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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
March 24, 2020
Coronavirus found among workers at facilities for migrant children: report
By John Bowden - 03/23/20 08:18 PM EDT
Three workers at two facilities in New York currently involved in housing undocumented migrant children have reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said Monday that the workers are employed at two unidentified migrant detention facilities, which, it added, have consulted local health officials about "appropriate quarantine measures" for the workers, according to CBS News.
A dozen migrant children at the facilities have also been tested for the virus, according to CBS, and none have tested positive so far. Five have tested negative, and the rest are awaiting results.
One foster parent helping care for migrant children in Washington state has also tested positive for the disease, according to ORR. Washington state and New York have seen some of the highest levels of the coronavirus in the U.S. as officials have struggled in recent weeks to prevent the virus from spreading.
In New York, children receiving medical care while being housed in detention facilities no longer leave the facility to see a doctor due to new "tele-health" services reportedly implemented in the state, as well as in California.
More than 377,000 people around the world have been infected with the coronavirus officials in the U.S. have ordered the suspension of non-essential businesses and other gatherings of people including schools until further notice in many states.
Coronavirus found among workers at facilities for migrant children: report
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/489146-coronavirus-found-among-workers-at-facilities-for-migrant-children?fbclid=IwAR2pP-zMuX7IwNv_6mPGHA0o2XSwdtIJHsHrRzBRxlpkQj3HHOu9p4D_qmQCoronavirus found among workers at facilities for migrant children: report
By John Bowden - 03/23/20 08:18 PM EDT
Three workers at two facilities in New York currently involved in housing undocumented migrant children have reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said Monday that the workers are employed at two unidentified migrant detention facilities, which, it added, have consulted local health officials about "appropriate quarantine measures" for the workers, according to CBS News.
A dozen migrant children at the facilities have also been tested for the virus, according to CBS, and none have tested positive so far. Five have tested negative, and the rest are awaiting results.
One foster parent helping care for migrant children in Washington state has also tested positive for the disease, according to ORR. Washington state and New York have seen some of the highest levels of the coronavirus in the U.S. as officials have struggled in recent weeks to prevent the virus from spreading.
In New York, children receiving medical care while being housed in detention facilities no longer leave the facility to see a doctor due to new "tele-health" services reportedly implemented in the state, as well as in California.
More than 377,000 people around the world have been infected with the coronavirus officials in the U.S. have ordered the suspension of non-essential businesses and other gatherings of people including schools until further notice in many states.
March 23, 2020
“He Can’t Make Any Big Decisions”: As the Crisis Escalates, Trump Experiments With a Pivot
With his “wartime president” posture failing to stop the slide and his presidency in the balance, Trump toys with reopening the economy early.
By Gabriel Sherman
March 23, 2020
As the death toll from the coronavirus accelerates across the country—by Monday there have been more than 400 domestic fatalities—Donald Trump is grasping for a strategy before the crisis destroys his presidency. He has tried playing Roosevelt by claiming the mantle of “wartime president” while also playing to his nativist base by labeling COVID-19 “the China virus.” Now, Trump appears ready to disregard the advice of his medical advisers like Dr. Anthony Fauci by reopening the economy far sooner than Fauci has said is safe.
According to sources, Trump is increasingly frustrated with Fauci and governors who advocated for shutting down large swathes of the economy to stop COVID-19’s out-of-control spread. According to four Republicans briefed on internal West Wing conversations, Trump is fuming privately that Fauci advised him that the only way to blunt the pandemic was to bring the economy to a halt. “Trump is furious,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s been calling business leaders asking if he should just reopen the economy,” a Republican briefed on the conversations told me. “He’s hearing that you have to get the economy going,” another former West Wing official said.
So far, Trump has refrained from publicly lashing out at Fauci and New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose lucid and empathetic press conferences are in contrast to Trump’s shambolic media theater. But late Sunday night, as Dallas became the latest city to compel its citizens to stay home, Trump tweeted: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”
The pivot away from the strict social-distancing strategy is gaining traction in the business community. On Sunday, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein—who endorsed Hillary Clinton—tweeted: “[C]rushing the economy, jobs and morale is also a health issue-and beyond. Within a very few weeks let those with a lower risk to the disease return to work.” Tom Bossert, Trump's former Homeland Security adviser, told me the pivot is reflective of Americans' skepticism of government. "This has to do with peoples' relationship to government authority prior to this event."
snip//
As Trump sends mixed messages, the stock market slide has only deepened. On Friday, he said he had invoked the Defense Production Act, but under pressure from his base not to nationalize the economy, he said Sunday that he wouldn’t compel companies to produce critical medical equipment. He’s now experimenting with a new approach to the crisis, but it’s unclear what legal authority he would have to supersede local shelter-in-place restrictions. Behind the bluster, he’s hamstrung. “He can’t make any big decisions,” a former West Wing official said. “He knows once you do, you can’t go back.”
"He Can't Make Any Big Decisions": As the Crisis Escalates, Trump Experiments With a Pivot
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/as-the-crisis-escalates-trump-experiments-with-a-pivot“He Can’t Make Any Big Decisions”: As the Crisis Escalates, Trump Experiments With a Pivot
With his “wartime president” posture failing to stop the slide and his presidency in the balance, Trump toys with reopening the economy early.
By Gabriel Sherman
March 23, 2020
As the death toll from the coronavirus accelerates across the country—by Monday there have been more than 400 domestic fatalities—Donald Trump is grasping for a strategy before the crisis destroys his presidency. He has tried playing Roosevelt by claiming the mantle of “wartime president” while also playing to his nativist base by labeling COVID-19 “the China virus.” Now, Trump appears ready to disregard the advice of his medical advisers like Dr. Anthony Fauci by reopening the economy far sooner than Fauci has said is safe.
According to sources, Trump is increasingly frustrated with Fauci and governors who advocated for shutting down large swathes of the economy to stop COVID-19’s out-of-control spread. According to four Republicans briefed on internal West Wing conversations, Trump is fuming privately that Fauci advised him that the only way to blunt the pandemic was to bring the economy to a halt. “Trump is furious,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s been calling business leaders asking if he should just reopen the economy,” a Republican briefed on the conversations told me. “He’s hearing that you have to get the economy going,” another former West Wing official said.
So far, Trump has refrained from publicly lashing out at Fauci and New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose lucid and empathetic press conferences are in contrast to Trump’s shambolic media theater. But late Sunday night, as Dallas became the latest city to compel its citizens to stay home, Trump tweeted: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”
The pivot away from the strict social-distancing strategy is gaining traction in the business community. On Sunday, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein—who endorsed Hillary Clinton—tweeted: “[C]rushing the economy, jobs and morale is also a health issue-and beyond. Within a very few weeks let those with a lower risk to the disease return to work.” Tom Bossert, Trump's former Homeland Security adviser, told me the pivot is reflective of Americans' skepticism of government. "This has to do with peoples' relationship to government authority prior to this event."
snip//
As Trump sends mixed messages, the stock market slide has only deepened. On Friday, he said he had invoked the Defense Production Act, but under pressure from his base not to nationalize the economy, he said Sunday that he wouldn’t compel companies to produce critical medical equipment. He’s now experimenting with a new approach to the crisis, but it’s unclear what legal authority he would have to supersede local shelter-in-place restrictions. Behind the bluster, he’s hamstrung. “He can’t make any big decisions,” a former West Wing official said. “He knows once you do, you can’t go back.”
March 23, 2020
3/23/20 9:42am
Of Course: Fox News Attacks On Dr. Anthony Fauci Begin
As several Fox News hosts like Steve Hilton start the avalanche of negativity against the doctor for telling the truth.
By John Amato
24 min ago by Heather
Dr. Anthony Fauci has become the voice of reason in the Trump administration's so-called Coronavirus Task Force.
snip//
Last week I reported that Laura Ingraham criticized the doctor for moving too slow and being an old-school bureaucrat because he fluffed off the idea that a malaria drug should be used to combat the symptoms of COVID-19
On Sunday night, former advisor to the conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron (who instituted the devastating austerity program in the UK) and now Fox News host Steve Hilton, attacked Dr. Fauci for intentionally whipping up fear about the coronavirus.
After Hilton played a brief video clip of the doctor, he said, "Well, that’s easy for him to say! He’ll still have a job at the end of this, whatever happens."
A medical doctor isn't a spin doctor, you idiot. No amount of soft-pedaling this outbreak will have any effect on Wall Street or the state of the US economy because it's so contagious. Trump tried to make believe it was a democratic hoax and it led to an economic disaster. Nobody trusts him, especially Wall Street.
Hilton continued, "Our ruling class and their TV mouthpieces whipping up fear over this virus, they can afford an indefinite shutdown. Working Americans can’t, they’ll be crushed by it."
Did you know Dr. Fauci is a mouthpiece for the ruling class?
"You know that famous phrase, ‘The cure is worse than the disease?’ That is exactly the territory we are hurling towards. Do you think it’s just the coronavirus that kills people? This total economic shutdown will kill people,” Hilton opined.
In other words, stop stepping on Trump. No matter what lie he tells the American people about the virus or who we are dealing with it.
more...
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/03/attacks-dr-fauci-have-begun?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=28688
Of Course: Fox News Attacks On Dr. Anthony Fauci Begin
3/23/20 9:42am
Of Course: Fox News Attacks On Dr. Anthony Fauci Begin
As several Fox News hosts like Steve Hilton start the avalanche of negativity against the doctor for telling the truth.
By John Amato
24 min ago by Heather
Dr. Anthony Fauci has become the voice of reason in the Trump administration's so-called Coronavirus Task Force.
snip//
Last week I reported that Laura Ingraham criticized the doctor for moving too slow and being an old-school bureaucrat because he fluffed off the idea that a malaria drug should be used to combat the symptoms of COVID-19
On Sunday night, former advisor to the conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron (who instituted the devastating austerity program in the UK) and now Fox News host Steve Hilton, attacked Dr. Fauci for intentionally whipping up fear about the coronavirus.
After Hilton played a brief video clip of the doctor, he said, "Well, that’s easy for him to say! He’ll still have a job at the end of this, whatever happens."
A medical doctor isn't a spin doctor, you idiot. No amount of soft-pedaling this outbreak will have any effect on Wall Street or the state of the US economy because it's so contagious. Trump tried to make believe it was a democratic hoax and it led to an economic disaster. Nobody trusts him, especially Wall Street.
Hilton continued, "Our ruling class and their TV mouthpieces whipping up fear over this virus, they can afford an indefinite shutdown. Working Americans can’t, they’ll be crushed by it."
Did you know Dr. Fauci is a mouthpiece for the ruling class?
"You know that famous phrase, ‘The cure is worse than the disease?’ That is exactly the territory we are hurling towards. Do you think it’s just the coronavirus that kills people? This total economic shutdown will kill people,” Hilton opined.
In other words, stop stepping on Trump. No matter what lie he tells the American people about the virus or who we are dealing with it.
more...
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/03/attacks-dr-fauci-have-begun?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=28688
March 23, 2020
BAILOUT OR HANDOUT?
Senate Republicans’ corporate rescue looks more like a “slush fund,” say Democrats
4 hours ago
By Tim Fernholz
Senior reporter
This weekend the goal of the US Congress has been to get a bipartisan economic rescue moving forward before the stock markets open Monday.
Achieving that goal now looks less likely as lawmakers and the White House spar over restrictions on a $500 billion fund that will be used to rescue businesses in danger of failure due to coronavirus-related losses. That cash is intended for companies that are vital to national security, airlines, and others, and it’s also meant to be distributed to states to help their hard-hit small businesses.
But the draft legislation gives enormous discretion to treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin in deciding how the money is spent, and offers little in the way of transparency about where the money ultimately goes. Mnuchin can waive provisions that prevent companies from using funds to buy their own stock, and Democratic senators say there aren’t real requirements that businesses keep workers employed, provide them paid leave, or limit pay and bonuses to management.
The bill is in stark contrast to the rescue fund created after the 2008 financial crisis, which included redundant oversight measures, like its own special inspector general, and required the government to identify recipients of aid publicly. Recipients of loans in the current bailout legislation wouldn’t need to be disclosed for six months.
The lack of transparency also raises questions about whether any money will flow to Donald Trump’s businesses, particularly his hotels, given his record of diverting public spending to his private companies. The administration has repeatedly shifted money away from congressionally approved work toward its pet projects, leading to constitutional challenges.
“We’re not here to create a slush fund for Donald Trump and his family, or a slush fund for the Treasury Department to be able to hand out to their friends,” senator Elizabeth Warren, who monitored the 2008 bailouts as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, told reporters today. “We’re here to help workers, we’re here to help hospitals. And right now what the Republicans proposed does neither of those.”
more...
https://qz.com/1823225/senate-republicans-corporate-rescue-more-like-slush-fund-dems-say/
Senate Republicans' corporate rescue looks more like a "slush fund," say Democrats
BAILOUT OR HANDOUT?
Senate Republicans’ corporate rescue looks more like a “slush fund,” say Democrats
4 hours ago
By Tim Fernholz
Senior reporter
This weekend the goal of the US Congress has been to get a bipartisan economic rescue moving forward before the stock markets open Monday.
Achieving that goal now looks less likely as lawmakers and the White House spar over restrictions on a $500 billion fund that will be used to rescue businesses in danger of failure due to coronavirus-related losses. That cash is intended for companies that are vital to national security, airlines, and others, and it’s also meant to be distributed to states to help their hard-hit small businesses.
But the draft legislation gives enormous discretion to treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin in deciding how the money is spent, and offers little in the way of transparency about where the money ultimately goes. Mnuchin can waive provisions that prevent companies from using funds to buy their own stock, and Democratic senators say there aren’t real requirements that businesses keep workers employed, provide them paid leave, or limit pay and bonuses to management.
The bill is in stark contrast to the rescue fund created after the 2008 financial crisis, which included redundant oversight measures, like its own special inspector general, and required the government to identify recipients of aid publicly. Recipients of loans in the current bailout legislation wouldn’t need to be disclosed for six months.
The lack of transparency also raises questions about whether any money will flow to Donald Trump’s businesses, particularly his hotels, given his record of diverting public spending to his private companies. The administration has repeatedly shifted money away from congressionally approved work toward its pet projects, leading to constitutional challenges.
“We’re not here to create a slush fund for Donald Trump and his family, or a slush fund for the Treasury Department to be able to hand out to their friends,” senator Elizabeth Warren, who monitored the 2008 bailouts as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, told reporters today. “We’re here to help workers, we’re here to help hospitals. And right now what the Republicans proposed does neither of those.”
more...
https://qz.com/1823225/senate-republicans-corporate-rescue-more-like-slush-fund-dems-say/
March 22, 2020
Chinese Company Ships Crates of Masks to Italy Covered in Italian Poetry: We Are ‘Leaves of the Same Tree’
By Good News Network -
Mar 22, 2020
A Chinese company has shipped crates containing tens of thousands of respirator masks to Italy in her time of need.
And it has done so with the artistic flair of a true Italian romantic.
Consumer technology giant Xiaomi mailed the shipment to the Italian Civil Protection Department, and they stapled to the side of the crates an ancient line of poetry from the Roman philosopher Seneca:
The European country has had a terrible time of the pandemic, and Xiaomi International (pronounced Sheeow-mee) announced the donation on its Facebook page March 5, saying the company felt a responsibility to a market which had welcomed them so warmly when the smartphone maker expanded into Italy two years ago.
more... PHOTOS AT LINK
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chinese-company-ships-crates-of-masks-to-italy/?fbclid=IwAR0-uKlsh7LhmTbwhvWfpcXzhb6qZtQR8vRlenyJJR5e8IEW6rd1VmOW_H4
Chinese Company Ships Crates of Masks to Italy Covered in Italian Poetry...
Chinese Company Ships Crates of Masks to Italy Covered in Italian Poetry: We Are ‘Leaves of the Same Tree’
By Good News Network -
Mar 22, 2020
A Chinese company has shipped crates containing tens of thousands of respirator masks to Italy in her time of need.
And it has done so with the artistic flair of a true Italian romantic.
Consumer technology giant Xiaomi mailed the shipment to the Italian Civil Protection Department, and they stapled to the side of the crates an ancient line of poetry from the Roman philosopher Seneca:
We are waves from the same sea, leaves from the same tree, and flowers from the same garden.
Siamo onde dello stesso mare, foglie dello stesso albero, fiori dello stesso giardino
Siamo onde dello stesso mare, foglie dello stesso albero, fiori dello stesso giardino
The European country has had a terrible time of the pandemic, and Xiaomi International (pronounced Sheeow-mee) announced the donation on its Facebook page March 5, saying the company felt a responsibility to a market which had welcomed them so warmly when the smartphone maker expanded into Italy two years ago.
“Since we arrived two years ago, we have felt loved and deeply integrated into the life of the country. This is also why we felt the duty to support Italy in the management of the COVID-19 epidemic, by donating a first important quantity of FFP3 masks.”
more... PHOTOS AT LINK
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chinese-company-ships-crates-of-masks-to-italy/?fbclid=IwAR0-uKlsh7LhmTbwhvWfpcXzhb6qZtQR8vRlenyJJR5e8IEW6rd1VmOW_H4
March 22, 2020
March 21, 2020
A Report From the Coronavirus Frontline: “They Are Essentially Drowning in Their Own Blood.”
“Holy shit, I do not want to catch this and I don’t want anyone I know to catch this.”
Lizzie Presser
snip//
“With our coronavirus patients, once they’re on ventilators, most need about the highest settings that we can do. About 90% oxygen, and 16 of PEEP, positive end-expiratory pressure, which keeps the lung inflated. This is nearly as high as I’ve ever seen. The level we’re at means we are running out of options.
“In my experience, this severity of ARDS is usually more typical of someone who has a near drowning experience—they have a bunch of dirty water in their lungs—or people who inhale caustic gas. Especially for it to have such an acute onset like that. I’ve never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That was what really shocked me.”
“It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is not the flu.’ Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of his mouth. The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping for air, moving his mouth, moving his body, struggling. We had to restrain him. With all the coronavirus patients, we’ve had to restrain them. They really hyperventilate, really struggle to breathe. When you’re in that mindstate of struggling to breathe and delirious with fever, you don’t know when someone is trying to help you, so you’ll try to rip the breathing tube out because you feel it is choking you, but you are drowning.
“When someone has an infection, I’m used to seeing the normal colors you’d associate with it: greens and yellows. The coronavirus patients with ARDS have been having a lot of secretions that are actually pink because they’re filled with blood cells that are leaking into their airways. They are essentially drowning in their own blood and fluids because their lungs are so full. So we’re constantly having to suction out the secretions every time we go into their rooms.”
“Before this, we were all joking. It’s grim humor. If you are exposed to the virus and test positive and go on quarantine, you get paid. We were all joking: I want to get the coronavirus because then I get a paid vacation from work. And once I saw these patients with it, I was like, ‘Holy shit, I do not want to catch this and I don’t want anyone I know to catch this.’
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/lung-fluids-coronavirus/
A Report From the Coronavirus Frontline: "They Are Essentially Drowning in Their Own Blood."
March 21, 2020
A Report From the Coronavirus Frontline: “They Are Essentially Drowning in Their Own Blood.”
“Holy shit, I do not want to catch this and I don’t want anyone I know to catch this.”
Lizzie Presser
snip//
“With our coronavirus patients, once they’re on ventilators, most need about the highest settings that we can do. About 90% oxygen, and 16 of PEEP, positive end-expiratory pressure, which keeps the lung inflated. This is nearly as high as I’ve ever seen. The level we’re at means we are running out of options.
“In my experience, this severity of ARDS is usually more typical of someone who has a near drowning experience—they have a bunch of dirty water in their lungs—or people who inhale caustic gas. Especially for it to have such an acute onset like that. I’ve never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That was what really shocked me.”
“It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is not the flu.’ Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of his mouth. The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping for air, moving his mouth, moving his body, struggling. We had to restrain him. With all the coronavirus patients, we’ve had to restrain them. They really hyperventilate, really struggle to breathe. When you’re in that mindstate of struggling to breathe and delirious with fever, you don’t know when someone is trying to help you, so you’ll try to rip the breathing tube out because you feel it is choking you, but you are drowning.
“When someone has an infection, I’m used to seeing the normal colors you’d associate with it: greens and yellows. The coronavirus patients with ARDS have been having a lot of secretions that are actually pink because they’re filled with blood cells that are leaking into their airways. They are essentially drowning in their own blood and fluids because their lungs are so full. So we’re constantly having to suction out the secretions every time we go into their rooms.”
“Before this, we were all joking. It’s grim humor. If you are exposed to the virus and test positive and go on quarantine, you get paid. We were all joking: I want to get the coronavirus because then I get a paid vacation from work. And once I saw these patients with it, I was like, ‘Holy shit, I do not want to catch this and I don’t want anyone I know to catch this.’
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/lung-fluids-coronavirus/
March 22, 2020
“And now they know”
Published by digby on March 22, 2020
What do they know now? How Trump would handle a crisis.
Haberman and Baker in the New York Times:
Any other president, and I mean any of them, even the worst, would have acted differently. This is the way in which Donald Trump is sui generis. Yes, his policies are generally pretty standard right-wing Republican and the overall trajectory of his presidency is pretty much what Mitch McConnell would have had on his wish list on January 20, 2017.
But it’s the deranged personality, the disorganization, the ignorance, corruption, and narcissism that sets him apart. Many presidents may have had elements of those traits. But never before have we had someone with that whole twisted package. And it’s in a crisis where that becomes a matter of life and death.
"And now they know"
https://digbysblog.net/2020/03/and-now-they-know/?fbclid=IwAR312_NrWZHuPAXXvv72UDd1Y4KPxIrOk2aPtygaYH_tPXZm6vZt-6AcrbM“And now they know”
Published by digby on March 22, 2020
What do they know now? How Trump would handle a crisis.
Haberman and Baker in the New York Times:
Mr. Trump’s performance on the national stage in recent weeks has put on display the traits that Democrats and some Republicans consider so jarring — the profound need for personal praise, the propensity to blame others, the lack of human empathy, the penchant for rewriting history, the disregard for expertise, the distortion of facts, the impatience with scrutiny or criticism. For years, skeptics expressed concern about how he would handle a genuine crisis threatening the nation, and now they know.
“When he’s faced a problem, he has sought to somehow cheat or fix the outcome ahead of time so that he could construct a narrative that showed him to be the winner,” said Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer. “And when it was all about feuds with other celebrities or contests over ratings or hotel branding, he could do that and no one cared enough to really check. And the bluster and bragging worked.”
“But in this case,” Mr. D’Antonio added, “he tried that in the beginning and you can’t brag or bluster your way out of people dying. And I think more than the suffering, the human suffering, it’s been the inexorable quality of the data that’s forced him to change.”
Only after viral projections grew more dire and markets began to tank did Mr. Trump shift tone and appear to take the threat more seriously, finally adopting a more aggressive set of policies to compel Americans to stay away from one another while trying to mitigate the economic damage.
“When he’s faced a problem, he has sought to somehow cheat or fix the outcome ahead of time so that he could construct a narrative that showed him to be the winner,” said Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer. “And when it was all about feuds with other celebrities or contests over ratings or hotel branding, he could do that and no one cared enough to really check. And the bluster and bragging worked.”
“But in this case,” Mr. D’Antonio added, “he tried that in the beginning and you can’t brag or bluster your way out of people dying. And I think more than the suffering, the human suffering, it’s been the inexorable quality of the data that’s forced him to change.”
Only after viral projections grew more dire and markets began to tank did Mr. Trump shift tone and appear to take the threat more seriously, finally adopting a more aggressive set of policies to compel Americans to stay away from one another while trying to mitigate the economic damage.
Any other president, and I mean any of them, even the worst, would have acted differently. This is the way in which Donald Trump is sui generis. Yes, his policies are generally pretty standard right-wing Republican and the overall trajectory of his presidency is pretty much what Mitch McConnell would have had on his wish list on January 20, 2017.
But it’s the deranged personality, the disorganization, the ignorance, corruption, and narcissism that sets him apart. Many presidents may have had elements of those traits. But never before have we had someone with that whole twisted package. And it’s in a crisis where that becomes a matter of life and death.
March 22, 2020
Raddatz pushed Gaynor further on the question as the need looms from coast to coast: would health care systems become overwhelmed before masks arrive?
more...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fema-administrator-says-more-masks-are-being-shipped-from-stockpile-amid-shortage/ar-BB11xmUB?ocid=sf2
FEMA administrator says more masks are being shipped from stockpile amid shortage
What? We have a national stockpile and they're just getting around to dispersing it after pleas for help? 
He sounds as inept as iq45.
FEMA administrator says more masks are being shipped from stockpile amid shortage
57 mins ago
Critical medical gear is still in short supply as the nation grapples with new coronavirus, but Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter Gaynor said on ABC's "This Week," that masks are in the midst of shipping from the national stockpile, but could not provide details on a concrete timeline.
a man wearing a suit and tie: FEMA Administrator, Peter Gaynor, speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus at the White House, on March 21, 2020, in Washington. © Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images FEMA Administrator, Peter Gaynor, speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus at the White House, on March 21, 2020, in Washington.
"They're shipping today, they shipped yesterday, they'll ship tomorrow," Gaynor said on Sunday.
"When you say 'they,' how many? Which masks? The new masks?" Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz pressed.
"I mean, it is hundreds of thousands of millions of things that we're shipping from the stockpile. I can't give you the details about what every single state of what every single city is doing," Gaynor said. "but I'm telling you that we are shipping from our national stockpile, we're shipping from vendors, we're shipping from donations. It is happening. The demand is great."
Raddatz pushed Gaynor further on the question as the need looms from coast to coast: would health care systems become overwhelmed before masks arrive?
"We are shipping. All those supplies, to all the demands, all the asks, all the governance, every day, we are -- we're prepared to go to zero in the stockpile to meet demand," Gaynor said.
more...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fema-administrator-says-more-masks-are-being-shipped-from-stockpile-amid-shortage/ar-BB11xmUB?ocid=sf2
March 22, 2020
Posted on Sat, Mar 21st, 2020 by Adalia Woodbury
Opinion: Donald Trump, Sit Down and Shut Up
snip//
We worry about friends who have symptoms but can’t be tested. We worry about people who are vulnerable because of age, because they are immune-compromised or have complicated health situations.
Our imaginations venture to areas that seem surreal – like what if Trump is out to let people in blue states die, while he helps the people in red states just so he can win an election? Then reality sets in, the reality that reminds us viruses don’t care about politics, or about walls, borders, race, age, gender, or whether you think the virus is real.
Our reality is like every dystopian novel wrapped into one. And just when you return to reality from the surreal, Donald Trump appears on TV with his happy talk appealing to the ignorant segment of the electorate.
Every time I see Trump speaking, I think of a professor who suggested limiting voting to political scientists. But he pointed out as well that that would merely exchange one arbitrarily-chosen elite for another.
Right now, I’d settle for media that only allow people who tell the truth to frequent our airwaves.
While we wander further into this nightmare, we need accurate awareness more than ever. We need access to credible, valid facts conveyed by people we trust.
Time for Trump to sit down and shut up.
Donald Trump, Sit Down and Shut Up
https://www.politicususa.com/2020/03/21/opinion-donald-trump-sit-down-and-shut-up.htmlPosted on Sat, Mar 21st, 2020 by Adalia Woodbury
Opinion: Donald Trump, Sit Down and Shut Up
snip//
We worry about friends who have symptoms but can’t be tested. We worry about people who are vulnerable because of age, because they are immune-compromised or have complicated health situations.
Our imaginations venture to areas that seem surreal – like what if Trump is out to let people in blue states die, while he helps the people in red states just so he can win an election? Then reality sets in, the reality that reminds us viruses don’t care about politics, or about walls, borders, race, age, gender, or whether you think the virus is real.
Our reality is like every dystopian novel wrapped into one. And just when you return to reality from the surreal, Donald Trump appears on TV with his happy talk appealing to the ignorant segment of the electorate.
Every time I see Trump speaking, I think of a professor who suggested limiting voting to political scientists. But he pointed out as well that that would merely exchange one arbitrarily-chosen elite for another.
Right now, I’d settle for media that only allow people who tell the truth to frequent our airwaves.
While we wander further into this nightmare, we need accurate awareness more than ever. We need access to credible, valid facts conveyed by people we trust.
Time for Trump to sit down and shut up.
March 22, 2020
March 22, 2020 / 12:01 AM / Updated 8 hours ago
Cuban doctors head to Italy battle coronavirus
Nelson Acosta
4 Min Read
HAVANA (Reuters) - Communist-run Cuba said it dispatched a brigade of doctors and nurses to Italy for the first time this weekend to help in the fight against the novel coronavirus at the request of the worst-affected region Lombardy.
The Caribbean island has sent its “armies of white robes” to disaster sites around the world largely in poor countries since its 1959 revolution. Its doctors were in the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against ebola in West Africa in the 2010s.
Yet with the 52-strong brigade, this is the first time Cuba has sent an emergency contingent to Italy, one of the world’s richest countries, demonstrating the reach of its medical diplomacy.
This is the sixth medical brigade Cuba has sent in recent days to combat the spread of the new disease abroad. It has sent contingents to socialist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua as well as Jamaica, Suriname and Grenada.
Fernandez said this would be his eighth international mission, including one in Liberia during the fight against ebola.
more...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cuba-idUSKBN219051?taid=5e76e65aef5fb40001468428&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR2ET1fFtNXmLzobb7JgRcl2xufkr2dFWe7UDsw0QkTaHilL8kbgMvSwN4I
Cuban doctors head to Italy battle coronavirus
March 22, 2020 / 12:01 AM / Updated 8 hours ago
Cuban doctors head to Italy battle coronavirus
Nelson Acosta
4 Min Read
HAVANA (Reuters) - Communist-run Cuba said it dispatched a brigade of doctors and nurses to Italy for the first time this weekend to help in the fight against the novel coronavirus at the request of the worst-affected region Lombardy.
The Caribbean island has sent its “armies of white robes” to disaster sites around the world largely in poor countries since its 1959 revolution. Its doctors were in the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against ebola in West Africa in the 2010s.
Yet with the 52-strong brigade, this is the first time Cuba has sent an emergency contingent to Italy, one of the world’s richest countries, demonstrating the reach of its medical diplomacy.
This is the sixth medical brigade Cuba has sent in recent days to combat the spread of the new disease abroad. It has sent contingents to socialist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua as well as Jamaica, Suriname and Grenada.
“We are all afraid but we have a revolutionary duty to fulfill, so we take out fear and put it to one side,” Leonardo Fernandez, 68, an intensive care specialist, told Reuters late on Saturday shortly before his brigade’s departure.
“He who says he is not afraid is a superhero, but we are not superheros, we are revolutionary doctors.”
“He who says he is not afraid is a superhero, but we are not superheros, we are revolutionary doctors.”
Fernandez said this would be his eighth international mission, including one in Liberia during the fight against ebola.
more...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cuba-idUSKBN219051?taid=5e76e65aef5fb40001468428&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR2ET1fFtNXmLzobb7JgRcl2xufkr2dFWe7UDsw0QkTaHilL8kbgMvSwN4I
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