The New Black Power:

https://twitter.com/AprilDRyan/status/1245160297167552513

Pence task force freezes coronavirus aid amid backlash

Source: Politico

Last week, a Trump administration official working to secure much-needed protective gear for doctors and nurses in the United States had a startling encounter with counterparts in Thailand.

The official asked the Thais for help—only to be informed by the puzzled voices on the other side of the line that a U.S. shipment of the same supplies, the second of two so far, was already on its way to Bangkok.

Trump aides were alarmed when they learned of the exchange, and immediately put the shipment on hold while they ordered a review of U.S. aid procedures. Crossed wires would only confuse our allies, they worried, or worse—offend them. And Americans confronting a surging death toll and shortages of medical equipment back home would likely be outraged.

Vice President Mike Pence soon realized another step was needed: After a phone call asking a foreign leader’s help with key supplies, he ordered his staff to make sure the review process wasn’t holding up coronavirus-related aid to countries that were assisting the United States.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/31/pence-task-force-coronavirus-aid-157806

This is nuts. Kremlin spox Peskov says Trump accepted Putin's offer to send a flight w #coronavirus

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo diagnosed with coronavirus; he will continue working from home

Source: CNN

New York (CNN Business)CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has been diagnosed with Covid-19, the network said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

He is feeling well, and will continue to anchor his 9 p.m. program "Cuomo Prime Time" from his home.

Cuomo was most recently at CNN's offices in the Hudson Yards neighborhood of New York City last Friday. He anchored from his home on Monday, and interviewed his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

This is the third case of coronavirus involving CNN's workspace in New York City. Employees were notified of another case in mid-March.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/media/chris-cuomo-coronavirus/index.html

Heeere iiit comes...

Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating.

The unusual plea from Capt. Brett Crozier, a Santa Rosa native, came in a letter obtained exclusively by The Chronicle and confirmed by a senior officer on board the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which has been docked in Guam following a COVID-19 outbreak among the crew of more than 4,000 less than a week ago.

“This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do,” Crozier wrote. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”

In the four-page letter to senior military officials, Crozier said only a small contingent of infected sailors have been off-boarded. Most of the crew remain aboard the ship, where following official guidelines for 14-day quarantines and social distancing is impossible.

“Due to a warship’s inherent limitations of space, we are not doing this,” Crozier wrote. “The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.”

Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Exclusive-Captain-of-aircraft-carrier-with-15167883.php

Cold Open for hypothetical Parks & Rec COVID episode:

Truck pulls up, you only get one:

The @EmpireStateBldg reminding us that the city is in the middle of an emergency.

The 300,000 masks the White House sent Illinois were the wrong ones.