesday.
At the White House, where temperature checks continued and officials and journalists sat separated from one another as they practiced social distancing, Trump also stepped up his criticism of China, chastising the country he had previously praised for not warning the world earlier about a disease that started in Wuhan, but has since spread across the globe.
Indeed, the death toll in Italy from the coronavirus overtook China’s on Thursday, with at least 3,405 deaths in a country with a population of 60 million.”
“If people would have known about it, it could have… been stopped in place, it could have been stopped right where it came from,” Trump said, “but now the whole world almost is inflicted with this horrible virus and it’s too bad,” he added, lamenting how the U.S economy was healthy “just a few weeks ago.”
This guy is making me sick by pointing the finger at China. Methinks he doth protest too much. The rest of the world, not just "conspiracy theorists" -- I spat the word in my mind since I'm so sick of conscientious people who are doing the heavy-lifting and investigating for the truth being smeared by that CIA-concocted term, but I digress -- are waking up to the fact that it carries with it all the hallmarks of a US-created bioweapon. I think our leaders know it, too, know the "enemy" has scientific -- real science, not the $will sold us here -- evidence to the fact.
Trump grew agitated when one reporter noted the economy had essentially ground to a halt. “We know that,” Trump snapped. “Everybody in the room knows that.”
Woah! Impeach now!
Actually, I can understand his position. I don't sympathize with it at all; however, he thought he was through it all and this has destroyed his legacy -- unless we are out of the woods in a few weeks and he can then say he saved us all, thus winning reelection and riding the stock market upward before he hands it off to a Democrat for the drop in 2024.
More than eight weeks after the first U.S. case of the virus was detected, the federal government is still struggling to respond. Testing in the U.S. lags dramatically behind other developed nations, and states still say they cannot conduct wide-scale testing because they don’t have the swabs or other materials necessary to process them, and as the number of confirmed cases mounts, doctors and nurses are sounding warnings about the shortage of crucial supplies, including masks and other gear needed to protect health care workers, along with ventilators to treat respiratory symptoms of the virus.
Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week issued guidance telling health care workers that if no masks are available, they could turn to “homemade” options “(e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort,” but Trump insisted against the evidence Thursday that there are more than enough supplies available to meet needs, and he said that it was up to states to obtain them.
Covid-19 -- like a Covert 9/11?
While willing to “help out wherever we can,” he said “governors are supposed to be doing a lot of this work. The federal government’s not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping,” Trump said. “You know, we’re not a shipping clerk.”
That's Amazon and the Po$t Office.
After the briefing, Trump traveled to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has now been tasked with leading the national coronavirus response, for a teleconference with governors — some of whom have complained about a lack of guidance from Washington.
The hair just went up on my back. The conspiracy crazies regarding FEMA camps and quarantines don't look so silly anymore.
Again and again during the call, governors said they were having difficulty securing supplies, including the materials needed to process tests, with some sounding panicked. Some said they were competing with the federal government for purchases. Officials in the room, however, insisted there was plenty available on the market to purchase.
Among those expressing concern was Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who told Trump he feared the state would begin to exceed its capacity to deliver health care in as soon as a week.
“I’m asking for help in terms of surging our medical capacity here in Louisiana,” he told the president. He said the state was “going to do everything we can to mitigate and slow the spread, but in the time that we have, we’ve got to increase our surge capacity. That is my biggest concern.”
For most people, COVID-19 causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
As the virus threat has become more acute, Trump has begun to describe himself as a “wartime president.” As he and members of Congress craft bailout packages, Trump said he believed the government should take partial ownership of some companies hard hit by the pandemic and aided by taxpayers. Some Republicans in Congress have pushed back on the idea, saying it amounts to the government picking winners and losers, as they criticized President Barack Obama of doing after the 2008 financial crisis.
On the medical front, Trump and Dr. Stephen Hahn, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, described several existing drugs and treatments currently under testing to see if they can help those with COVID-19. Among them: chloroquine, a drug long used to treat malaria; remdesivir, an experimental antiviral that’s being tried in at least five separate studies; and antibodies culled from the blood of COVID-19 patients when they recover.
Isn't that one of Bill Gates' causes?
BTW, that treatment has been called junk science by the ma$$ media.
Chloroquine is widely available already and could be used off-label, but Hahn said officials want a formal study to get good information on whether it helps people with COVID-19 and is safe. No new and imminent treatments were announced at the briefing.
“We’re looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications” as a potential bridge or stopgap until studies are completed on drugs under investigation, Hahn said.
They rush the vaccines through and already have trials, but they move slow a $hit on this. I'm not saying it even works or I believe in it; I'm just sayin'!!
Social distancing has proved to be a challenge in the tight quarters of the White House briefing room. When task force members walked out for the briefing, they spread out widely. “We practice what we preach,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams said, but moments later, the vice president’s press secretary popped out into the briefing room and directed them to move closer together, presumably to make room for her boss.
Yeah, they are all standing there behind him, 15 abreast, etc. Pardon me for being skeptical of this whole damn thing. If it is real, I suppose they already have a cure for them. Fuck the masses. Same old story.
Trump, who is at increased risk of serious illness because of his age, stood so close to some of the officials answering questions at the podium that they could not stand fully in front of it.
It's almost as if they want him to contract it, and I find that reprehensible. I don't want anyone to get this, although it's looking like we all might have it! Right?
Trump took note of the cramped quarters, too, and claimed that social distancing was making the media “nicer.” Yet he later laced into reporters, suggesting he would like to limit briefings to two or three of his favorite supporters, and he assailed some of his coverage, slamming as “fake news” outlets whose reporters have worked to hold his administration accountable for its delayed response.
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Look$ like it is up to Congre$$ to $ave u$.
May God Help Us All.
"Can Congress save the economy, stop the pandemic and socially distance, all at once?" by Jess Bidgood Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
WASHINGTON — The spread of the coronavirus has confronted Congress with the urgent task of funding the response and shoring up an economy in free fall, and it has so far passed two major bills and is now turning to what could become a trillion-dollar stimulus package, but after two members of Congress announced they had tested positive for the virus on Wednesday night, and with more taking measures to quarantine themselves, the crisis has also forced the tradition-laden body to face urgent practical questions about how, exactly, its members should practice social distancing. It’s a job that by definition requires crowding into staid chambers and lots of in-person meetings.
Politicians are notorious liars so who knows, and Creepy Uncle Joe must be going crazy at the new measures (but more on that at the end of this post).
“You take 535 people, send them out to every corner of the country to shake as many hands as they can on a weekend, meet as many people as they can, and then all come back to a space that’s more crowded than any high school auditorium in America,” said Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, as he worked from home in Salem on Thursday.
“I think Congress is woefully unprepared,” he added, “and I’m not proud of that.”
Over the past couple of weeks, many congressional offices have transitioned to working from home, which has led some offices to scramble for laptops and to get calls routed from their offices to cellphones and strained the capacity of the VPN network used by Senate staffers, but there is one aspect of congressional business that has never been possible to do via teleworking: voting. In recent days, however, a growing number of members of Congress have called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to allow them to vote remotely during the crisis — a move that would allow lawmakers to avoid traveling and convening in large groups, but it would upend more than two centuries of history and require a colossally complex change in House and Senate rules.
“Just to see so many people gathered on the floor is not what we can be doing any longer," said Representative Eric Swalwell of California, who, with Representatives Katie Porter of California and Van Taylor led more than 40 House members on both sides of the aisle in signing a letter urging Pelosi and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy to consider adopting the practice.
I'm starting to think we should dissolve the body and break the U.S. apart into it's own regions rather than continue with the diverse divines, etc. New England joins Canada, Southeast their own country, etc. No federal government, no President. It's the only way out.
Swalwell said he was worried about how lawmakers could pass legislation if they are sick or unable to travel to the Capitol.
A similar push is happening in the Senate, too. On Thursday, Durbin, a Democrat, and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a Republican, introduced a joint resolution that would amend the Senate’s standing rules to implement remote voting during national crises.
“It’s during times like this, when we have a pandemic affecting every corner of society and we are asking people to stay in their homes, that we should have the ability to convene the Senate and get our work done even if we can’t be in the Capitol,” Portman said in a statement.
In recent days, Pelosi and McConnell have been loath to move toward remote voting, but during a conference call of the House Democratic Caucus on Thursday, Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the chair of the Rules Committee, said he was reviewing guidelines and options to find the best way for the House to vote on major legislation while complying with CDC recommendations, according to a person familiar with the call.
“I share the concerns of many members regarding the number of members on the House floor at any one time,” wrote House majority leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, earlier on Thursday. “I therefore expect that the House will adjust our voting procedures in order to follow the CDC’s recommendations.”
Remote voting is not the only way for Congress to pass legislation without crowding into the House and Senate, made more concerning because so many lawmakers are older and at greater risk from coronavirus. McConnell has already extended voting time to allow fewer members of the Senate to be on the floor at the same time, a procedure also under consideration in the House. (That did not stop senators like John Kennedy of Louisiana from standing close enough to Richard Shelby of Alabama to pat him on the back during a vote Wednesday, however.)
Then MAYBE it is TIME for them to RETIRE!!!
There is also the possibility of using “unanimous consent,” in which bills are adopted unanimously if there is no objection, though it would be unusual for a bill as complex as a stimulus passage to be approved that way.
The possibility of remote voting has been raised multiple times before, including by former governor John Kasich of Ohio when he was a congressman in 1993 — but it goes against 231 years of institutional norms.
“You’re talking about sort of reinventing the machinery of government, and what does this do to the Democratic process and the exchange of ideas?” asked Raymond W. Smock, who was the House’s historian from 1989 to 1995. “I can’t imagine they’re going to have serious debates over issues on Skype!”
As if we were still in a democracy, or Republic for that matter.
Smock said that he was not aware of a time when the House or Senate had used absentee or remote voting, and he knew of no existing rule that would allow it, and it is not just the leadership who may be uncomfortable with the idea of remote voting.
“It should be a last resort,” said Moulton, who did not sign onto the House members’ letter. “One of the last things that keeps Congress functioning today is the fact that we all have to come together and interact when we vote.”
Those days are over!
Lori Trahan, of Massachusetts’ Third District, signed the letter, calling remote voting “a key part of maintaining continuity in operations.”
You know, the Continuity of Government plans for martial law -- for a president they impeached and said was a danger to the Constitution because of a phone call.
“These are unprecedented times," she said. "I think we need to unprecedented measures in unprecedented times.”
At least the ethics probe will now be shut down.
Members of Congress are struggling to figure out how to follow best practices in a pandemic. Trahan said she is considering driving to Washington instead of flying whenever she is next called back to vote. Moulton said he rushed on and off the floor without stopping to talk to anyone when he voted to pass the second part of the coronavirus legislation late Friday, and Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who was in the House chamber briefly on Thursday to act as speaker pro tempore, said staff arranged it so he would not have to touch anything.
I want to thank Rep. Trahan for overcoming her hypocrisy to help the environment.
“I could just read what I needed to read, and everything had been disinfected,” he said. Raskin thinks that most members would be reluctant to deploy remote voting for anything but the most extreme circumstances. “Something very big would be lost if that become the standard operating procedure,” Raskin said, “but on the other hand there are big numbers of people talking about how to provide legislative leadership and continuity through a public health emergency based on a contagion.”
The two congressman who have tested positive for coronavirus, Ben McAdams, a Utah Democrat, and Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, were quarantining themselves in Utah and Washington. “It is important that everyone take this extremely seriously and follow CDC guidelines in order to avoid getting sick and mitigate the spread of this virus,” Diaz-Balart wrote.....
Message received loud and clear.
--more--"
Related: Senators sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks after suggesting US was prepared for coronavirus
They are "Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., who sold as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid fears about the coronavirus epidemic. Senate records show that Burr and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 separate transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus. Several of the stocks were in companies that own hotels. The stock sales were first reported by ProPublica and The Center for Responsive Politics. The North Carolina senator was not the only lawmaker to sell of stocks just before the steep decline due to the global pandemic. Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a new senator who is up for re-election this year, sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in late January, as senators began to get briefings on the virus, also according to Senate records....."
Nothing illegal about it, unfortunately! Not if you are a member Congre$$. They have immunity from in$ide trading laws -- as they write the bills that inject trillions into the markets. They decide who gets what corporate welfare.
At least our civil liberties are not at stake during the age of martial law:
"A coronavirus-induced civil liberties crisis? Not yet, experts say" by Danny McDonald Globe Staff, March 18, 2020
Harvey Silverglate, a Cambridge-based criminal defense and civil liberties attorney, for one, thinks current government restrictions in Massachusetts would survive legal challenges. He said it is possible local residents will see even more drastic measures, “provided that there is a factual reason to justify . . . those steps.”
“I, who tend to see civil liberties violations creeping out of every floorboard, I’m not yet concerned about this,” he said of the current situation.
Then neither should any of us!
In Somerville earlier this week, in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus, the city announced it was closing a collection of places where people gather. Theaters, gyms, social clubs, and entertainment venues in the city would be shuttered for three weeks, as would houses of worship. It was the last category that gave Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center, a public policy institute at Middle Tennessee State University, pause.
Yeah, that strikes at the heart of some chosen people, thus it is of primary importance. F**k the rest of us.
When government agencies in the United States declare states of emergency and issue edicts to deal with a crisis, the restrictions typically are grounded in existing law, said Paulson, and while officials can put a cap on the number of people who can assemble, he said to essentially wipe out in-person religious services in a community by decree raises First Amendment issues, even if it comes in the middle of a severe public health crisis. He couldn’t fathom a government “having the right to say a smaller group can’t gather to pray. It’s at best poorly drafted and at worst constitutionally questionable,” he said.
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone defended the decision, saying his office is engaged with faith-based organizations in the community and that authorities would be receptive to making exceptions for “essential services” like funerals. Curtatone, an attorney by trade, said the choice was made to prevent the transmission of the virus. He said his office feels it was within its legal rights to make the call. “At the end of the day we’re trying to protect everyone’s well-being and safety,” he said.
Shouldn't that be for a judge to decide?
Voluntary compliance to governmental recommendations has precedent in the city’s worst terrorist attack, according to Carol Rose, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. In the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Rose said that a crucial aspect of the shelter-in-place directive was that it was a request, not an order.
When then-Governor Deval Patrick asked local residents to remain indoors, his request was honored by many, as television coverage showed nearly empty streets of what otherwise would have been a bustling Boston while battalions of helmeted police officers responded to Watertown, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody.
We remember it well. A preview of things to come and likely a drill.
Web version added this:
Given the nature of the public health threat, Eugene Volokh, who teaches First Amendment law at UCLA School of Law, did not see much need for concern regarding the current government-mandated constraints in the United States. “Much in life involves knowing when there are unusual circumstances that override our normal way of doing things,” he said. “Historically, pandemics have been a classic example of that.”
Quarantine is a longstanding feature of public health response in the United States and abroad, he said. “This isn’t martial law,” he said.
He thought it would be troubling if government restrictions were being applied solely to a small minority of people, or applied only to worship services.....
God, that's his only real concern!
--more--"
Then we are told to prepare now for an orderly end to the coronavirus pandemic, but the page was nowhere to be found(?).
"As organizations resume service, guided by public health officials, they will need to prioritize which personnel return and when and continue a period of reduced operations to ensure public safety. Between now and that orderly return, it is vital that all communities and organizations that have curtailed operations continue to communicate with their stakeholders to provide updated information on the conditions they are monitoring. Battling a global pandemic is a long-term, complex challenge that requires an active role of individuals, communities, and institutions. It’s not done when headlines fade, cases resolve, or a vaccine is developed. It requires a well-coordinated and well-planned effort to keep essential functions running, inhibit the spread of the disease, and not shock the system as we resume our normal activities — whether that is weeks or months away....."
FYI: The author is a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, a distinguished senior fellow at the Northeastern University Global Resilience Institute, and the former special assistant to the president and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council Staff. He has also led infectious disease and continuity planning actions in the homeland security and intelligence communities across the last three administrations.
If you don't think this is more than a pandemic response, I feel sorry for you. Much larger things are going on.
Fortunately, the Globe has tips on how to cope as its page B1 lead:
"Walks, meditation, fear lists: How to cope with coronavirus anxiety" by Naomi Martin Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is sweeping the globe. The economy is tanking, and most people are cloistered at home, feeling either lonely or overcrowded.
It’s no wonder anxiety — already America’s most common mental illness — is fast becoming a universal state of mind. While anxiety is a normal reaction to these unprecedented circumstances, the fear and spiraling worries caused by all the unknowns can be especially serious for people who already are struggling with mental illness.
“On a mass level, we are in an anxiety phase right now,” said Dr. Edward Silberman, a psychiatrist at Tufts Medical Center. “We’re facing the potential for all kinds of losses, from relatively small-scale to catastrophic — and none of us knows where we’re going to fall in that spectrum.”
Anxiety often manifests in repetitive what-if thoughts, he said, now a normal state for many people worrying: What if I get sick? What if my parent dies? What if I lose my job or my home?
I $uppo$e they can pre$cribe a pill for that!
Therapists suggest a range of tips: keeping a routine schedule, exercising, eating a healthy diet, meditating, taking walks, avoiding news and information overload, and maintaining connections with family and friends through technology, and many therapists are now offering remote appointments through video or telephone conferences, so people managing mental illness can continue receiving services.
That is the BEST ADVICE I HAVE SEEN YET!
Many who have long struggled with anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses have a repertoire of tools and techniques that they’ve found helps them get through each day.
For Brighton resident Alexis Rickmers, 24, the coronavirus has been both terrifying and somewhat validating. She suffers from panic disorder, anxiety, and hypochondria (excessive worries about one’s health) — and the pandemic has shown that her fears weren’t totally irrational.
“My hypochondria has won a little bit because I take my temperature four times a day,” Rickmers said. “It’s just been a very intense battle in my brain about what’s real and what’s not.”
As an extrovert, she has struggled with working from home as a paralegal amid the crisis. Taking walks around her neighborhood helps, she said, but she misses meeting with friends. She fears spreading the virus to her partner’s grandparents who live with them.
Sometimes after reading news stories about people with the virus, Rickmers said, she feels an impending sense of doom, her heart racing. She sits on the floor and takes deep breaths, often using the Headspace app to meditate. She also finds it useful to read about the virus’s trajectory in other countries, which helps her understand what to expect.
No, that was yesterday, and that's who the Globe chose as its first example as to how to cope?
Makes you want to become an introvert!
Although most people are holed up at home, it’s crucial to maintain social connections with friends and family through technology, experts say.
Yup, we will all be walled up in our cubicles like the Truman Show.
Cui Bono?
Working from home now, Andrew Maker, 36, said he misses his colleagues at the Canadian consulate in Boston, where he works as a trade commissioner. He has made a point to chat informally and share dog pictures on Slack with colleagues as he works from his home in Yarmouth Port. His wife and 7-year-old son are also around, which has been both fun and challenging.
Does he know that they closed the beaches?
He combats his anxiety by starting each day with a 30-minute run, a perk of not having a two-hour train commute anymore.
“The morning workouts aren’t about how many calories I burn. It’s really about getting that chemical structure and endorphins for the day,” Maker said, and he tries to notice the little things, like the leaves starting to bud.
What is he going to do when they declare martial law, Peleton it?
One of the biggest emotional challenges involving the coronavirus is that no one knows how long the crisis will last.
Larry Berkowitz, director of Riverside Trauma Center in Needham, recommended thinking about just one day, or one week, at a time.
“If we can put things in chunks, they’re manageable for us usually,” Berkowitz said. He also suggested that people working from home try to create daily or weekly schedules with their families and negotiate any expectations or challenges, like needing space away from each other, before tensions flare up.
People are finding creative ways to cope. Religious leaders, gyms, yoga studios, and spiritual groups are offering virtual meetings, classes, and services.
Others are crafting.
Squat and lay a steaming swirly and call it art!
Blair Usedom, 27, an administrator for a consulting firm in Cambridge, finds knitting a relaxing distraction from the gloom. It requires a little thought, but not too much, and brings the satisfaction of creating something new.
She has had anxiety since eighth grade, so she’s learned the importance of activities that can pause the brain’s cycle of worries. She loves reading fiction, meditating using the app Insight Timer, and watching shows like “Brooklyn 99,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “Schitt’s Creek.”
“Once you’re distracted for long enough, thoughts aren’t as scary,” Usedom said. “The longer you don’t mull on them, they lose power a little bit.”
Here is your daily diversion, courtesy of the Bo$ton Globe.
When her fears won’t stop cycling, she finds it helpful to discuss them with her partner or write them down on a list and read them. She finds that gives her some distance to notice whether they’re actually unlikely to occur.
Usedom was already a germophobe, but now her fear has reached new levels. She makes her partner pick up all the items at the grocery store. At the pharmacy, she switches aisles whenever someone else walks into hers, but she recognizes she has to limit her paranoia, so she avoids articles about how long the coronavirus lives on surfaces. She doesn’t want to fear touching everything in her home.
Yeah, she is willing to risk her partner's health, and her attitude seems to be one of blissful ignorance. Good strategy.
“In my head, for some reason, once things are in my apartment, I feel more OK about touching them — which doesn’t makes sense, I’m aware, but it’s the only thing I can do to not completely stop functioning,” Usedom said.
What a mind f*** they have done on her!
Christine Magill, 23, a college program coordinator who lives in Waltham, said she has struggled with panicking about the coronavirus and social isolation while working from home. She said she prefers to get her news from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Did you check their math?
“Having the news on every second of every day just feeds into the mania,” Magill said. “It’s really helpful to just have the facts rather than all the crazy news headlines and weird Facebook articles.”
Whaaaaat?
She just doesn't get it!
One of the most important ways that people can mitigate their emotional distress is to take concrete steps toward improving their situations, not just focusing on their feelings.
What are we, back in 1840s? That's Dickens and Scrooge stuff!!
Christine Tebaldi, a nurse practitioner who helps lead McLean Hospital’s psychiatric emergency services, said it’s crucial for people to be their own advocates and inform themselves through official sources. If they’re facing joblessness, they should seek out government agencies that offer assistance. Taking action will make people feel better.
As long as it is the right kind of action (I'll have further comments on that below).
“People who are feeling nervous, worried, fearful, agitated, or angry, bored, or frustrated — that doesn’t necessarily mean they are at an emergency state,” Tebaldi said. “These are typical responses that often resolve with these types of strategies to address them, or as the situation itself improves.”
--more--"
You may want to stay off the streets, for they are emptying the jails:
"Suffolk district attorney’s office is identifying most ‘vulnerable’ jail inmates for release" by Tonya Alanez Globe Staff, March 19, 2020
Jury trials across the state have been halted. Judges will hear only the most pressing of matters, and largely by telephone or video. Most people on probation do not have to meet their officers in person, and arrests in Middlesex County, the state’s largest, will occur only in situations where “there is no public safety alternative."
What does that mean?
We are on are own?
With no guns?
The coronavirus crisis has thrown the state’s criminal justice system into upheaval, with state courts handling only emergency matters through at least April 6. In an unprecedented move, the state’s highest court this week halted 10 ongoing jury trials, one of them a murder case. They were declared mistrials and will begin anew in late April, when jury trials are tentatively scheduled to restart.
“If it’s nonemergency, it’s just all punted until later,” said Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University. “The Supreme Judicial Court has done a really good job of minimizing in-person contact and clarifying which matters are going to be treated as emergencies, and also in setting up procedures that make video and teleconferencing sort of the default."
That's what tyrannies do, they are far removed from the people the rule.
The public health crisis is also raising alarms about the impact on jails and prisons. On Thursday, the Suffolk district attorney’s office said prosecutors are identifying vulnerable inmates who “pose no meaningful risk to public safety" for possible release.
Can you guarantee that, and if so, what were they doing in there in the firs$t place?
Just another indu$try like the ejewkhazional $y$tem, 'eh?
“There will be circumstances where the risk to public safety outweighs any justification for release,” Rollins said. “However, we are committed to working with the criminal defense bar in identifying those individuals whose release we deem urgent and necessary for public health reasons.”
Can you provide an example?
The importance of preventing the spread of COVID-19 behind bars leaves “no alternative options,” Rollins said. For those arrested, prosecutors will only seek bail after “critically weighing any public health risk against our legitimate concerns for public safety.”
They can't be hospitalized or tested before the rest of us?
I mean, they are wards of the state!
That means, as a civilized society, we collectively agreed to care for and rehabilitate them.
WTF?
This is MASSACHUSETTS!
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, applauded the effort.
“In order to protect the welfare of an especially vulnerable population, all aspects of the criminal legal system — from policing and pretrial through sentencing, confinement, and release ― must be modified to combat this public health crisis,” she said.
They have lost me then.
Statewide, bench trials decided by judges, not juries, are continuing for now. Cases that are deemed emergencies and can’t be resolved through a video or telephone conference will move forward in person. Such cases include applications to stop evictions and requests for restraining orders or any concerns related to domestic violence.
“Obviously there are some things that can wait and other things that can’t," Medwed said.
Clear the court!
Boston courts will also continue to handle some mental health hearings, arraignments for newly arrested suspects, and probation violations for people accused of a new crime. Otherwise, virtual hearings will be the order of the day.
“The courts are trying to use video and teleconferencing to keep the wheels of justice turning,” Medwed said. “What sort of remains to be seen is not which cases are emergencies, but how is technology up to this crisis."
It's the wheels of JU$TU$, and you see who is at the front of the line.
Federal courts remain open but are limiting the matters they handle and switching to telephone and video hearings when practical. Jury trials have been postponed. US Attorney Andrew Lelling said his office is carrying on “amidst this unprecedented crisis.”
He is such a trooper, and will be ‘aggressively prosecuting’ coronavirus scammers along with local officials and the well-connected.
I feel safer already.
--more--"
Related: Immigration offices close; but courts stay open amid warnings
(below B1 fold)
With schools out, grandparents step into the child-care breach
Is that safe?
Separated by coronavirus, kids are leaving chalk notes outside each other’s houses
Rock, chalk, Jayhawk.
From Italy, a dire warning of what may come
Poor Vaughn Grooters, 44, who works for the United Nations, who said “I cry most days, because I feel helpless.”
How long does the coronavirus lurk on surfaces?
Well, according to a new study, it sticks around on plastic surfaces for up to three days.
MSPCA picks Red Cross executive to run agency
Is he a trained veterinarian?
Maine Broadens Restrictions to Curb Spread of Forest Pests
GROCERY WORKER KILLED
TRAFFIC MESS
HOUSE FIRE
Drop in blood donations amid coronavirus fears
A lot of people will be needed blood or they will die.
Lost amidst the panemic propaganda and panic is the anniversary of President George W. Bush ordering the invasion of Iraq (it was March 20 over there, Amurkn). 3/20/2003.
Time to get into the Globe's COMFORTZONE:
Can't sleep? Mind racing?
The page could not found, which is most discomforting and will keep me up.
$o will thi$:
Too scared to look at your retirement account? You’re not alone
Just "hunker down," because stocks always come back from the brink.
See: Stocks fall sharply again
Well, he didn't mean today, and the daily drops of 1,000 points has the feeling of letting slowly the air out the bubble, 'er, balloon. It's a controlled cratering by the bank$ters!
IRS still wants your tax returns by April 15
So they can borrow against it, and remember, you won't be getting any check.
"The Trump administration is revisiting the idea to issue ultra-long bonds as it grapples with how to finance a $1.3 trillion fiscal stimulus plan, according to people familiar with the matter. President Trump’s advisers are considering, among many options, 50-year, and 25-year bonds as they seek financing for additional federal debt with the lowest cost to taxpayers, the people said on the condition of anonymity to discuss economic policy deliberations. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow likes the idea, one of the people said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, although initially skeptical has warmed to it, the people said. Mnuchin has twice considered issuing 50- or 100-year bonds. Investors have pushed back at the idea because, in their view, ultra-long bonds could not be issued in a consistent and sustainable manner."
How much debt can be $addled on the American people before their backs break?
UNREAL!
Everybody goes under except the large corporately-owned chains that will get bailed out by taxpayers.
Restaurant workers scrambling for resources as they face unemployment
I'm told it's a ‘total disaster, and that people are scared and confused.’
Yeah, who can eat at a time like this?
Blue Apron shares soar as many more cook at home
The optimism comes as Americans worry about a potential “shelter-in-place” order that would restrict their ability to leave their homes.
Yes, the new normal will see Amazon or the government delivering you you're gruel. No need to go to the supermarkets, which are nothing more than germ factories.
Starbucks will draw on experience from coping in China
For those who drink coffee.
For some liquor stores, business is booming in the age of coronavirus
Ever see The Shining?
Bad things on the way.
TJX to close all stores and online businesses for two weeks
GE Healthcare increasing manufacturing capacity
Nice to know that lemon got a boost JIT. Hmm.
SBA loans available for those impacted by the pandemic
The window has officially opened.
Jobless claims jump as virus prompts layoffs
Rates rises along with anxiety
Microsoft unveils new features on its corporate chat software — just in time
Whew!
Dodged a bullet there!
Cautious optimism on Wall Street lifts stocks
Then the cri$i$ has pa$$ed!
"Biggest factory closing since World War II hits US, Europe" by Shawn Donnan and Gabrielle Coppola Bloomberg News, March 19, 2020
The economic impact of the growing coronavirus outbreak is shifting from service-driven industries like hotels and restaurants to the manufacturing sector on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to a synchronized shutdown of heavy industry that historians and industry experts say is unlike any seen since the 1940s.
Automakers in the United States and Europe are idling plants in response to the crisis, echoing the industrial shutdown in China that reverberated through global supply chains earlier this year and adding to the case that a global recession may already be under way.
It also may justify President Trump’s declaration Wednesday that he has become a “wartime president” leading the fight against an “invisible enemy” in the virus.
Look at Bloomberg applaud him.
Among Trump’s moves was his authorization of powers under the Defense Production Act, which was established at the time of the Korean War to allow the government to direct industrial capacity. Larry Kudlow, his top economic adviser, later told Fox News that the administration was already in discussions with General Motors Co. and other automakers to start producing ventilators vital to treating people affected by the virus.
Such a move to retool and shift production dramatically would echo the industrial transformation seen in the 1940s as factories moved from producing consumer goods like cars to turning out tanks and guns for the war effort on both sides of the Atlantic, but since then, experts couldn’t recall a similar synchronized shutdown in such a huge portion of the global auto industry.
Uncle Chump Wants You!
“I don’t know that there is an analog in recent history. World War II might be the best analogy,” said Kristin Dziczek, head of research at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Timothy Guinnane, an economic historian at Yale University, argues the better parallel may be with what came after the end of the war in 1945, specifically with post-war Germany, “where the whole country came to a halt for a few months.”
Good Lord, WWIII is here and WE HAVE ALREADY LOST!
Guinnane argues the shutdown now under way in Europe and the United States follows an encouraging example in China where life has started to return to normal after a six-week closure. Plus, he said, it’s not clear — yet — that there will be longer-lasting damage to the US economy.
(Blog editor's head spinning at warp speed)
“If you waved a hand and got rid of the virus tomorrow we’d be back to normal in a week,” Guinnane said. “So it’s not like a war.”
(Now even faster)
That may be the hopeful view. JPMorgan Chase & Co. economists titled a note to clients about the global slowdown “The day the earth stood still.”
“There is no longer doubt that the longest global expansion on record will end this quarter,” they wrote.
Dziczek says a week of lost auto sales in the United States alone is equivalent to losing 94,400 jobs, $7.3 billion in personal income, and $2 billion in tax revenue.
The damage to the auto sector this time will depend on how long the shutdowns last, but the auto sector around the world, Dziczek said, is in far better shape than it was in 2008 — when the global financial crisis led to government bailouts and a grinding crisis that saw mass layoffs and the permanent closure of many plants.
The shutdowns this time, however, are also coming after a bad 2019 for manufacturers around the globe. Many were battered by the impact of Trump’s trade wars and tariffs on supply chains and a slump in business investment. Europe’s industrial giant, Germany, was teetering on the edge of recession before the coronavirus crisis hit.
How can that be?
The coronavirus $cam was just the tipping point cover for the cra$h, huh?
US manufacturers saw their production contract by 0.2 percent in 2019.The path forward looks grimmer still. China’s manufacturing output fell 15.7 percent in January and February from a year earlier, according to official data earlier this week. The result is that China is now expected to record its slowest growth since 1976, the year Mao Zedong died and the Cultural Revolution ended.....
I imagine it would be if we are Germany, 1945!
I must confess, readers, I still thought the Empire was in a 1943 phase. The scale of collapse has been stunning.
--more--"
Looks like game over, readers, so have a good weekend:
Social distancing revives America’s suburban instincts
As coronavirus shuttered venues, these Boston music groups raced to livestreaming and recordings
When dark humor is the best medicine
They say laugh in spite of it all because it's a new reality.
They say there is still plenty to laugh about, because the $ick fu*ks are laughing at us!!
I want to see my quarantined boyfriend
Must be a joke.
My Nation/World section of the paper now encompasses one page, and this story occupied the entire top half:
"Israeli protests accuse Netanyahu of imposing a dictatorship" by Aron Heller Associated Press, March 19, 2020
JERUSALEM — Hundreds of people defied restrictions on large gatherings to protest outside parliament Thursday, while scores of others were blocked by police from reaching the area as they accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to solidify his power and undermine Israel’s democratic foundations.
Leave it to Israelis to provide hope!
These are unprecedented times indeed!
In recent days, Netanyahu and his surrogates have shut down Israel’s court system just ahead of his trial on corruption charges, have begun using phone-surveillance technology on the public, and adjourned parliament until next week.
Like they weren't already.
Netanyahu has defended most of these moves as unpleasant but necessary steps to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, but opponents say he is more interested in staying in power as Netanyahu governs in a caretaker role after a third consecutive inconclusive election in under a year.
Why did Chump just come to mind?
Outside the Knesset, or parliament, hundreds protested the government’s moves, hoisting banners that said “No to dictatorship,” “Democracy in danger,” and calling Netanyahu the “crime minister.”
Police said they arrested three people for violating a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people. They also blocked a convoy of dozens of cars from entering Jerusalem and prevented dozens of other cars inside Jerusalem from approaching the Knesset building. Many of the cars honked and hung black flags out their windows.
Israel is a “good country, good people and we need to remember the foundation upon which this country was built,” said protester Michal Levi. “We have only one country. That’s it. Don’t give up on it.”
Well, I don't know about that. I think there are some good Jews, but the country itself and its behavior are something else entirely.
Police rejected accusations that they were carrying out Netanyahu’s bidding, saying they were following Health Ministry orders meant to curb the spread of the virus. “No one is above the law or above public health orders released by the ministry of health,’’ it said.
Except himself!
At the nearby Supreme Court, justices heard separate challenges to the new mobile-phone tracking edict and the shutdown of the Knesset. Civil rights groups and the opposition Blue and White party filed the cases.
Netanyahu announced this week that Israel’s Shin Bet security agency would begin deploying its phone surveillance technology to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in Israel by tracking the moves of those infected. The order went into effect late Wednesday when the government said it had notified about 400 people that they had come into contact with infected people and should immediately quarantine themselves.
Israel uses phone surveillance in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying it’s an important tool to prevent attacks on Israelis, but critics say it’s also aimed at maintaining tight control. The surveillance in Israel has sparked widespread criticism from lawmakers and civil rights groups.
Just seeing the AP referent to the territory as occupied is a victory.
The virus has spread to more than 100 countries, infected more than 220,000 people worldwide and killed nearly 10,000. For most people, it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.
I read that and wonder. The numbers must be distortions or lies, and we need martial law for this?
Israeli health officials have diagnosed more than 500 infections, with a sharp spike of positive tests in the past two days. There have been no deaths.
No kidding?
We allegedly just had our first as 85 news cases are allegedly reported.
With the numbers quickly rising, authorities have issued tough guidelines that have brought Israel to a standstill. Many of the measures have been seen elsewhere. People have been instructed to stay home, tens of thousands are in preventive home quarantine, and the borders have been virtually sealed.
That's good!! Then they can't harm anyone!
Netanyahu has thrived in the crisis, delivering stern televised addresses nearly every evening.
Presenting himself as the responsible adult steering the country through an unprecedented emergency, he has defended the tough steps, including the electronic surveillance, as measures he has reluctantly been forced to impose in order to save lives, while his opponents are focused on petty politics.
In a televised interview Wednesday, Netanyahu said that during his 11 years as prime minister, he had always refused to use surveillance on Israeli citizens. He said there would be “maximum oversight.”
“The last thing I will do is harm democracy,” he said.
UNREAL!
--more--"
I wonder when Americans will start to rebel?
Meanwhile, right next door to Israel:
"Americans held overseas in Iran and Lebanon are freed" by Michael Crowley, Lara Jakes and Vivian Yee New York Times, March 19, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Thursday announced the release of two Americans imprisoned overseas and said it had intensified demands for a third, amid global fears that the coronavirus could quickly spread among detainees and result in deaths.
Amer Fakhoury, a Lebanese-born naturalized US citizen, headed to his home state of New Hampshire from Beirut, where he had been detained for months on decades-old charges of torturing Lebanese prisoners.
“Anytime a US citizen is wrongfully detained by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to free them,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, said as Fakhoury flew back to the United States on a military aircraft. “No family should have to go through what the Fakhoury family has gone through.”
Fakhoury is a former SLA member who became a US citizen last year.
OMG!
Related:
"A Lebanese military judge Tuesday appealed a verdict by the military tribunal that ordered the release of a Lebanese-American held since September on charges of working for an Israeli-backed militia two decades ago, state-run National News Agency said. Amer Fakhoury, 57, is a former South Lebanon Army militia member who became a US citizen last year, and is now a restaurant owner in Dover, N.H. His case has been closely followed in his home state, where US Senator Jeanne Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him....."
He is accused of torture and the pre$$ photo is one of him holding his granddaughter!
Talk about a virus that makes one sick!
At least New Hampshire voters know who Shaheen is looking out for.
Fakhoury was jailed last year after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Well, that won't be happening anymore. F***ing war criminal!
Separately, Michael White, a US Navy veteran and cancer patient, was released from an Iranian prison where he had been held since July 2018, the State Department announced. White, of Imperial Beach, Calif., was freed on a medical furlough.
For now, he must remain in Iran, undergoing medical testing and evaluation at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which has acted as a diplomatic intermediary between the United States and Iran.
“The United States will continue to work for Michael’s full release as well as the release of all wrongfully detained Americans in Iran,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. He said White had been “wrongfully detained” and was serving a 13-year sentence on charges that included insulting Iran’s supreme leader and posting private photographs on social media.
When do the missile launch, Mike?
White was arrested in the northeastern city of Mashhad while visiting an Iranian friend, and at the White House, President Trump said he was working to free Austin Tice, a journalist and former Marine who was abducted in Syria in August 2012. The Trump administration has made repeated efforts to try and secure his release but with no success.
“We’re working very hard with Syria to get him out,” Trump said. “We hope the Syrian government will do that. We are counting on them to do that. We’ve written a letter just recently.”
And yet the pre$$ and ma$$ media still hate him, and I hope White was practicing social distancing while meeting with his contact.
It was not immediately clear what letter the president was referring to.
--more--"
U.S. is looking to get all their agents and assets back home, so BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!
Gabbard drops out of presidential race
She threw her support to Creepy Joe after endorsing Bernie in 2016, proving what a fraud and grifter she is (I am very much looking forward to watching his next video when I am done).
"The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum is planning to offer to air a recorded, one-hour television program in place of a live ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus....."
I don't have time to go into that false flag right now, sorry.
Germany shuts down far-right clubs that deny the modern state
They have 70% infected according to Merkel, but they are more invested in repression and suppression of dissent after years of focusing on threats from Islamist extremists, German authorities have started to train their resources on combating homegrown far-right extremists.
How long before they look like Greece?
