Trump's coronavirus response is worse than incompetent
Ryan Cooper

Illustrated | SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images, 

Olga Beliaeva/iStock, jakkapan21/iStock
February 26, 2020

The global spread of coronavirus is verging on pandemic status. While the rate of new infection appears to be slowing in China thanks to drastic mass quarantines and clampdowns on movement, other outbreaks in Iran, South Korea, and Italy have still not been controlled. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warned that an outbreak in the United States was probably just a matter of time.

This could be the greatest crisis faced by President Trump. But not only is he obviously incapable of handling the problem, he has already done tremendous damage to America's pandemic response system. The United States is highly vulnerable to epidemic disease because the president is a corrupt, tyrannical moron who can't do the job.

As I wrote earlier this week, Trump's model of governance is classic authoritarian corruption. He has stacked the bureaucracy with cronies whose only qualification is personal loyalty to Trump. He's recently charged a former college football quarterback with purging the civil service of Trump critics, and appointed Richard Grenell — a man with no intelligence experience who illegally lobbied for Hungary without registering as a foreign agent — as acting director of national intelligence.

Now, Trump is responding to bad news about COVID-19 (WHO's more accurate name for coronavirus) in typical authoritarian fashion — with denial. In a tweet, he insisted the media was hyping the problem to bring down the stock market.

Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape! @CDCgov.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 26, 2020

And this is consistent with the diseased propaganda that grips the brains of basically the entire Republican Party. Right-wing commentators are already pushing conspiracy theories about the outbreak, no doubt driven by fear that the disease will hurt Trump's reelection prospects — like some crackpot who falsely asserted COVID-19 is a Chinese bioweapon, which was then amplified by Ben Shapiro, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and the Trump administration itself. Others are suggesting that one CDC official is raising the alarm because she is the sister of former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (who was pushed out for insufficient fealty to Trump). On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh scoffed: "Yeah, I'm dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks," and asserted the media was hyping up the disease in an attempt to harm Trump. He said the fatality rate was a mere 2 percent, adding, "That's less than the flu, folks."

Limbaugh's mostly elderly listeners might be interested to learn that the actual fatality rate for the normal flu is about 0.1 percent, and while the overall death rate for COVID-19 indeed seems to be about 2.3 percent, deaths are heavily concentrated among the old. An initial study found 8 percent of people between 70-79 who caught the virus died, and 15 percent of those over 80. At that rate, if just 10 percent of the American population caught the virus, about 750,000 people would die.

All this makes an interesting contrast with Trump's behavior during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, when he accused the CDC of lying about how contagious the disease was, demanded that all U.S. citizens with the disease be left to die, and attacked President Obama for appointing a single person to coordinate the outbreak response (which did indeed bring it under control).

But Trump's denial of the problem also goes way beyond rhetoric. Over the last two years, Trump has hacked away at the funding and agencies responsible for defending Americans from viral threats. As Laurie Garrett writes in Foreign Policy, back in 2018, Trump "fired the government's entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure." That same year the CDC cut its efforts to fight global diseases by 80 percent due to lack of funding. Trump's administration slashed funding for disease combat across the board, and eliminated a $30 million Complex Crisis Fund.

His recent proposed budget would gut $3 billion in funding for health security. He would slash funding for State Department and USAID global health programs by a third, cut the CDC budget by 7 percent, cut the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 58 percent, and reduce U.S. contributions to the World Health Organization by half.

He also has repeatedly proposed enormous cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and allowed states to throw thousands off the latter program. Republicans have systematically undermined and weakened ObamaCare, exacerbating a structural weakness to epidemics in American society — our garbage health care system. Tens of millions of Americans have no insurance and tens of millions of others cannot afford to use the coverage they do have — meaning many will hesitate to go to the doctor to get tested for fear of being gouged by rapacious medical providers. Indeed, a Florida man who caught the flu in China did the responsible thing and went to the hospital to be tested for COVID-19; when it came back negative, he was slapped with a $1,400 bill despite being insured.

A major reason the coronavirus outbreak got out of hand in the first place is because of the Chinese government's inept initial response. They have since taken drastic action that while repressive, seems to finally be at least slowing the spread. The Chinese Communist Party may be corrupt and incompetent, but at least they are not gripped by delusional fruitcake propaganda and conspiracy theories.

It remains to be seen whether or not America will actually suffer an outbreak. But if it does, even the brutal Chinese Communist methods of fighting one will be off the table. President Trump is simply too incompetent to manage that, or anything else. Any efforts to beat COVID-19 will have to be done in spite of the vacant, doddering lunatic at the center of American power.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar reportedly blindsided by Trump putting Pence in charge of coronavirus response
February 26, 2020

Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

WHEN TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO DO SOMETHING HE GIVES IT TO PENCE OR JARED
After spending weeks leading the government's coronavirus task force, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar found out he was being pushed aside just minutes before President Trump made the announcement during a Wednesday evening press conference, five people with knowledge of the situation told The Washington Post.

Trump revealed that Vice President Mike Pence will now head the task force, and everyone involved will report to him. A senior administration official told the Post Pence will lead his first meeting on Thursday, and decided to hold it at HHS "as a show of support to Azar."

Azar was asked Wednesday morning about the possibility of the administration appointing a czar to guide the government's response, and responded that he "didn't anticipate" this happening, as things were "working extremely well." At the end of Trump's press conference, Azar made sure to tell reporters he was still chairman of the task force, and was "delighted" to have Pence on board. Catherine Garcia

White House's rosy coronavirus comments are the exact opposite of what career health officials are saying
February 25, 2020

Money Sharma/Getty Images.


White House officials aren't on the same page as top health officials.

President Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday told CNBC there was basically nothing to worry about when it comes to the coronavirus' effect on the U.S. "We have contained this. I won't say [it's] airtight, but it's pretty close to airtight," he said. He also reassured viewers that while the coronavirus may be a "human tragedy," it won't be an "economic tragedy," since there aren't any "supply disruptions" just yet.

Supply disruptions may be one thing, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nearly simultaneously warned of incoming "disruption to everyday life," saying the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. is "not so much of a question of if" but rather "a question of when."

As CNN's Phil Mattingly put it, Kudlow's comments are "more or less, the exact opposite of what lawmakers were told in a briefing from top [Trump administration] health officials this morning." FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver seemingly agreed Kudlow's (and President Trump's) comments were misguided, tweeting it "seems very very very very risky for the Trump administration to claim coronavirus is contained in the U.S. if it later proves not to be contained."

Perhaps Kudlow realized he may have sounded a bit too optimistic, because shortly after his CNBC appearance he told reporters the possibility of further travel restrictions are "under discussion." He continued, "I'm going to wait on that. I don't want to get ahead of my skis or their skis. It's all under discussion."

Still, he insisted the U.S. is very prepared for anything the coronavirus may throw our way. "We're not going to get caught with our pants down," he predicted, per Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs. "The virus is not going to last forever." Harvard epidemiologists may have something to say about that. 



Donald Trump Takes Coronavirus So Seriously He Just Put Mike Pence in Charge

Erin Banco, Asawin Suebsaeng,
The Daily Beast•February 26, 2020

HIS GO TO GUY WHEN HE IS TOO LAZY OR INCOMPETENT TO DO SOMETHING
AND HIS IMMEDIATE CHOICE FOR SPUR OF THE MOMENT DECISIONS

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty

President Donald Trump has tapped Vice President Mike Pence to take over as leader of the administration’s coronavirus task force.

The announcement came after Trump and his administration spent days receiving harsh criticism from Capitol Hill for its mixed messages about the threat of coronavirus and what the government was doing to prepare.

On Wednesday night, Trump’s message was very clear: “Exactly right now,” he said, Pence will start leading the White House response to the coronavirus. “Mike will report back to me, but he’s got a certain talent for this,” Trump said.

The president’s decision to put Pence in charge was seen by some as further evidence that he is not taking the threat of coronavirus seriously.

Over the decades, Pence has amassed a public record that his critics have often bashed as anti-science. On matters of public health, for instance, he has made wild claims in the past.

“Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill. In fact, two out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking-related illness and nine out of 10 smokers do not contract lung cancer,” Pence said in 2000. Additionally, Pence has advocated teaching creationism in American public schools and, as governor of Indiana, had an HIV outbreak explode on his watch because he moved too slowly on approving needle exchanges.

The president’s decision to entrust Pence with handling an outbreak that experts say is approaching pandemic levels comes after Trump spent much of the week frantically trying to quell fears that members of his team were at odds with each other, fearful that the narrative of dysfunction could complicate his re-election bid.

The New York Times first reported Wednesday that the president was considering tapping a coronavirus czar to streamline the interagency process. But senior officials waved off any notion that someone would step in to take the lead in place of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

Immediately after Trump’s Wednesday night announcement, Azar was reportedly overheard saying the press was “misunderstanding” Pence’s role and stressing that he was “still the chairman of the task force.” But he did also reportedly say he was “delighted” with Pence’s appointment.

The former Indiana governor offered a brief statement on his credentials but nothing else.

“As a former governor from a state where the first MERS case emerged in 2014, I know full well the importance of presidential leadership, the importance of administration leadership, and the vital role of partnership of state and local governments…. on the potential threats of dangerous diseases,” Pence said.

Trump said he would also bring on an official from the State Department to help the task force coordinate on the virus but did not mention the person’s name.

The president’s announcement that he is bringing on new members of the task force underscores the extent to which the White House is trying to adjust its messaging after days of confusion about how seriously to take the coronavirus threat. Still, though, despite briefings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the virus would eventually spread throughout the country, Trump, with a representative of that agency beside him, pushed back on that claim. “I don’t think it is inevitable,” he said. “Probable? Maybe.”

Reporters pushed him a second time. He doubled down. “There’s a chance to get worse… but nothing is inevitable,” he said.

Trump went on to blame the Democratic debate for the stock market’s downward spiral and complained that the Democrats were treating him unfairly—that he in fact had been out in front on combating the virus by banning flights to China.

As justification, Trump at one point during the beginning of the press conference held up a Johns Hopkins study that stated the U.S. was the country most prepared to handle the coronavirus.

Advisers to Trump have for weeks tried to gather data about how quickly the virus spreads, how it can be stopped, and how to contain an outbreak in the future. But those efforts have largely remained behind closed doors, leaving the public wondering what—if anything—the administration has been doing to address the outbreak. Meanwhile, as cases doubled, then tripled, across the globe, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have increasingly called out top administration officials to be more transparent and to declassify their briefings, accusing them of mixed messaging on the severity of the virus.

The situation came to a head Wednesday morning when Azar was grilled by lawmakers about the adequacy and breadth of the administration’s response. Azar defended the effort and beat off suggestions that he would soon be replaced with a formal czar for coordinating the coronavirus response.

The Terrifying Reality of Trump’s Coronavirus Promise

Harsh criticism from Capitol Hill over the administration’s handling of the virus—dubbed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as “towering and dangerous incompetence”—prompted panic in the White House early this week that the administration was losing its grip on the narrative. The fear, according to two senior administration officials, was that not only lawmakers but the general public were becoming increasingly wary of the discrepancy between the president’s statements and those of the health officials leading the task force.

Dow Plunges Amid Global Freakout Over Coronavirus Outbreaks

Trump and his closest advisers tried to downplay fears about the virus in an attempt to correct the stock market, which fell more than 1,900 points over Monday and Tuesday, according to two senior administration officials. White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appeared Tuesday on CNBC, urging people to remain calm and insisting that the virus was contained to an “airtight” degree. At the same time, though, CDC officials were pushing a different story: The coronavirus was contained but would soon spread more widely in the U.S.

According to multiple doctors and administrators at three hospitals across the country, the need for more equipment—such as masks, gowns, and gloves—has grown more dire by the day. At Bellevue Hospital in New York City, one of the country’s only designated coronavirus centers, the stockpile of masks dipped by hundreds over the course of a day when news broke in January that the virus had landed in the U.S. They’ve since been replenished, but there are fears that the supply could dwindle again.

While top health agencies have warned that it is merely a matter of time before the virus spreads in the United States, Trump has seemed focused on controlling the narrative to prevent a financial crisis from getting in the way of his re-election campaign.

Over the past three weeks, Trump has, on multiple occasions, asked administration officials about the different effects the spread of coronavirus could have on the world and U.S. economies, according to two people present for the conversations.

“He referenced [concerns about] the stock market at least two times,” said one of these sources, recalling a discussion that occurred roughly two weeks ago.

A third source who spoke to Trump in the past few weeks said that the president mused about how his enemies could use pandemic fears against him. “Remember recession, recession, recession?” Trump said, the source recalled, referencing the media and cable news coverage late last year about the growing recession fears in the country.

Trump has privately said many times that his perceived adversaries in the press would “love it” if a recession occurred on his watch, thus crippling his chances at re-election, those close to the president say. Reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, the president’s White House comms apparatus made a point of sticking it to those alleged foes in the media.

“Unfortunately what we are seeing is a political effort by the Left and some in the media to distract and disturb the American people with fearful rhetoric and palace intrigue,” White House spokesman Judd Deere wrote in a statement. “The United States economy is the strongest in the world thanks to the leadership and policies of President Trump. The virus remains low risk domestically because of the containment actions taken by this administration since the first of the year.”

Mexico president ties shootout dead to drug consumption

Associated Press•February 26, 2020

AMLO IS A NOT A LIBERAL OR A LEFTIST 

HE IS A NEOLIBERAL

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves during an event marking Army Day at the Zocalo, accompanied by first lady Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)More

LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suggested Wednesday without offering evidence that most of those who die in Mexico's cartel- and gang-fueled firefights are high on drugs or intoxicated, prompting criticism and questions about whether the claim was accurate.

Speaking to journalists in his morning news conference, López Obrador said rising drug consumption rates must be reversed if the country is to guarantee peace and security after years of rising, record-setting homicide statistics.

“Just so you have the number, 60% of those who lose their life each day, 60% of those killed in clashes, it is shown that they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but primarily drugs,” the president continued. “Because of that, these ruthless crimes that cause such sadness.”

The comments revived a debate seen during the 2006-2012 presidency of Felipe Calderón, who first launched Mexico's militarized anti-drug offensive. Calderón used to say that the majority of those killed during the drug war were tied to cartels, also without offering evidence, but eventually backed off such rhetoric after criticism from activists and relatives of some victim.

A federal government official clarified later Wednesday that the figure came from López Obrador's closed-door morning meetings with his security Cabinet and is based on analyses of those killed in clashes between criminal groups and/or with security forces. That suggests he was referring to presumed criminals and not murder victims more broadly speaking. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said documentation exists but is not publicly available.

But critics questioned whether there was any scientific basis for such an assertion. While it's true that sometimes cartel killers get high before doing their bloody business, they questioned whether it was fair to imply drug consumption is an underlying cause of gangland violence. And perhaps due to the ambiguity of López Obrador's words, many understood them to mean all homicides, leading to accusations of victim-blaming.

Security analyst Alejandro Hope wrote that usually drug consumption is used to characterize perpetrators of murders, not the dead, and that “there is zero evidence” for López Obrador’s assertion.

María Elena Morera, president of the NGO Causa en Comun, called the president’s comment “troubling” and said there is no data to back it up.

“So the president is confused, ill-informed or simply does it to reinforce his posture of revictimizing and not legalizing drugs,” Morera said.

López Obrador was asked at the news conference about possible legalization, for example the cultivation of opium poppies or the recreational use of marijuana, and suggested his administration is looking more at legalization for medicinal purposes.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that prohibition of personal use, possession and private cultivation of cannabis was unconstitutional, though lawmakers have not codified decriminalization into law.

Data Civica, a stats-driven NGO working in human rights and citizen empowerment, also said it was concerned by López Obrador’s assertion.

“On the one hand, because drugs and alcohol do not justify a murder, on the other hand because there is no way of knowing that information,” Data Civica said via Twitter thread. “In this sense, either the president has access to a database that nobody knows of (and should be public) or he is repeating prejudices.”

Mexico recorded 35,588 murders last year, the most since comparable records began to be kept in the 1990s and the latest of multiple consecutive annual highs dating to before he took office in December 2018. The rate of increase in 2019 did slow significantly from that of previous years.

Since Calderón launched the anti-drug offensive in 2006, yearly killings are up more than threefold.

López Obrador espouses a strategy of addressing root causes like poverty and joblessness to try to reduce violence in the country.

“We must make clear that drugs, above all the modern drugs, the chemical drugs, are destructive,” the president said Wednesday.

Bloomberg once said Social Security is a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff's
February 26, 2020


Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme when he was in office, CNN reports, which is a far cry from his current stance as a Democratic presidential candidate.

Nowadays, Bloomberg has vowed to to strengthen entitlement programs, but he used to see them as a major hurdle in the effort to shrink the United States' deficit. During appearances on his old radio program "Live from City Hall," which were reviewed by CNN's KFile, Bloomberg made the Ponzi scheme comparison once in 2006 and again in 2009. The latter instance was in relation to Bernie Madoff, who was arrested in December 2008 and later pleaded guilty to a massive Ponzi scheme.

"I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there's ever a Ponzi Scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong," Bloomberg said. "Social Security is, far and away."

Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Bloomberg, attempted to explain Bloomberg's comments to CNN. "The Social Security Administration itself gives out detailed actuarial tables on when and how payments will exceed income, and the issue needs attention because we're running the cushion between them down," he said. "Mike believes that between now and that time, we will need to boost receipts by raising contributions from those who can best afford it, which is what he'll do as president." Read more at CNN. Tim O'Donnell

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says it was 'horrifying' the debate didn't have any climate change questions. Bernie Sanders agrees.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) watched Tuesday night's Democratic debate, and one thing stood out to her.

"Not a single climate change question," she tweeted. "Horrifying." One of the participants, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), agreed, responding, "A disgrace." The Democratic candidates don't shy away from talking about climate change on the campaign trail; billionaire investor and environmentalist Tom Steyer told voters in South Carolina on Tuesday that climate change is his "No. 1 priority," and if elected, he will declare a climate emergency on his first day in office.

Poll after poll has shown that climate change is a key issue for voters; last week, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that for the first time in two decades, a majority of Americans believe that tackling climate change should be a main priority for the president and Congress.

Another poll released last week by the nonpartisan nonprofit Climate Nexus found that for Democrats, climate change is one of the two most important issues facing the country right now. "This is the first time in American political history where climate change is not just a top-tier issue, it is the top-tier issue," Anthony Leiserowitz, a senior research scientist at Yale who helped conduct the poll, told The Atlantic.

ABC News suspends correspondent David Wright after comments about Trump coverage, socialism, in Project Veritas sting

ABC News suspended one of its veteran correspondents late Tuesday for unguarded remarks he made in a video by operatives of Project Veritas, the conservative group that records “undercover” footage of mainstream journalists to bolster its accusations of media bias. 

The network disciplined David Wright, who reports for ABC’s signature news programs, including “World News Tonight,” “Good Morning America” and “Nightline,” several people confirmed late Tuesday.

The choppy, poorly shot video, released Wednesday morning by Project Veritas, captured Wright on what appeared to be a hidden camera, seeming to complain in general terms about political coverage.

“I don’t think we’re terribly interested in voters,” he said, echoing gripes about the superficiality of some aspects of White House and campaign coverage that have been raised by journalists for decades. Also: “Commercial imperative is incompatible with news.”

 

© Jahi Chikwendiu/The Post James O'Keefe takes part in a book signing event at the Press Club in Washington in January 2018.

At one point he says, “We don’t hold him him to account. We also don’t give him credit for what things he does do.” In subtitles, Project Veritas indicated that “him” stood for President Trump. He refers to Trump at another point as “the f------ president.”

But ABC likely was also alarmed at Wright’s criticism of ABC News, which is owned by the Disney Co. At another point, he raises another longstanding critique of ABC News — that it blends news with promotion of Disney-owned movies and TV programs.

“Like now you can’t watch Good Morning America without there being a Disney princess or a Marvel Avenger appearing,” he says. “It’s all self-promotional.”

In a statement Wednesday, ABC News said, “Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved. David Wright has been suspended, and to avoid any possible appearance of bias, he will be reassigned away from political coverage when he returns.”

In the video, which the group said was taken while Wright covered the New Hampshire primary, a voice asks the reporter if he considers himself “a Democratic socialist,” and Wright seems to reply, “more than that, I consider myself a socialist.”

Wright didn’t respond to several requests for comment Tuesday.

Project Veritas’s founder, James O’Keefe, teased the release of the video on Twitter on Tuesday with the hashtag #ExposeABC. He tweeted that his group “will expose ABC News’ agenda to mislead voters and push their own narratives” and said in response to the upcoming release that ABC News had suspended “the correspondent involved.” He didn’t identify Wright or provide details.

Wright, 56, is one of ABC’s most seasoned and versatile correspondents, having joined the network nearly 20 years ago. He has covered the White House and was “Nightline’s” lead political reporter during the 2016 presidential campaign. He has also periodically reported from the Middle East and Europe, including covering the Notre Dame cathedral fire in Paris last year. He shared a 2004 Emmy Award for his reporting from Iraq and shared a Peabody Award for reporting in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Project Veritas conducts undercover “stings” of journalists and others it considers allied with liberal causes or organizations. Its operatives often befriend the organization’s targets using aliases and lull them into casual conversations in bars or restaurants that are then surreptitiously recorded. The videos are edited and released publicly in an effort to show what O’Keefe calls liberal bias or allegedly corrupt practices.

Although O’Keefe has defended the organization’s methods as journalistically sound, mainstream news organizations have largely abandoned the practice of infiltrating businesses or organizations to record video without a subject’s knowledge or consent. News organizations generally consider the practice deceptive, and doing so can subject them to criminal trespass penalties.

O’Keefe’s group has targeted media organizations such as CNN, NPR and the New York Times, as well as Democratic political operatives.

The Washington Post was the target of a Project Veritas sting in 2017 when a woman, later identified as Jaime Phillips, approached a Post reporter with allegedly damaging information about Roy Moore, then a Senate candidate in Alabama. The Post discovered the woman’s apparent affiliation with Project Veritas and that her story was a hoax. The Post recorded video as she attempted to plant the false story.

ABC, coincidentally, was involved in perhaps the most famous case involving undercover video. The Food Lion supermarket chain sued ABC in 1996 after it aired a segment about unsanitary practices at the stores on “PrimeTime Live.” To get footage for the story, two ABC News producers obtained jobs at Food Lion stores using false references and altered work histories. An appeals court eventually rejected Food Lion’s fraud claims but upheld a jury’s $2 award for breach of loyalty and trespass.

This story, originally published early Wednesday, has been updated with details of the Project Veritas video and comment from ABC News.

paul.farhi@washpost.com

THE CORONA VIRUS SATIRE MEME

 BIOPHAGE A GOOD VIRUS THAT KILLS SUPERBUGS

SEE  

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PHAGES

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIOPHAGES

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PHAGE

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BACTERIOPHAGE

Trump Bans Corona Beer To Stop Spread Of The Super Virus

THE TRUTH IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU

Rod Gozinya It's Satire, Political misinformation under the guise of proffering 'satire'

Now that the superbug, “coronavirus,” has landed in the USA, our medical practitioners and government employees are taking it very seriously in effort to prevent its further spread within our borders. President Trump is among those in government showing grave concern.

But while all others talk about the virus and how to handle this potential outbreak, President Trump is actually taking action. Quick and decisive, Trump made an announcement today on how he intends to prevent further infection.

“This is a bug. A super bug, actually, they call it. That means it’s bad. Really bad.

And I know what you’re thinking, but you’d be wrong. This isn’t like a caterpillar or a spider. It’s not that kind of bug. Nobody knew that. Nobody. But I’m here to tell you.

This is a virus. It’s a disease. Like a cold or a flu but it can kill you. I won’t let that happen though. I have a plan.

Effective immediately, Corona Beer will no longer be available for sale or consumption in the United States of America. It will be banned indefinitely.

I know, I know… You all love that stuff,  but this has to be done to protect all the good citizens of this country.”

President Trump is known for his quick action in times of danger. With this, he has proven to have more knowledge in the medical field than anybody at the CDC. We are lucky to have him.

Oil plunges deeper into bear market on coronavirus fallout


By Matt Egan, CNN Business

Jennifer Lopez and Hailey Bieber are making this swimsuit trend go viral

The spread of the coronavirus around the world is sending shockwaves through an oil market ill-prepared for a serious blow to energy demand.

© Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty Images Chemical and oil tanker Tina Theresa, right, sits docked near shipping cranes at the port of Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. Germany's biggest bank has given the strongest warning yet that the nation is close to a recession as the coronavirus outbreak exacerbates its long-running industrial slump. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Oil prices plunged deeper into a bear market Wednesday, reflecting fears about the economic repercussions of the rapidly-spreading health crisis. Economists are warning the coronavirus could spark a severe economic slowdown or even recession in the United States and elsewhere.

The outbreak is the biggest shock to demand for oil since the 2008 financial crisis.

US crude dropped another 2.3% on Wednesday to $48.73 a barrel. That's the lowest price since January 2019 and it marks a 23% plunge from the recent peak of $63.27 a barrel on January 6.

"You're seeing the ripple effects of the coronavirus proliferate outside of China. That is what is turning investor sentiment on oil and other risk assets as well," said Michael Tran, director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

Citing the coronavirus, on Wednesday, Goldman Sachs told clients it is cutting its 2020 oil demand forecast in half to just 600,000 barrels per day.

"If the coronavirus spreads further globally, then we expect further downside risk to our estimates," Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Singer wrote in a report.

The plunge in oil prices has clobbered energy stocks, which entered a bear market late last month. The ETF Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, which tracks the sector, has lost a stunning 11% in the last three days and nearly 20% so far in 2020.

The oil patch suffered more selling Wednesday, even as the broader markets staged a fragile rebound. Devon Energy and Diamondback Energy fell more than 5% apiece, making them among the biggest losers on the S&P 500. Larger rivals ExxonMobil and Chevron also retreated.


Unlike recent oil bear markets caused by excess supply, this one is all about weakening demand. The shutdown of large parts of China's economy, combined with the spread of the coronavirus to South Korea and Italy, has caused a sharp decline in flight activity and vehicle traffic. That means there is less oil needed for jet fuel and motor gasoline.

For instance, United Airlines has suspended flights between the United States and four destinations in China. Near-term demand for flights to China has fallen to near zero and demand for flights to the rest of the trans-Pacific routes has plunged 75%.

Flight patterns from South Korea have dropped 25% to 30% below normal levels, Tran said, citing RBC's use of artificial intelligence to track real-time flight patterns.

"It's tough to suggest this a buy-the-dip opportunity," Tran said, "because there is very little evidence to suggest we're in for a v-shaped recovery in the near-term."

The weak demand outlook raises pressure on OPEC and its allies to take decisive action. The group is scheduled to meet next week in Vienna to decide whether further supply cuts are needed to balance the market.

"Historically during periods of demand shock, OPEC has come together to cut production to offset weakness in demand," Singer, the Goldman analyst, wrote.

POST MODERN PULP FICTION

RIP Clive Cussler, Best-Selling Author and Adventurer, Is Dead at 88
Clive Cussler, the author and maritime adventurer who captivated millions with his best-selling tales of suspense and who, between books, led scores of expeditions to find historic shipwrecks and lost treasures in the ocean depths, died on Monday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 88.  

© Denver Post, via Getty Images The author Clive Cussler with one of his best-known books in 1977. He had a second career scouring the oceans for shipwrecks.

His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman for his publisher, Penguin Random House. No specific cause was given.

Mayan jungles, undersea kingdoms, ghost ships, evil forces out to destroy the world, beautiful women, heroes modeled on himself — Mr. Cussler’s vivid literary fantasies and his larger-than-life exploits swirled together for four decades, spinning off some 70 books and locating almost as many shipwrecks.

A college dropout who once pumped gas and wrote advertising copy, Mr. Cussler resorted to a hoax to get his first book published. But his work — mostly action thrillers of the James Bond-Indiana Jones kind, plus nonfiction accounts of his marine quests and a few children’s books — made him a global celebrity.

His books sales have been staggering — more than 100 million copies, with vast numbers sold in paperback at airports. Translated into 40 or so languages, his books reached The New York Times’s best-seller lists more than 20 times, as he amassed a fortune estimated at $80 million.

Mr. Cussler looked like the hero of Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” You had to imagine the battered straw hat and the tired shoulders hunched over a gunwale, but after years of roaming oceans and diving for wrecks, he had that seafarer’s husky build and sunburned cheeks, and his face, more sea dog than bibliophile, was flecked with gray: the grizzled beard, the mustache, the eyes, the gray-white hair.

© Ron Semrod/Associated Press Mr. Cussler in 1997. 

His writing helped him amass a fortune of about $80 million.

Often compared to the thrillers churned out by Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum and Ian Fleming, the Cussler novels featured formulaic plots, one- or two-word titles (“Cyclops,” “Dragon,” “Inca Gold,” “Poseidon’s Arrow”) and frequently a recurring hero, Dirk Pitt, an undersea explorer who cheats death and saves the world as he foils the diabolical plots of megalomaniac villains, while satisfying his taste for exotic cars and lusty women.

Mr. Cussler was hardly a stylist. Critics called his characters wooden, his dialogue leaden and his prose clichéd (“the cold touch of fear,” “a narrow brush with death”), while praising his descriptions of marine hardware, underwater struggles and salvage operations. But readers were swept along on the page-turning tides, and after his commercial breakthrough, “Raise the Titanic!” (1976), his books were frequently on the best-seller lists for months.

Mr. Cussler also connected with readers by turning his love for scuba diving into an oceanic lifestyle that paralleled and validated his superhero.

He first created the National Underwater and Marine Agency as a fictional government organization that employed his hero in the Dirk Pitt books. Then, in 1979, he founded an actual National Underwater and Marine Agency as a private nonprofit group committed to “preserving maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts.” It underwrote his maritime ventures.

With Mr. Cussler leading expeditions and joining dives, the organization eventually located some 60 wrecks. Among them were the Cunard steamship Carpathia, first to reach survivors of the lost Titanic on April 15, 1912, then itself sunk by German torpedoes off Ireland in 1918; Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt’s coastal steamer Lexington, which caught fire and went down in Long Island Sound in 1840; and Manassas, the Confederacy’s first Civil War ironclad, sunk in battle in the Lower Mississippi in 1862.

His first nonfiction book, “The Sea Hunters” (1996, with Craig Dirgo), was an account of his NUMA exploits, some of which were portrayed in television documentaries featuring Mr. Cussler as narrator. Valuable artifacts raised by his expeditions were given to museums or governments.

Mr. Cussler, who named his franchise hero after his son Dirk, acknowledged that Dirk Pitt’s character was his own alter ego. His later novels, many co-written by his son or others, often included himself as a character who saves the day. His son, a daughter and friends were also used as characters in his books.

“I’ve been doing Dirk Pitt for 30 years,” Mr. Cussler told The Times in 2000. “Maybe I can find another writer down the line to take him over. It’s not the money; it’s the fans.

“I’d like to retire,” he continued. “I’m toying with the idea of Pitt having a son who shows up. He’s getting a little long in the tooth. When we started out, we were both 36 years old. Now he’s a little over 40, and I’m pushing 70.”

But 20 years later, he was still churning out books, sometimes two a year. His “Journey of the Pharaohs: A Novel From the NUMA Files,” written with Graham Brown, is scheduled to be published in March.

Clive Eric Cussler was born in Aurora, Ill., on July 15, 1931, the only child of Eric and Amy Hunnewell Cussler. His father was an accountant. Clive grew up in Alhambra, Calif., a poor student but an avid reader of adventure stories.

“I detested school,” he told Publishers Weekly in 1994. “I was always the kid who was staring out the window. While the teacher was lecturing on algebra, I was on the deck of a pirate ship or in an airplane shooting down the Red Baron.”

He attended Pasadena City College briefly, but left to join the Air Force when the Korean War began in 1950. He became a mechanic, flew supply missions in the Pacific but never saw combat. While stationed in Hawaii, he learned scuba diving and explored underwater wrecks. He mustered out as a sergeant.

In 1955, he married Barbara Knight. They had three children, Teri, Dirk and Dayna. His wife died in 2003. He later married Janet Horvath, who survives him, along with his children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

In California, Mr. Cussler pumped gas, wrote advertising copy and, from 1961 to 1965, co-owned Bestgen & Cussler Advertising in Newport Beach. Later, at the D’Arcy agency in Hollywood, he won several awards.

From 1967 to 1969 he was advertising director of Aquatic Marine Corporation in Newport Beach. In 1970, he joined Mefford, Wolff and Weir Advertising in Denver, where he became a vice president and creative director.

He began writing fiction at home in the late 60s, but his first two books, “Pacific Vortex” and “The Mediterranean Caper,” were repeatedly rejected. Unable even to get an agent, he staged a hoax. Using the letterhead of a fictitious writers’ agency, he wrote to the agent Peter Lampack, posing as an old colleague about to retire and overloaded with work. He enclosed copies of his manuscripts, citing their potential.

It worked. “Where can I sign Clive Cussler?” Mr. Lampack wrote back. In 1973, “The Mediterranean Caper” was published, followed by “Iceberg” (1975) and “Raise the Titanic!” (1976).

Despite an improbable plot and negative reviews, “Raise the Titanic!” sold 150,000 copies, was a Times best seller for six months and became a 1980 film starring Richard Jordan and Jason Robards Jr.

While Dirk Pitt books appeared throughout his career, Mr. Cussler also wrote other series: “The NUMA Files,” featuring the hero Kurt Austin and written with Graham Brown or Paul Kemprecos; “The Fargo Adventures,” about husband-and-wife treasure hunters, written with Grant Blackwood or Thomas Perry; “The Oregon Files,” set on a high-tech spy ship disguised as a freighter, written with Jack DuBrul or Mr. Dirgo; and “The Isaac Bell Adventures,” about an early-20th-century detective, written with Justin Scott.

His nonfiction included “Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed” (1998, with Mr. Dirgo) and “Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt” (2011). Mr. Cussler, who had homes in Arvada, Colo., and Paradise Valley, Ariz., restored vintage cars and had about 100 in his museum in Arvada, including a 1906 Stanley Steamer, a 1913 Marmon and a 1921 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.