NYTimes marks grim US virus milestone with front page victim list

AFP / Agustin PAULLIER"The 1,000 people here reflect just one percent of the toll. None were mere numbers," The New York Times said of its memorial to coronavirus victims

As the United States approached 100,000 coronavirus deaths, The New York Times on Sunday marked the grim milestone with a stark memorial on its front page -- one-line obituaries for 1,000 victims.

"The 1,000 people here reflect just one percent of the toll. None were mere numbers," the newspaper said in a short introduction on the front page, which was entirely covered in text.

The United States has been the hardest-hit country in the coronavirus pandemic by far, in deaths and number of infections.

As of Saturday evening, the US had recorded 97,048 deaths and 1.6 million cases of the virus, and will likely reach 100,000 fatalities in a matter of days.

Victims featured by the Times included "Joe Diffie, 62, Nashville, Grammy-winning country music star," and "Lila A. Fenwick, 87, New York City, first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School."

Also: "Myles Coker, 69, New York City, freed from life in prison," "Ruth Skapinok, 85, Roseville, Calif., backyard birds were known to eat from her hand," and "Jordan Driver Haynes, 27, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, generous young man with a delightful grin."

Marc Lacey, the paper's national editor, said, "I wanted something that people would look back on in 100 years to understand the toll of what we're living through."

The milestone of 100,000 deaths loomed as US states across the country ease lockdown measures.

President Donald Trump, with an eye on his re-election prospects in November, has pressed for a further reopening of the country as job losses mount and the economy slows from coronavirus shutdowns.

"TRANSITION TO GREATNESS," Trump tweeted Saturday evening, his slogan for the reopening of America.

But many online commentators noted the dissonance between the staggering death toll and Trump's tweet.

George Conway, a frequent critic of Trump and husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted a the newspaper front page -- alongside a photo of Trump playing golf on Saturday.

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/trump-golf-score.html

UN report: More than 100 Iraqi protesters abducted since October
By Christen McCurdy

Iraqi protesters gather on the Al-Jumhuriya bridge, which leads to the headquarters of the Iraqi government inside the high security Green Zone area, during an anti-government protest in Baghdad May 10. A new U.N. report found that in addition to hundreds who were killed and thousands wounded in ongoing protests, more than 100 people were abducted in connection with protest activity. EPA-EFE/MURTAJA LATEEF
May 23 (UPI) -- A report released Saturday by the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance says hundreds of Iraqi protesters were killed and thousands were wounded during antigovernment protests in the country last fall.

In addition, the report says, 123 people were verified to have been abducted or detained, of whom 25 remain missing or are of unknown status.

According to the U.N., none of the perpetrators of the abductions have been detained or tried for their crimes. Investigators interviewed 25 people who had been abducted, and found that in all cases they had participated in demonstrations or provided support to demonstrators -- and all had been activists prior to last fall's demonstrations or posted statements critical of authorities on social media.

There were also common threads in the abduction incidents as victims described them: all said they had been forced into vehicles by multiple masks and armed men in public, while in the vicinity of protest sites or while traveling to or from demonstrations -- or on regular routes they took traveling to and from work.

At least 600 protesters have been killed and more than 18,000 injured since the unrest began in October, according to Amnesty International.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who was sworn in earlier this month, has promised to crack down on those targeting protesters and to release protesters from jail unless they were charged with a violent offense.

On This Day: Scott Carpenter is 2nd American to orbit Earth
On May 24, 1962, Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit Earth, circling it three times. John Glenn was the first, earlier in the year.
By
UPI Staff

Astronaut Scott Carpenter climbs into Aurora 7 ahead of launching the second American-manned orbital flight on May 24, 1962. File Photo by NASA/UPI


On this date in history:

In 1626, the Dutch West Indies Trading Co. bought the island of Manhattan from American Indians, paying with goods worth about $24.

In 1844, the first U.S telegraph line was formally opened -- between Baltimore and Washington.

In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to the public, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City.

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

In 1935, the first night game in Major League Baseball was played at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.

In 1958, United Press and the International News Service merger was announced, forming United Press International.

In 1962, Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit Earth, circling it three times. John Glenn was the first, earlier in the year.

In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled private religious schools that practice racial discrimination aren't eligible for church-related tax benefits.

In 1987, 250,000 people jammed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge on its 50th anniversary, temporarily flattening the arched span.

File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI

In 1991, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia.

In 2007, the U.S. Congress voted to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years -- from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over a three-year period.

In 2018, President Donald Trump posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, for his conviction under a Jim Crow-era law.


File Photo by Olivier Douliery/UPI

Moody’s chief economist pours cold water on Trump’s boast he’ll bring the economy back quickly

Published on May 24, 2020 By Tom Boggioni



Appearing on CNN with host John King, a financial analyst for Moody’s dashed any hope Donald Trump might have had that the economy will bounce back quickly to pre-COVID -19 levels, saying it will be a long haul and it’s very likely permanent that damage has been done.

Following clips of the president predicting a quick rebound, King pressed Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi, “I read your analysis every week and you have a different view about whether the economy is going to bounce back immediately and whether we may hit another ditch come fall.”


“After that, I think the economy just goes sideways, treads water at best until we get a vaccine that is distributed and adopted,” Zandi began. “It’s hard to imagine businesspeople investing and expanding their businesses, consumers doing what they typically do until people feel comfortable that they’re not going to get sick if they go out and about.”

“It’s difficult for me to see this economy getting back on the rails until the other side of that vaccine. and then, John, even after that, it’s going to be a struggle because we’re going to see lots of businesses fail, bankruptcies, you can already see that in the headlines yesterday with Hertz filing for bankruptcy. It’s going to take a long time to get this economy back to where it was,” he added.

“We’ve lost — peak to trough will lose 25 million jobs. of course, there’s tens of millions of more people who have lost hours and wages,” Zani explained. “But 25 million jobs? We’ll get half of those back by Labor Day. and the unemployment rate is going to remain around 10% until we get that vaccine. and it won’t be until mid-decade until the economy can adjust and we get those jobs back. The kind of jobs we’re going to get back are different than the ones we have now. We’re going to lose a lot of jobs in the retail sector, hospitality, we’re going to have a lot of work re-educating people to make sure they have the skills necessary to take the jobs.”

Watch below

THIS IS WHAT THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE

MR CHEERFUL ABOUT THE US ECONOMY
Kevin Hassett: Unemployment rate could stay in double digits through November
On Friday, Hassett said he believes the unemployment rate may rise to 22 percent or 23 percent by May.

IT'S ALREADY MAY IN FACT MAY IS ALMOST OVER 

MAY 24, 2020 

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, testifies during a Congressional Joint Economic Hearing on the Economic Report of the President, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2018. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

May 24 (UPI) -- Senior White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Sunday that he expects unemployment rates to increase in the coming months and possibly remain in double digits in November.

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union, Hasset said that the unemployment rate, which has reached near 14.7 percent amid the COVID-19 pandemic, could be "north of 20 percent" in May if "some technical things that kind of messed up" claims reporting this month are resolved.

On Friday, Hassett said he believes the unemployment rate may rise to 22 percent or 23 percent by May.

"My expectation is that since there's still initial claims for unemployment insurance in May, that the unemployment rate will be higher in June than in May but then after that it should start to trend down," he said.

Hassett added that it's possible unemployment will still be in double digits in November, but that the thinks "all signs of economic recovery are going to be raging everywhere."

"Of course you could still not be back to full employment by September or October," he said. "If there were a vaccine in July, then I'd be way more optimistic about it."

The Labor Department on Thursday reported that 2.44 million Americans filed new unemployment claims pushing the total of people seeking new unemployment benefits in the last nine weeks to nearly 40 million.

Labor Department figures also showed that unemployment rates in Hawaii, Michigan and Nevada had already exceeded 20 percent.

TIME COVER MEME

NOT MINE

TRUMP GOLF SCORE

Joe Biden@JoeBiden
Nearly 100,000 lives have been lost, and tens of millions are out of work. 
Meanwhile, the president spent his day golfing.
7:56 PM · May 23, 2020·
https://twitter.com/i/status/1264374557860716544
https://trumpgolfcount.com/



TRUMPS GOLF SCORE MAY 23 IS 
73 DEAD AMERICANS PER HOLE
ON 18 ROUNDS



YOU DO THE MATH
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Kayleigh McEnany in 2017: ‘When we’re in a state of mourning, you should take time off from golf’

Published on May 24, 2020 By David Edwards


Comments made by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany in 2017 came back to haunt her over the Memorial Day weekend as President Donald Trump played golf despite the on going coronavirus pandemic.

As Trump visited one of his golf courses for a second day in a row, a video circulated on social media of McEnany attacking former President Barack Obama.

“You have President Obama, who I believe it was after the beheading of Daniel Pearl, spoke to how upset he was about that then rushed off to a golf game,” McEnany said during a CNN segment. “I think when we’re in a state of war, when we’re in a state of mourning, you should take time off from the golf course.”

McEnany later apologized for the statement. Obama was a state senator at the time Pearl was killed in 2002.

This week, the United States is expected to surpass 100,000 coronavirus deaths.

Watch the video below.


WATCH: Kayleigh McEnany: Obama rushed off to golf after Daniel Pearl was beheaded.
Pearl was killed in 2002. Obama was a state senator. pic.twitter.com/5QkFRgjoR4
— Yashar Ali  

(@yashar) March 28, 2017

Trump hits the golf course as US kicks off summer season

AFP / MANDEL NGAN

President Donald Trump returns to the White House after golfing at the Trump National club in Sterling, Virginia on May 23, 2020

President Donald Trump kicked off the start of the American summer season on Saturday with his first golf outing in two months, underlining his push for a return to normal life in the United States.

With lockdowns easing across the country and the US leader ramping up his travels, Trump also confirmed he would attend a space launch in Florida next week.

As the US marked Memorial Day weekend -- the country's unofficial start of summer -- Trump took a 35-minute drive from the White House to the Trump National club in Sterling, Virginia, in his first visit to a golf property since March 8.

US media captured footage of the president, an avid golfer before the coronavirus lockdown, on the course on the warm sunny day, dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers.

AFP / Alex Edelman

With lockdowns easing across the country and the US leader ramping up his travels, Trump also confirmed he would attend a space launch in Florida next week


Neither Trump nor his three golf partners wore masks, though he rode alone in his golf cart, a CNN journalist reported.
White House coronavirus advisor Deborah Birx on Friday said that sports such as golf could be played safely if social distancing was in place and players didn't touch flags.

But she also warned that the Washington area continued to have high positive test rates.

Trump, keen to find a way out of the coronavirus crisis and facing an uphill re-election battle, has ramped up pressure on state and local governments to ease lockdown measures.

On Friday, he demanded state governors classify churches, synagogues and mosques as "essential services" on the same level as food and drug stores, and immediately allow them to hold services.

The pandemic has hammered the American economy and led to a fierce debate over virus restrictions, even as COVID-19 numbers continue rising in parts of the US -- the worst-hit country in the world, with 1.6 million infections and more than 96,000 deaths.

- Florida space launch -

Nevertheless the warm weather and weeks of confinement have made many hungry for a return to some normalcy over the Memorial Day weekend, which is usually marked by barbecues and swimming.

Residents of Galveston, Texas were flocking to the Seawall Urban Park beach on a hot, windy day -- few wearing masks, though many followed social distancing, even in the water.

AFP / Alex Edelman 

the warm weather and weeks of confinement have made many hungry for a return to some normalcy over the Memorial Day weekend

"I feel safe. Well we're six foot apart. It's a lot of distance here. Very safe," building contractor Michael Bryer told AFP.

Others expressed relief at the change of scenery, like stay-at-home mother Kayla Lambert, who was happy to just "get out of the house".

"I have two kids that are playing in the water and we just get tired of being stuck in the house. There's not much else to do. So I came to the beach," she said.

Trump, meanwhile, will continue ramping up his travel schedule next week.

The White House on Saturday confirmed the president would also attend the May 27 launch in Florida of two astronauts on a SpaceX mission -- the first crewed space flight from US soil in nine years.

 

AFP / Alex Edelman

A local artist and onlookers wear masks on the boardwalk during the Memorial Day holiday weekend on May 23, 2020 in Ocean City, Maryland

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are scheduled to blast off from Kennedy Space Center at 4:33 pm (2033 GMT) on Wednesday for the International Space Station, arriving the next day.

However, the Wednesday launch plan could be hit by bad weather, with a 60 percent chance of a postponement, according to official forecasts.

SEE
 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/nytimes-marks-grim-us-virus-milestone.html

PRESIDENTIAL DOGS

Todd Domke @ToddDomke

https://twitter.com/ToddDomke/status/1264300992016908290
3:03 PM · May 23, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Who are you, and what have you done to Ann Coulter?

Rick Wilson

@TheRickWilson

Who are you, and what have you done to Ann Coulter?

12:42 PM · May 24, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

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Chris Wallace grills Dr. Birx as deaths blow past her rosy projections: ‘Did we reopen too soon?’

SINCE TRUMP WON'T FIRE HER, DEMOCRATS SHOULD DEMAND HER RESIGNATION SHE IS AN ENABLER NOT THE ADULT IN THE ROOM

Published on May 24, 2020 By David Edwards




White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx defended her claim that there would be fewer than 60,000 deaths from the virus as new projections warn that the death toll could reach 150,000 people.

In an interview on Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace grilled Birx about the discrepancy.

“A month ago, both you and President Trump were talking about 60,000 COVID-19 deaths,” Fox News host Chris Wallace noted. “Early this week, we’re going to reach 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus and those models you’re citing now talk about close to 150,000 deaths by August.”

“What happened, doctor?” he asked.

Birx deflected the question by pointing to a model that said the United States could see over 2 million deaths if no action was taken to combat the pandemic.

“Those are the figures that we continue to stand by in this first wave,” she insisted. “And understanding how to prevent future hospitalizations and future deaths is really what we’re focused on every single day.”

“A month ago, you were saying we were going to come down on the low end of the model,” Wallace pressed, “from a hundred to two hundred thousand to 60,000.”

“In this last month, did you underestimate the strength of the virus?” he wondered. “Did we reopen too soon? Did we reopen without sufficient restrictions?”

“What I was saying in that briefing is what that model was showing,” Birx said before noting that U.S. has a lower mortality rate than some European countries.

Birx also advised Americans to enjoy Memorial Day weekend safely.

“I’m very concerned when people go out and don’t maintain social distancing,” she explained. “We now have scientific evidence of how far droplets go when we speak… We also know that it’s important that we have masks on if we’re less than six feet and that we have to maintain that six feet distance.”

“There are super spreader events when people come together,” the doctor added.

“This crowd of people at beaches this weekend, is that a super spreader event?” Wallace asked.



“We want you to be outside,” Birx replied. “We know that there are ways you can play tennis with marked balls so you’re not touching each others’ balls. We know there’s a way to play golf and social distance.”

Watch the video below from Fox News.