Trump Put Mike Pence In Charge Of The Coronavirus Response. Public Health Experts Aren't Having It. 

The vice president was widely criticized for his handling of Indiana's HIV outbreak in 2016.

Brianna Sacks BuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on February 27, 2020

Andrew Caballero-reynolds / Getty Images
President Trump on Wednesday appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead the administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak, assuring the public that officials were "very, very ready" to quash a flare up in the US.

At the White House, the president touted Pence as an "expert" in public health who has "a certain talent for this," citing his experience as the governor of Indiana. Public health experts, however, quickly balked at Trump's praise and immediately recalled Pence's widely admonished handling of his state's HIV outbreak in 201

During his time as governor, Pence came under fire for resisting the CDC's urging to allow clean needles to be distributed because of his conservative, religious beliefs. At the time, needle exchanges were illegal in Indiana. But after mounting pressure from health officials and praying on it, the Republican eventually lifted the ban.


Eugene Gu, MD@eugenegu

As Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence was so slow to start a clean needle exchange for IV drug abusers that by the time he finally did it, up to 215 people were infected with HIV in a population of just 24,000 people in Scott County. Trump naming him Coronavirus Czar is ludicrous.12:23 AM - 27 Feb 2020

Trump, however, credited Pence with establishing a "great" health care system.

“When Mike was governor, Mike Pence of Indiana, they have established great health care, they have a great system there," Trump said. "A system that a lot of the other states have really looked to and changed their systems. They wanted to base it on the Indiana system. It’s very good. And I think he is really very expert in the field."

Pence's appointment comes as the Trump administration works to bolster its response to the coronavirus amid criticism from both parties that it has so far been disjointed, late, and inadequate.

The president has continued to underplay the severity of the outbreak's threat to the US, again reiterating Wednesday that the risk to Americans is “very low." However, on Tuesday, CDC officials issued a more dire warning, saying in a press briefing that the virus's spread in American communities was "inevitable."

Earlier Wednesday, federal health officials said they had documented a patient in Northern California who somehow contracted the coronavirus without traveling to a foreign country or having been in contact with a confirmed case. According to the CDC, there are 60 total confirmed cases in the US.

In accepting his role, Pence said he understood the "vital role of partnerships of state and local governments and health authorities in responding to the potential threat of dangerous infectious diseases."

Public health experts have said otherwise.

"My first take on this is that if you’re choosing someone who’s going to lead a response for a major epidemic that has the potential to become a pandemic…then you choose somebody who has a lot of experience, maybe with a medical degree, or at least someone who has a long track record dealing with infectious disease outbreaks, global health, pandemic preparedness, or biosecurity. I don’t put those kinds of skills on Pence’s CV," Steffanie Strathdee, associate dean of global health at UCSD School of Medicine, told BuzzFeed News.

Strathdee, a trained infectious disease epidemiologist, called the move "hasty" and a politically-motivated decision given that the vice president will "follow the party line." Like many other leaders in her field, she pointed to Pence's handling of Indiana's HIV outbreak.

"Based on Pence’s response to the HIV outbreak in Indiana — 200 infections in that outbreak could have been prevented if that response had been earlier — that concerns me," she said. "We’re already getting a lot of mixed signals. The public really needs to be reassured right now."

Other public health advocates and critics of the administration's coronavirus response also cited Pence's op-ed in 2000 declaring that "smoking does not kill," the fact that he does not believe in climate change, and his distrust in the effectiveness of condoms.



Lawrence Gostin@LawrenceGostin

Wow. @POTUS appts VP Pence as lead on #COVIDー19. Praises him for health policy in Indiana. We all remember Pence allowing #AIDS to spread, against needle exchange, reproductive rights gone. Shouldn’t lead be a PH leader at @CDCgov @NIH @HHSGov11:52 PM - 26 Feb 2020
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Senator Jeff Merkley@SenJeffMerkley

As governor, Mike Pence put ideology over science & contributed to one of the worst HIV crises his state had ever seen. In 2000, he wrote an op-ed arguing “smoking doesn’t kill.” We need competence & science driving our response—that’s not the VP’s record. https://t.co/BgTE2ClbFR12:57 AM - 27 Feb 2020
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In response to Trump's comments about the virus, the Infectious Diseases Society of America said that US "leadership of comprehensive and evidence-based actions will be critical to reducing the spread and impacts of the disease" and that the challenges "must be met with appropriate resources."


"We urge the president to address this crisis in ways that unify Americans in the face of the shared challenges ahead," the group said.

As of Wednesday, the coronavirus, which first emerged in China, has killed more than 2,700 people and has been detected in 37 countries. The US has taken "unprecedented steps" to contain the outbreak, according to the CDC, such as travel restrictions, mass quarantines, and declaring a public health emergency.

Azeen Ghorayshi contributed reporting.



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Brianna Sacks is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.

Contact Brianna Sacks at brianna.sacks@buzzfeed.com.

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White Supremacists Targeted Journalists and a Trump Official, F.B.I. Says
Mike Baker, Adam Goldman and Neil MacFarquhar

SEATTLE — Federal prosecutors have charged five people tied to a neo-Nazi group with engaging in a campaign to intimidate and harass journalists and others, including a member of President Trump’s cabinet, a university and a church.

© Grant Hindsley for The New York Times Brian Moran, the United States attorney for the Western District of Washington, speaking on Wednesday in Seattle about the arrest of members of Atomwoffen, a neo-Nazi group.

The charges, announced on Wednesday in Virginia and Washington State, are part of a broader recent crackdown by federal law enforcement on violent white supremacists in the United States. Authorities said the individuals were associated with the Atomwaffen Division, a small but violent paramilitary neo-Nazi group.


In the Virginia case, prosecutors accused John Cameron Denton, 26, whom they described as a former Atomwaffen leader, of harassment through a tactic known as “swatting” — calling the police and falsely describing an imminent threat at a specific location, causing the authorities to respond in force.

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In one instance, prosecutors said, Mr. Denton targeted an investigative journalist at ProPublica because he was angry that the news organization had named him in its reporting on Atomwaffen. In other cases in 2018 and 2019, Mr. Denton and others placed swatting calls that targeted Old Dominion University and Alfred Street Baptist Church, prosecutors said.

According to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly, Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security, was the cabinet official targeted by Atomwaffen. In January 2019, the police responded to her home in Alexandria, Va., after a swatting call.

Last month, prosecutors said, Mr. Denton met with an undercover F.B.I. agent and described his efforts.

“Denton said that if he was ‘raided’ for swatting ProPublica then it would be good for Atomwaffen Division because the swatting would be seen as a top-tier crime,” Jonathan Myles Lund, an F.B.I. agent, wrote in an affidavit. The affidavit named 134 law enforcement agencies that investigators believe received swatting calls from Mr. Denton and others.

Authorities said Mr. Denton operated with others, including two foreign nationals who live outside the United States, and another man, John William Kirby Kelley, who was arrested earlier and accused of playing a role in the swatting incidents. Mr. Kelley was a student at Old Dominion University.

In Seattle on Wednesday, prosecutors unsealed a conspiracy charge against Kaleb James Cole, 24, a leader of Atomwaffen’s chapter in Washington, accusing him of sending threatening mail and cyberstalking. The others charged were Cameron Brandon Shea, 24, of Redmond, Wash., described as a high-level recruiter for the group; Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, 20, of Spring Hill, Fla.; and Johnny Roman Garza, 20, of Queen Creek, Ariz.

Authorities said the men took part in an operation called Erste Saule, or “first pillar” in German, which Mr. Shea described in an encrypted chat room as an effort to target “journalists houses and media buildings to send a clear message.”

The goal, Mr. Shea said, was to “erode the media/states air of legitimacy by showing people that they have names and addresses, and hopefully embolden others to act.”

Prosecutors said Mr. Cole and Mr. Shea were the primary organizers. When members of Atomwaffen suggested Jewish or black journalists as possible targets, Mr. Shea and Mr. Cole offered praise. Mr. Shea said he wanted his victims to feel “terrorized.” Mr. Cole suggested buying rag dolls and sticking knives through their heads and leaving them at the locations of their targets, according to the charges.

© Mira/Alamy Prosecutors said that John Cameron Denton and others placed calls to law enforcement that targeted Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and other institutions.

Authorities said Mr. Cole and Mr. Shea created posters that included Nazi symbols, threatening language and masked figures with guns and Molotov cocktails, then printed and delivered or mailed the posters to their targets.

Among the recipients were a broadcast journalist in Seattle who had reported on Atomwaffen and two people associated with the Anti-Defamation League. In Tampa, Fla., the group targeted a journalist but delivered the poster to the wrong address, and in Phoenix, a poster was sent to a magazine journalist, according to the Justice Department.

Chris Ingalls, an investigative reporter with KING-TV in Seattle, said he was among the people targeted. Federal agents contacted him last month to warn him that Atomwaffen members might visit him in person, so he moved his family out of their home, he said.

After returning, he said, he received a letter in the mail that included a depiction of a person with a press badge, his personal information and the words “Death to Pigs.”

“I’ll be looking over my shoulder for a long time,” Mr. Ingalls said.

Raymond Duda, the top agent in the F.B.I.’s Seattle office, said Atomwaffen surfaced on law enforcement’s radar in 2018, and members have gone on to participate in military-style training camps and “hate camps.”

He said F.B.I. agents were continuing to investigate the group around the country and that others could be charged. “The network is clearly throughout the United States,” Mr. Duda said. “We have investigative activity from the East Coast to the West Coast ongoing.”

Members of the Atomwaffen Division, which has been linked to a series of killings, have come under increased scrutiny from federal officials in recent months. Late last year, authorities in King County, Wash., charged Mr. Cole with unlawful possession of a gun after he was stopped by the police in Texas. Previously, authorities in Washington State had sought to take away Mr. Cole’s guns under a “red flag” law that allows a court to confiscate weapons from someone who is deemed to be a threat.

Another member of Atomwaffen, Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh, who was traveling with Mr. Cole in Texas, pleaded guilty this month to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a prohibited person. Mr. Bruce-Umbaugh is also from Washington.

The two complaints filed in Virginia and Washington State offer the most detailed official documents to date describing the group’s operating methods.

The Atomwaffen Division is sometimes referred to as an “accelerationist” group, meaning it wants to instigate the collapse of the United States by sparking a race war that will eventually lead to the creation of a white ethnostate. Atomwaffen is German for “atomic weapons,” a particular interest of its founder.

The fringe group is similar in its racist ideology to the Base, seven of whose members were arrested in an F.B.I. operation across several states last month.

Atomwaffen first came into public view in May 2017 when a Florida teenager, Devon Arthurs, told the police that he had shot dead two of his roommates. The three had all been members of a neo-Nazi group founded by a fourth roommate, Brandon Russell, Mr. Arthurs told the police.

Police officers found a cache of explosives, weapons and neo-Nazi and white supremacist paraphernalia in their apartment and garage. Mr. Arthurs said the group had planned to use the stockpile to attack the nation’s power grid, nuclear reactors and synagogues.

In 2018, Mr. Russell, a member of the Florida National Guard, was sentenced to five years in prison for stockpiling the explosives. Mr. Denton then took over running the group, investigators said.

Mr. Russell first announced the existence of Atomwaffen in October 2015 on a now-defunct online forum that emerged from Russia called Iron March, which is popular with neo-Nazis.

“We are a fanatical, ideological band of comrades who do both activism and militant training,” he wrote at the time. “No keyboard warriorism.”

Mike Baker reported from Seattle, Adam Goldman from Washington and Neil MacFarquhar from New York.

CROCODILE TEARS

George Clooney 'saddened' by child labor claims against Nespresso: 'Work will be done'

HE FAILED TO DO HIS DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE INVESTING OR BECOMING THE SPOKESMAN

George Clooney says he's "surprised and saddened" to hear allegations of child labor raised against coffee giant Nespresso, where he serves as a brand ambassador.

© JP Yim, Getty Images for Hulu George Clooney speaks onstage during Hulu's "Catch-22" special screening on May 01, 2019 in New York City.

The child labor claims surfaced following an investigation for the U.K. documentary series "Dispatches" after journalist Anthony Barnett was granted access to farms linked to Nespresso and Starbucks in Guatemala, the 10th largest coffee producing country in the world.

"Honestly I was surprised and saddened to see this story," Clooney said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Clearly this board and this company still have work to do. And that work will be done."

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Clooney has served on Nespresso's Sustainability Advisory Board for seven years in hopes of improving the life of farmers. And he's qualified for the job: He knows the "complex issues regarding farming and child labor" from firsthand experience of growing up "working on a tobacco farm from the time I was 12."

Despite the shocking claims, the Oscar winner, 58, acknowledged the success the board has had helping farmers create more profitable, sustainable and safe farms.

"I’m enormously proud of the success of their efforts," he wrote. "They’ve risked their lives trying to rebuild farms in South Sudan and spent a year on the ground helping farmers restore their farms in Puerto Rico after the hurricane. The simple truth is that this program is overwhelmingly positive for coffee farmers around the world."

Nespresso CEO Guillaume Le Cunff announced an investigation into the "unacceptable" child labor claims, adding that the coffee company has "zero tolerance of child labour."

"Where there are claims that our high standards are not met, we act immediately," Le Cunff said in a statement to USA TODAY. "We’ve launched a thorough investigation to find out which farms were filmed and whether they supply Nespresso. We will not resume purchases of coffee from farms in this area until the investigation is closed."

He continued: "We will continue to do all we can to stamp child labour out. It has no place in our supply chain.”

Clooney encouraged Barnett, the Channel 4 News reporter, to continue his investigation to provide a "check and balance of good corporate responsibility."

"I would hope that this reporter will continue to investigate these conditions and report accurately if they do not improve," Clooney added.

The "Dispatches" episode, titled "Starbucks & Nespresso: The Truth About Your Coffee," will air Monday evening in the U.K.Starbucks didn't immediately return USA TODAY's request for comment.

CORONA VIRUS BLOG POSTS

Trump’s coronavirus response includes many things he criticized President Obama for response:
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trumps-coronavirus-response-includes.html  

Infectious Disease Director at University of Nebraska contradicts Trump:
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/infectious-disease-director-at.html

Sanders blasts Trump’s coronavirus 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/sanders-blasts-trumps-coronavirus.html

Trump Ripped For Putting 'Science-Denier' Mike Pence In Charge Of Coronavirus
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trump-ripped-for-putting-science-denier.html

Trump said coronavirus won’t spread — his scientists said the opposite right in front of him
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trump-said-coronavirus-wont-spread-his.html

Trump's acting Homeland Security chief was excoriated by a GOP senator
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trumps-acting-homeland-security-chief.html

CDC issues beard and mustache guide for coronavirus pandemic
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/beards-mustaches-and-respirators-oh-my.html

Coronavirus latest: Stark CDC, WHO warnings add to global gloom: 'This could be bad'
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/coronavirus-latest-stark-cdc-who.html

Kudlow: Coronavirus will not be economic tragedy
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/kudlow-coronavirus-will-not-be-economic.html

CORONA VIRUS MEME
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-corona-virus-satire-meme.html

A faulty CDC coronavirus test delays monitoring of disease’s spread
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-faulty-cdc-coronavirus-test-delays.html

The coronavirus cruise ship outbreak confirms cruises are bad
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-coronavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak.html

The coronavirus recession?
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-coronavirus-recession-jeff-spross.html

Coronavirus fatality rates vary wildly depending on age, gender and medical history
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/home-personal-finance-coronavirus.html

As coronavirus cases surge, the U.S. military prepares for possible pandemic
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/as-coronavirus-cases-surge-u.html

Trump's coronavirus response is worse than incompetent
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trumps-coronavirus-response-is-worse.html

HHS Secretary Alex Azar reportedly blindsided by Trump putting Pence in charge of coronavirus response
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/hhs-secretary-alex-azar-reportedly.html



Effectiveness of travel bans—readily used during infectious disease outbreaks—mostly unknown, study finds
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/effectiveness-of-travel-bansreadily.html

Virus could mean $5 bn in airline losses: UN agency
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/virus-could-mean-5-bn-in-airline-losses.html

Q&A: Coronavirus likely to infect the global economy
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/fake-news-makes-disease-outbreaks-worse.html

Hundreds march in Hong Kong against potential coronavirus quarantine clinics
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/hundreds-march-in-hong-kong-against.html 

I Am Watching China Wage Peoples War on Coronavirus
(65,000 Cases and Growing)
https://plawiuknd.blogspot.com/2020/02/i-am-watching-china-wage-peoples-war.html

China’s Leader, Uer Fire, Says He Led Coronavirus Fight Early On
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/chinas-leader-under-fire-says-he-led.html

Here’s How Scientists Think Coronavirus Spreads From Bats to Humans
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/heres-how-scientists-think-coronavirus.html

PANGOLIN
How love for an endangered animal inspired a new wave of coronavirus racism
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/how-love-for-endangered-animal-inspired.html

Fake news makes disease outbreaks worse, research shows
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/fake-news-makes-disease-outbreaks-worse.html

AFP Fact Check Busting coronavirus myth 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/afp-fact-check-busting-coronavirus-myths.html

Vancouver’s Chinese restaurants are empty amid coronavirus fears. If misinformation is to blame, so is China’s embassy
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/vancouvers-chinese-restaurants-are.html

 THE ORIGIN OF THE CHINESE BIO WEAPON VIRUS CONSPIRACY THEORY
 IS A NOVEL OF COURSE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-origin-of-chinese-bio-weapon-virus.html

Coronavirus: From bats to pangolins, how do viruses reach us?
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/coronavirus-from-bats-to-pangolins-how.html

DOCTOR TRUMP & DR XI SAY; GLOBAL WARMING KILLS CORONOAVIRUS
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/doctor-trump-dr-xi-i-presume-drew.html

Coronavirus email hoax led to violent protests in Ukraine
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/coronavirus-email-hoax-led-to-violent.html

An official leading South Korea's battle against COVID-19 says he's a member of a doomsday cult 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/an-official-leading-south-koreas-battle.html

Trump’s flailing incompetence makes coronavirus even scarier
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trumps-flailing-incompetence-makes.html

Will China's coronavirus outbreak send the world economy into recession? 
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/will-chinas-coronavirus-outbreak-send.html

China’s Leader, Under Fire, Says He Led Coronavirus Fight Early On
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/chinas-leader-under-fire-says-he-led.html

Trump Bans Corona Beer To Stop Spread Of The Super Virus
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/trump-bans-corona-beer-to-stop-spread.html

 LOCUST PLAGUE UPDATE
A troop of special Chinese ducks is waiting to be deployed to neighboring Pakistan to fight a swarm of crop-eating pests that threaten regional food security.

© Stringer/Xinhua via Getty Images OKARA, Feb. 15, 2020 -- Photo taken with mobile phone on Feb. 15, 2020 shows a farmer riding a cart as locusts swarming in Okara district in eastern Pakistan's Punjab province. Locust attack on crops incurred heavy financial losses to farmers in some areas of the country.

At least 100,000 ducks are expected to be sent to Pakistan as early as the second half of this year to combat a desert locust outbreak, according to Lu Lizhi, a senior researcher with the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The ducks are “biological weapons” and can be more effective than pesticide, said Lu, who is in charge of the project in tandem with a university in Pakistan.

“One duck is able to eat more than 200 locusts a day,” Lu said in a telephone interview on Thursday, citing results of experiments to test the ducks’ searching and predation capabilities.

A trial will start in China’s western region of Xinjiang later this year before the ducks are sent to Pakistan, Lu said.

Swarms of desert locusts have been spreading through countries from eastern Africa to South Asia, destroying crops and pastures at a voracious pace. The pest plague, together with unseasonal rain and a scourge of low quality seeds, has hit major crops in Pakistan’s largest producing regions, weighing on its already fragile economy. And it has also migrated into India.

It will be crucial for China, which shares a land border with Pakistan and India, to prevent an invasion. However, China does have some shield in the form of the Himalaya mountains that stand as a barrier between the Indian subcontinent and the Plateau of Tibet.

A group of Chinese agricultural experts visited Pakistan this week to help control the locust outbreaks as the plague moves eastwards, according to a report posted on the website of China’s consulate-general in Karachi.

To gauge how serious a locust attack can be, look to Africa. The cost of fighting desert locusts in the continent’s east has doubled to $128 million, with more countries being affected each day, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said. The situation remains extremely alarming in the Horn of Africa, while there has been a significant movement of swarms over the Arabian Peninsula that reached both sides of the Persian Gulf, the FAO said in its latest locust watch report.

Trump said coronavirus won’t spread — his scientists said the opposite right in front of him: Congresswoman

Published February 26, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris

Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL) blasted President Donald Trump after his press conference Wednesday because he contradicted his own scientists on the coronavirus.

During an MSNBC discussion after the Q&A, the Congresswoman explained that it only confuses Americans more.

“He’s not doing very well on the coronavirus,” she said. “Because the test of leadership is not talking about something you know very little about and he just confused the American people about whether this virus is going to spread. All the scientists said it is going to spread and the president gave the opposite impression. And presidents have to know that when they’re in a situation like this with complicated science, they put the scientists, physicians in front of them, preferably, by the way, in white coats, and let them reassure the American people.”

She said that the last thing the country needs is uncertainty about a health crisis.

It was something that didn’t go unnoticed by MSNBC’s Chris Jansing either.

Press conference in brief
Expert: Spread of coronavirus inevitable
Trump: I don't think it's inevitable
Expert: Vaccine a year to 18 months away
Trump: We'll have a vaccine in fairly quick manner
Trump: We have to be on the same team
Trump: Nancy Pelosi is incompetent
— Chris Jansing (@ChrisJansing) February 27, 2020

---30---

‘He has no clue’: Internet slams Trump’s ‘breathtaking’ incoherence at coronavirus press conference

February 26, 2020 By Matthew Chapman

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump gave a barely intelligible press conference on the coronavirus outbreak, during which he claimed he saved America by shutting down flights, appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead a coronavirus task force despite having few qualifications to do so, suggesting his public health budget cuts are no big deal because he can just hire more doctors later, and insisting that it was Democrats, rather than the epidemic, that tanked the stock market this week.

Commenters on social media laid into the president for his performance, blasting his lack of leadership and credibility:

Trump is describing a conversation he had now where he said “is the coronavirus just the flu?”
*BANGS HEAD ON TABLE*
— Elizabeth C. McLaughlin (@ECMcLaughlin) February 27, 2020


He’s back to marveling about the flu. HE IS ACTIVELY STUPID.
— Jason Karsh (@jkarsh) February 27, 2020

That answer from Trump on budget cuts may just be about the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. They can hire doctors quickly if they need them? He has no clue how biomedical research works. None
— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 27, 2020

I was going to post a quote from Being There to make a point about this nutty press conference, but then I realized people would almost surely think I was quoting Trump.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) February 27, 2020

Ah, good, the guy whose policies as governor sparked an HIV outbreak in Indiana is on the case. Fantastic.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 26, 2020

So the dude whose regressive policies lead to an HIV outbreak in Indiana is in charge of the coronavirus?
Why not just inject me with it right now.
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) February 27, 2020

Putting Mike Pence in charge of combating the corona virus is like putting Trump in charge of a teenage beauty pageant — everything we know of their history shows this is a terrible idea.
— Charlotte Clymer ️‍ (@cmclymer) February 27, 2020

This has evolved into another Trump rally.
— Kim Franklin-Magana (@InspiringU2) February 27, 2020

The deputy director of the CDC, a 30-year career official, is standing stoic, staring straight ahead, as Trump’s coronavirus news conference becomes about… other things.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 27, 2020

“This isn’t about political advantage,” the president says, after blaming the stock market tanking on the Democratic debate and attacking Nancy Pelosi.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) February 27, 2020

Don’t worry, folks, the president of the US knows how to fix this pandemic thing: wash your hands a lot. The president washes his hands A LOT and you should too. Wash, wash, wash. See us wash.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 27, 2020

the flu epidemic of 1918 killed about 50 million people worldwide, more than 600,000 in the US. Keep that in mind when Trump downplays how bad the flu can be.
— ceut (@ceut) February 27, 2020

Dow futures turned from positive to negative during Trump’s coronavirus news conference
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) February 27, 2020

Trump says “we will essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner” . His top infectious diseases expert – standing right next to him – said it will take a year to 18 months. Also, HE said coronavirus is not the flu
— Chris Jansing (@ChrisJansing) February 27, 2020

The level of ignorance, incoherence and incompetence on display at the WH podium right now is breathtaking.
— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) February 27, 2020

Press conference in brief
Expert: Spread of coronavirus inevitable
Trump: I don’t think it’s inevitable
Expert: Vaccine a year to 18 months away
Trump: We’ll have a vaccine in fairly quick manner
Trump: We have to be on the same team
Trump: Nancy Pelosi is incompetent
— Chris Jansing (@ChrisJansing) February 27, 2020

Well, that press conference is a total disaster
We need a leader that’s going to address this no matter what the cost
not a business man pinching pennies while he gambles with 100’s of millions of people’s lives.
Fuck that.
— cryborg (@cryborg) February 27, 2020

Epidemics are one reason you want a meritocratic, apolitical civil service staffing your government, instead of a bunch of toadies, quislings and yes men. This applies to other serious crises as well, and the country has been deeply fortunate not to encounter more of them.
— Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) February 27, 2020

Trump ‘just wants this problem to go away’: President
desperate to get coronavirus ‘off his plate’

---30---

‘Rather than leading — he lies’: MSNBC panel says Trump is a ‘danger to the country’ because he can’t be trusted 

 February 27, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris

MSNBC commentators, former assistant US Attorney Maya Wiley and Rick Wilson, explained that President Donald Trump's most significant barrier is making it past his own lies to save America from the coronavirus.

"There's a case tonight being tested in Walton County, Florida. The heart of Trump country," said Wilson, referring to the panhandle county east of Pensacola. "That's not going to be something you can just walk away from if it turns out to be a real case. We're seeing these things popping up all over. The safe bet was always to say, 'This could be bad. We'll do everything we can to stop it.' But he can't stop himself from self-aggrandizing and lying about things. And it's actually -- setting aside my normal criticism of Trump -- this is a danger to the country that he is not a trustworthy person for the American people. Even people who like him now he BS's them all the time. Now, if he says it's not a problem and people are being hospitalized, it is a problem."

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Trump ‘just wants this problem to go away’: President desperate to get coronavirus ‘off his plate’

Published February 26, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris

President Donald Trump is desperate for the coronavirus problem to go away, and he doesn't exactly care how it happens.

According to New York Times reporter Annie Karni, sources are telling her that the biggest concern Trump has is more about the markets than the deaths of Americans from the virus.
"First, let's establish, this is a president who tried to change science with a Sharpie when it came to hurricane path prediction," said MSNBC host Brian Williams. "That picture lasts forever."

"Even his allies on Fox and his allies outside the White House were kind of channeling to that proverbial audience of one that this was a great opportunity to look presidential and to tell the facts," said Karni. The Donald Trump we saw out there in the briefing room was very casual, kind of left the facts to the other people that accompanied him out there. But he clearly publicly and privately just wants this problem to go away. He wants to downplay it. He thinks -- he has called people who are talking about fears about it alarmist. He doesn't want to be alarmist, and he's kind of holding on to any comment that makes it sound like this will naturally be a problem that is removed from his plate. That's what we saw publicly, and that's what he's been saying privately as well." 

Seth Meyers: You know Trump isn’t the chief law enforcement officer because he couldn’t pass the physical

February 26, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris

"Late Night" host Seth Meyers warned that the United States is sliding into authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

Sounding the alarm Wednesday evening, Meyers cited reports that Trump was making lists of disloyal people, purging them from their jobs, hiring unqualified cronies in top posts, and claiming he has the right to interfere in criminal cases.

While speaking to the press last week, Trump even announced that he's allowed to be involved in all criminal cases because he's the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. It's actually a title used for the attorney general 

 Trump frantically attacks media for making coronavirus ‘look as bad as possible’ in panicky tweet

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What will Democrats do if Trump and Pence won’t leave office?

BETTER QUESTION 

WHAT WILL THE AMERICAN CITIZEN(S) DO

WE KNOW WHAT TRUMPS TROOPS WILL DO

JUST LIKE MUSSOLINI DID MARCH ON WASHINGTON

AND DECLARE A WHITE SUPREMACIST FUNDAMENTALIST THEOCRACY
Published February 26, 2020 By Chauncey Devega, Salon- Commentary

The 10th Democratic Party presidential primary debate was held on Tuesday night in Charleston, South Carolina. Although the atmosphere was frenzied and almost chaotic at times, it was much like those that came before.

To this point, the candidates have been asked questions about such topics as the economy, global climate disaster, immigration, tax policy, foreign affairs, health care, sexism, racism and other forms of social inequality.

These “debates” — which are largely scripted interactions where soundbites are offered in response to predictable questions — have had their moments of excitement. Last week we saw Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s pummeling of former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg as though she were world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury and he were some hapless club fighter. The debate in Charleston saw Warren continue her dismantling of Bloomberg. As the frontrunner, Sen. Sanders was also a prime target where the other candidates attacked him en masse but none were able to truly defeat him. Former vice president Joe Biden struggled to remain relevant.

These debates have also been tedious because there were (and are) too many candidates in the field — and most of them had no real chance of defeating Donald Trump on Election Day in November.

But in all these debates the Democratic Party’s prospective presidential nominees have not been asked the most important question: What should happen if Donald Trump is defeated and then refuses to leave office?

In a moment when Trump is systematically undermining the rule of law, ignoring the Constitution, purging the government of anyone who places loyalty to democracy and the Constitution over personal subservience to him, and in total acting as though he were a king or dictator, the answer to that question is essential for the future of the country.

As of the first week of February, Donald Trump has “joked” at least 27 times that he plans to stay in office past the two terms allowed by the Constitution. Trump’s propagandists have made similar statements, including outlandish claims that because Trump was impeached he is somehow now allotted extra time in office.

Writing at the Atlantic, Sarada Peri summarizes the clear and present danger of a lawless president who rejects the people’s legitimate collective will:
Should the lying and cheating fail — should the Democrat manage to win the 2020 election — Trump will have one more trick up his sleeve. Before the 2016 election, he suggested that he might not accept a defeat. So who’s to say that he will accept one in 2020? You don’t have to squint hard to see the clues: He retweeted Jerry Falwell Jr.’s suggestion that he ought to have two years added to his term and “joked” about staying in office longer than eight years. If he loses in November, the litigious showman might claim that the election was rigged against him and theatrically contest the results in court.

The cumulative effect of Trump’s efforts, of all the stains on his shirt, is to disorient the media and the electorate. Democrats, meanwhile, are fighting about how aggressive to get on climate change or whether debt-free college should be means-tested — bless their hearts. These are worthy questions, but not the question of the moment: How should they fight against a president who has no moral or legal compass, and who will use the full might of the executive branch to win?

Trump’s refusal to respect democratic norms — and the law — is nothing new. As Peri notes, during the 2016 campaign Donald Trump repeatedly suggested that he might not respect the outcome of the election if he did not win

Although Pete Buttigieg may think otherwise, Trump’s threats to remain in office indefinitely are not jokes. Like other autocrats and authoritarians, Trump is testing norms and boundaries as a way of expanding his assault on democracy and control over the country.

Trump was impeached for attempting to bribe and extort the government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election on his behalf. “Acquitted” by his Republican handmaidens in a rigged Senate trial, Trump is now flagrant in his public requests that other countries intervene in the upcoming presidential election to help him defeat the Democratic Party and contravene the will of the American people.

Last week, Donald Trump fired his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire. Why? Trump was enraged by intelligence reports that the Russian government is engaged — as it was four years ago — in a psychological operations campaign aimed at manipulating the American people into supporting his reelection.

Writing at Just Security, Alex Finley, John Sipher and Asha Rangappa describe Russia and Putin’s threat to America and the strategy of using Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and their supporters as authoritarian chaos agents:

Putin aimed for chaos, and Donald Trump was the chaos candidate in 2016. But Putin will continue to attack, namely because his objectives haven’t changed and the United States has not done anything to defend or deter him from this course of action. The only difference this time around is that, after four years of Trump, generating chaos will be even easier to achieve, as Trump and his surrogates have adopted the same playbook….

That situation is ripe for the covert actions of a hostile actor. Putin does not care if Trump wins. He simply wants to weaken the U.S. Making the country question the outcome of the most sacred part of democracy is a good way to do it.

Why haven’t the Democratic primary candidates forcefully and clearly stated what they will do if Donald Trump is defeated in 2020 and then refuses to surrender power?

There are several reasons. To confront such an increasingly probable outcome would create an epistemic crisis, where what is taken to be true, constitutes knowledge, and exists as empirical reality and verifiable facts would be left upside down and discombobulated.

Generally, politicians are deeply invested in the system as it exists. That system provides them emotional and financial support, social capital and a broader sense of identity, self and ego gratification. To confront an existential crisis in America’s democracy means that the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates and other leading figures would have to engage in an act of profound and painful critical self-reflection, because their belief system and related identities would be called into great doubt.

Whatever their individual policy differences may be, the Democratic Party’s potential nominees and other elites believe in the fundamental goodness of America. They also believe in American Exceptionalism. To be forced to confront the question “Could it happen here?” is to consider something impossibly frightening for them.

For similar reasons, the debate moderators avoid asking questions about Trump’s possible or likely refusal to honor or recognize constitutional order if he is defeated in November. Moreover, the moderators are deeply invested in maintaining the appearance of normalcy by reinforcing an illusion that America’s democracy and political culture are not, in fact, experiencing an existential crisis.

The Democratic Party’s presidential primary candidates must also provide a response to this scenario, outlined by Barbara McQuade in the Atlantic:

Although Trump’s remaining in office seems unlikely, a more frightening — and plausible — scenario would be if his defeat inspired extremist supporters to engage in violence. One could imagine a world in which Trump is defeated in the 2020 election, and he immediately begins tweeting that the election was rigged. Or consider the possibility, albeit remote, that a second-term Trump is removed from office through impeachment, and rails about his ouster as a coup. His message would be amplified by right-wing media. If his grievances hit home with even a few people inclined toward violence, deadly acts of violence, or even terrorist attacks against the new administration, could result.

Ultimately, the key to the peaceful transfer of power is the conduct of the outgoing leader himself. America has thus far been lucky in that regard….

But if Trump should fail in his final duty as president to transfer power peacefully, the nation’s laws, norms, and institutions will be responsible for carrying out the will of the electorate. Should those fail too, then the American experiment’s greatest achievement will come to a grinding halt, and with it the hope that a republic can ever be kept.

Perhaps most ominously, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, retired Adm. William McRaven wrote about the dangers to America represented by Trump and his regime:

As Americans, we should be frightened — deeply afraid for the future of the nation. When good men and women can’t speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.

What should be done?

The American people must force the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates, and its eventual nominee to answer this crucial question: What should be done if Donald Trump refuses to leave office in 2020?

How a given candidate answers that question is like a final exam which should help the American people assess if that person is capable of being the next president of the United States — and capable of doing the long, hard, difficult and necessary work to restore and repair America after the great harm caused by the Age of Trump.

Tesla crash report may lack enforcement power, but implications are real, analysts say

Lawsuits, temporary Autopilot halt some of the possibilities, Evercore says

Getty ImagesTesla vehicles at a dealership in Miami last year.


By CLAUDIAASSIS REPORTER Published: Feb 26, 2020 

A report on a fatal crash involving a Tesla Inc. vehicle may lack enforcement power, but the implications for the company are real and could include a temporary shutdown of Autopilot, the Silicon Valley car maker’s suite of advanced driver-assistance systems.

That’s from analysts at Evercore ISI, who in a note Wednesday commented on a Tuesday report by the National Transportation Safety Board on a fiery Tesla TSLA, -1.32% Model X crash in the San Francisco Bay Area that killed an Apple Inc. AAPL, -1.08% engineer.

The NTSB faulted several parties, including the driver, who allegedly was playing a videogame, and said that the Tesla system failed in several technical areas, including not activating the automatic emergency brake.

Through its various iterations and upgrades, Autopilot has been under criticism for creating a false sense of security in drivers and the impression that it makes cars autonomous. Tesla has said it would continue efforts to educate consumers. To use the system, drivers must keep hands on the wheel and be ready to intervene should anything go awry.

The NTSB can make recommendations, but it cannot enforce them, the Evercore analysts said.

For Tesla, a “wide range of outcomes still exists, with the most damaging possibility (albeit low probability) being a forced temporary shutdown” of Autopilot until Tesla can devise better systems to make sure drivers are actively paying attention to the road while using Autopilot, the analysts said.

“The potential for consumer lawsuits, if no recall occurs, is also non-trivial,” they said. Autopilot is only partial automation “that consumers often mistake and/or misuse” as a system capable of higher autonomy levels, and that “is the heart of the problem,” the analysts said.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/tesla-autopilots-role-in-fatal-2018.html

Sanders blasts Trump’s coronavirus response: ‘This great genius’ says it’s ‘going to end in two months’

At their debate in South Carolina, several Democratic White House hopefuls criticize president’s approach to the deadly outbreak

Getty Images Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar

 take part Tuesday night in the Democratic presidential primary 

debate in Charleston, South Carolina.


By VICTOR REKLAITIS MONEY & POLITICS REPORTER 

Published: Feb 26, 2020 

Several Democratic White House hopefuls at Tuesday night’s debate criticized how President Donald Trump is handling the coronavirus outbreak, with Sen. Bernie Sanders making fun of Trump’s statement two weeks ago that it could go away in April.

Sanders, the Democratic front-runner, offered the following sarcastic comment:
‘This great genius has told us that this coronavirus is going to end in two months. April is the magical day that this great scientist we have in the White House has determined. I wish I was kidding. That is what he said.’Bernie Sanders on President Trump’s response to the coronavirus

In talking about dealing with the virus, the veteran Vermont lawmaker called for expanding the World Health Organization and fully funding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

His comments came as seven Democratic presidential hopefuls debated in South Carolina ahead of the state’s primary on Saturday. The clash took place after the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.46% plunged in Tuesday’s session as U.S. health officials warned Americans to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak.

Related: Coronavirus update — CDC warns Americans to prepare for disruption

At a rally earlier this month as he referred to the coronavirus, Trump said “a lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat, as the heat comes in.” The president also tweeted Monday that the coronavirus is “very much under control” in the U.S., and his administration sent lawmakers an urgent $2.5 billion plan to address the deadly outbreak of the COVID-19 illness.

A moderator at the debate noted that the CDC just said it’s not a matter of if the coronavirus will spread in the U.S., but when it will spread. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota was then asked if she, as president, would close the borders to Americans who have been exposed to the coronavirus in order to prevent an outbreak in this country.

Klobuchar said she would make sure there is treatment for those Americans, adding that they should be in a quarantine where they couldn’t expose others to the virus.

She also said Trump hasn’t invested as he should have in the CDC and criticized him for not addressing the nation about the outbreak. “I would do all of that,” she said. The situation is “so serious,” Klobuchar said, as she encouraged Americans to visit the CDC’s website.

Related: How 2020 candidates would tackle disease outbreaks like coronavirus

Former Vice President Joe Biden promised to do what the Obama administration “did with Ebola.”

“I was part of making sure that pandemic didn’t get to the United States,” Biden said. The ex-veep also stressed that he was part of an administration that increased budgets for the CDC and NIH, while Trump cut or tried to cut their funding. Moreover, Biden said he’d insist that American experts be allowed in China, where the outbreak started.

Now read: Is fear of a Sanders presidency bern-ing markets?

And see: How Bloomberg’s money dwarfs the other 2020 Democrats’ war chests — in one chart

Trump tweeted late Tuesday that the CDC and his administration are “doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus, including the very early closing of our borders to certain areas of the world,” which he said “was opposed by the Dems.”

“No matter how well we do,” he added, the Democrats’ talking point is “that we are doing badly.”

Trump also said early Wednesday he’ll hold a 6 p.m. Eastern news conference about the coronavirus.

This is an updated version of a report that was first published on Feb. 25, 2020.