Trump started yesterday’s press brawl by reading a statement, adding his own random remarks. It’s faintly comical how easy it is to pick out the ad libs.

In the span of just a few short months, we’ve developed a testing capacity unmatched and unrivaled anywhere in the world, and it’s not even close.  This is a core element of our plan to safely and gradually reopen America.  And we’re opening, and we’re starting, and there’s enthusiasm like I haven’t seen in a long time.

See them?

In the span of just a few short months, we’ve developed a testing capacity unmatched and unrivaled anywhere in the world, and it’s not even close.  This is a core element of our plan to safely and gradually reopen America.  And we’re opening, and we’re starting, and there’s enthusiasm like I haven’t seen in a long time.

This one made me laugh:

his week, the United States will pass 10 million tests conducted — nearly double the number of any other country.  We’re testing more people per capita than South Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Sweden, Finland, and many other countries — and, in some cases, combined.

“and, in some cases, combined” – thus making a nonsense of “per capita” and revealing that he has no idea what it means and wouldn’t understand if you told him.

Later on he tells a straight-up lie about it.

Thanks to the courage of our citizens and our aggressive strategy, hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved.  And we have saved — and if you look at on a per-100,000 basis, we’re at the best part of the pack, right on the bottom.  Germany and us are leading the world.  Germany and the United States are leading the world — lives saved per hundred thousand.

No we’re not. We’re fourth from the top, not anywhere near the bottom. Also, “us are leading the world” ain’t the right way to say that.

He’s upbeat though.

Day after day, we’re making tremendous strides.  With the dedication of our doctors and nurses — these are incredible people, these are brave people, these are warriors — with the devotion of our manufacturing workers, food suppliers, and lab technicians, and with the profound patriotism of the American people, we will defeat this horrible enemy, we will revive our economy, and we will transition into greatness.  That’s a phrase you’re going to hear a lot because that’s what’s going to happen.

Unscripted rah-rahs bolded.

We’re going into the third quarter, and we’re going to do well.  In the fourth quarter, we’re going to do very good.  And next year, I think we’re going to have one of the best years we’ve ever had because there’s a tremendous pent-up demand.  It’s a demand — and I’m feeling it.  I’ve felt things a lot over my life, and I’ve made a lot of good calls.  It’s a demand like I don’t think I’ve ever seen.  There’s a pent-up demand.  There’s a — there’s a spirit of this country like few have seen.  And I think you can say — and we’ve helped a lot of the countries a lot.  Really, a lot.  There’s a tremendous spirit all over the world to beat this terrible, terrible thing.

Fight fiercely Harvard!

Trouble is Coronavirus don’t give a shit. Coronavirus eats you whether you’re a warrior or not, whether you have a tremendous spirit or not, whether you have a tremendous pent-up demand or not, whether you’re transitioning into greatness or not.

Then he brags about the border, and the wall, and how awesome it all is, and how few people are coming in. He doesn’t pause to consider that that could be because of the pandemic as opposed to his overwhelming genius.

The first question was about how the system broke down such that people in the White House tested positive and Fauci had to go into quarantine.

I don’t think the system broke down at all.  One person tested positive, surprisingly, because, the previous day, tested negative.  And three people that were in contact — relative contact, who I believe they’ve all tested totally negative, but they are going to, for a period of time, self-isolate.  So that’s not breaking down.  It can happen.  It’s the hidden enemy.  Remember that.  It’s the hidden enemy.  And so things happen.  But the three tested negative.  The one who tested positive will be fine.  They will be absolutely fine.

Let’s linger for a moment over ” One person tested positive, surprisingly, because, the previous day, tested negative.” Let’s wonder all over again how he thinks that’s supposed to go – that if you test negative one day it’s impossible to test positive the next day? But then how would anyone ever – oh never mind.

Notice also his blithe certainty about the future health of the infected person.

And then there’s this:

I think one of the things we’re most proud of is — this just came out — deaths per 100,000 people, death — so deaths per 100,000 people: Germany and the United States are at the lowest rung of that ladder.  Meaning, low is a positive, not a negative.  Germany and the United States are the two best in deaths per 100,000 people, which, frankly, to me, that’s perhaps the most important number there is.

Uh…no. That’s not right.

Aaron Blake at the Post this morning:

President Trump has made a series of obviously false claims about the coronavirus. But at Monday’s news briefing — the first in weeks in which Trump and coronavirus task force officials took questions — he offered one of his biggest whoppers yet.

After being asked about a mysterious condition affecting children, then having task force member Adm. Brett Giroir correct him that the condition has actually proven fatal, Trump turned to better news. Or at least what he wrongly stated was better news.

He quotes that passage I just quoted.

It’s true that, while the United States has the most confirmed coronavirus cases and the most confirmed coronavirus deaths, it lags behind some Western European countries when it comes to per capita deaths. I wrote about this a week ago, noting that the raw number can be deceiving when it comes to the total impact on countries.

But the United States is nowhere close to having one of the lowest per capita death rates. In fact, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, we rank ninth-highest out of more than 140 countries for which information is available.

We’re near the top of the 140 as opposed to near the bottom. The opposite of what Trump said – what Trump, the president, said on camera to the country and the world.

Pairing the United States with Germany is another puzzling decision. Germany is one of the envies of the Western world when it comes to its coronavirus response, having ramped up testing very early and then dealing with a far less significant outbreak than its neighbors. But putting the United States next to it is ridiculous; Germany has about nine deaths per 100,000 people, as compared with about 24 per 100,000 people in the United States.

Ok but Trump’s granddaddy came here from Germany so that makes it ok.

In Kabul:

Two babies and 11 mothers and nurses have been killed in a militant attack on a hospital in the Afghan capital.

Another 15 people, including a number of children, were injured when several gunmen attacked the Kabul hospital on Tuesday morning, officials said.

Part of the hospital is run by the international medical charity, Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), and some of those working there are foreigners.

So God hates women, babies, medical workers, and foreigners.

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on The more accurate terminology.

I think it’s important to separate two things.

1) The underlying ruling is, I think, poor. I disagree with the substance of it, and I think a judge should refrain from limiting counsel’s language except in very clear-cut cases.

2) The reaction of the ADF’s counsel is worse. First, it’s shitty advocacy. When a judge tells you to stop saying something because it doesn’t help your case and he considers it uncivil, you STOP SAYING IT. Find another way to make your arguments. The entire point of wanting to use one term instead of another is because you’re an advocate trying to persuade the judge. Persisting in using a term that this judge has told you he does not find persuasive or helpful to your case is just counterproductive. (Even if this ruling extends to an eventual jury trial, it’s still fairly dumb to piss off the judge.) Unless your real goal is to lose the case while preening for the media and your GoFundMe donors or whoever, which seems to be the real purpose behind a lot of public litigation these days, so who knows. I’m just one of those dumb old school litigators who tries to actually win his cases. Second, filing a motion to recuse because you don’t like a judge’s ruling is utter nonsense. It’s something that pro se litigants and hacks do. There are reams of authority that say that you can’t do that. If it’s an appealable order, then appeal it. If it’s not an appealable order, then either take a writ if that’s available, or violate the order so as to create an appealable sanctions/contempt order (good luck with that! better hope you’re right!), or just make your damn case and add it to the grounds for appeal if you lose.

According to this chart the US doesn’t have the highest per capita rate of infections. I stand corrected.

Of course, the number of actual cases in a country is going to be higher than official figures show, with testing rates also varying dramatically. As with all figures relating to confirmed cases, they should be treated with caution.

Sir, sir, what did you mean, sir?

Hours after Trump posted a string of tweets and retweets about “Obamagate” — a new conspiracy theory that holds Obama responsible for masterminding the Russia investigation and railroading former Trump administration National Security Adviser Michael Flynn into a guilty plea for lying to the FBI (never mind that there’s no evidence of investigatory misconduct) — Philip Rucker of the Washington Post called Trump’s bluff.

“In one of your Mother’s Day tweets, you appeared to accuse President Obama of ‘the biggest political crime in American history, by far’ — those were your words. What crime exactly are you accusing President Obama of committing, and do you believe the Justice Department should prosecute him?” Rucker asked, during a news conference that was ostensibly about the coronavirus.

The crime of obamagating, duh.

“Uh, Obamagate. It’s been going on for a long time,” he began. “It’s been going on from before I even got elected, and it’s a disgrace that it happened, and if you look at what’s gone on, and if you look at now, all this information that’s being released — and from what I understand, that’s only the beginning — some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again.”

So Trump. Let’s do some highlighting.

“Uh, Obamagate. It’s been going on for a long time,” he began. “It’s been going on from before I even got elected, and it’s a disgrace that it happened, and if you look at what’s gone on, and if you look at now, all this information that’s being released — and from what I understand, that’s only the beginning — some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again.”

What’s been going on? What happened? What’s gone on? All what information? What terrible things? What is “it”?

He’s the kid who never did the reading, and thinks the teacher won’t notice the string of empty signifiers.

Of course, “Obamagate” does not involve a crime, and there’s no evidence that Obama or his top officials conspired against Trump — quite the opposite. So when Rucker pressed the point by asking what exactly the ostensible crime was, Trump resorted to smears.

“You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.”

More to the point, he resorted to yet more empty signifiers. You know; it’s very obvious; read the newspapers. Many words, no content. If he had anything he would say the thing he had. He doesn’t have that thing, he doesn’t have any thing. He has no thing.

Trump reached a new level of horrifying in today’s nightmare “press conference.”

Prevailed? We still have the highest rate of infection per capita on the whole planet, don’t we? Along with the highest number of deaths per capita? If that’s prevailing, what would abject failure look like?

Turns out he meant we have prevailed in testing. We haven’t, of course, but that’s what he meant.

He never says what “the crime” is.

The grand finale:

The Guardian has details on the truth or otherwise of Trump’s “virus going down everywhere!!” tweet:

Trump says “coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere.”

Here’s what we know. Nearly 1,330,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in the US, more than any other nation on the planet, and at least 79,500 have died, according to a Johns Hopkins database.

…

According to a New York Times database, new cases are decreasing in just 14 states of 50 states. Among them are densely populated states like New York and Michigan, which were among the hardest hit. The list also includes sparsely-populated states like Montana and Alaska.

New cases are still rising in nine US states, including states like Arizona that is pressing ahead with its re-opening on Monday. In the remaining states, the growth rate of new cases has remained relatively steady.

…

On Monday, Trump slammed Pennsylvania, a battleground state led by a Democratic governor, for not moving faster to reopen its economy. In the tweet, he broadened his attack to accused Democrats across the country of intentionally slowing their states’ return to normalcy to hurt his chances of re-election.

It’s all about him. “Never mind whether you die or not, do what it takes to get me re-elected!” All completely normal.

The tweet.

The reality:

US Coronavirus Cases:

1,377,408

Deaths:

81,190

If that’s better, what would worse look like?

Oh but laydeez are supposed to be kiiiiiiiiiiind.

That’s like saying it’s pointlessly offensive to call a murder “homicide” in court. It’s like saying it’s pointlessly offensive to call forcible uninvited penetration “rape.” It’s like saying it’s pointlessly offensive to call Trump a liar.

The whole point of the case is that whether or not you think that Yearwood and Miller “feel” female inside, the reality remains that they have male bodies and for that reason should not be racing against girls. People who have male bodies are males, whatever they feel like inside their heads. It’s not remotely “callous and hurtful” to say that. It’s quite a lot more callous and hurtful to steal women’s medals and scholarships by claiming to be female when you’re not.

And “trans female” is not more accurate. Quite the opposite: it’s more confusing, and/or more obfuscating. Training us all to call men who say they feel like women “women” conditions us to believe that they really are women, which of course is the goal of trans activism but that doesn’t mean it should be the goal of the rest of us. The feminist move to call women “women” rather than various belittling nicknames took nothing away from anyone. The trans activist move to call men “women” – well you can see the difference without my spelling it out.

Was it “callous and hurtful” to refer to Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby as “men”? No. Why should that change just because some men like to think of themselves as women?

When The National Review is on the sanity side of the argument…

Attorneys representing three female high school track athletes in their effort to bar biological males from competing against them filed a motion on Saturday calling for the presiding judge to recuse himself after he forbid the attorneys from referring to the transgender athletes at issue as “males.”

[Editorial correction: it’s “after he forbade the attorneys to refer”]

The ADF filed suit in February against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) on behalf of three girls — Selina Soule, Alana Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell. The suit challenges the CIAC policy allowing students to compete in the division that accords with their gender identity on the grounds that it disadvantages women in violation of the Title IX prohibition against discrimination on the “basis of sex.”

Which it indisputably does. You can claim that’s the price women have to pay so that men can have the right to be called women in every context and situation, but you can’t claim there is no such disadvantage. The first is debatable, the second is just a lie.

NR has a transcript of a phone call in which the judge laid out his reasoning:

What I’m saying is you must refer to them as “transgender females” rather than as “males.” Again, that’s the more accurate terminology, and I think that it fully protects your client’s legitimate interests. Referring to these individuals as “transgender females” is consistent with science, common practice and perhaps human decency. To refer to them as “males,” period, is not accurate, certainly not as accurate, and I think it’s needlessly provocative. I don’t think that you surrender any legitimate interest or position if you refer to them as transgender females. That is what the case is about. This isn’t a case involving males who have decided that they want to run in girls’ events. This is a case about girls who say that transgender girls should not be allowed to run in girls’ events. So going forward, we will not refer to the proposed intervenors as “males”; understood?

Before we even get to the core issue, there’s a slightly less core issue, which is that the judge doesn’t even know that. He can’t know it. He doesn’t know that the two transgender athletes really are transgender and really are not just exploiting the category for the sake of winning races and scholarships. He can’t, in short, know that they’re not faking it.

But even if they’re not faking it, even if they “sincerely” identify as trans girls aka they identify as girls, the fact still remains that literally speaking they are not girls. That’s the core issue, and judges shouldn’t be forcing anyone to repeat these stupid lies in court.

The lead attorney for ADF got the judge to agree that they could say “transgender” as opposed to “transgender females,” but then the judge accused the attorneys of bullying.

So if you feel strongly that you and your clients have a right to refer to these individuals as “males” and that you therefore do not want to comply with my order, then that’s unfortunate. But I’ll give you some time to think about it and you can let me know if it’s a problem. If it is, gosh, maybe we’ll need to do something. I don’t want to bully you, but at the same time, I don’t want you to be bullying anybody else. Maybe you might need to take an application to the Court of Appeals. I don’t know. But I certainly don’t want to put civility at risk in this case.

This, again, is reality turned on its head. The trans athletes are conspicuously much bigger and more muscular than the female athletes they’ve been beating at their sport, yet they are portrayed as the sad fragile victims in this scenario.

In the motion filed Saturday, the ADF attorneys argue that Chatigyny’s order is “legally unprecedented” and disrupts the appearance of impartiality.

“A disinterested observer would reasonably believe that the Court’s order and comments have destroyed the appearance of impartiality in this proceeding. That requires recusal,” reads the motion, which was obtained by National Review. “To be sure, the public debate over gender identity and sports is a heated and emotional one. This only increases the urgency that court preserve their role as the singular place in society where all can be heard and present facts before an impartial tribunal.”

Facts, not fictions, not fantasies, not magic realism, not “identities.”

60 Minutes reports:

An American scientist who collaborates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology had his grant terminated in the wake of unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 is either manmade or leaked out of a Chinese government lab.

Because if there’s anything we need right now it’s to cut off the funding of virology research.

Peter Daszak is a British-born American Ph.D. who’s spent a career discovering dangerous viruses in wildlife, especially bats.

In 2003, in Malaysia, he warned 60 Minutes a pandemic was coming. 

Peter Daszak in 2003 interview: What worries me the most is that we are going to miss the next emerging disease, that we’re suddenly going to find a SARS virus that moves from one part of the planet to another, wiping out people as it moves along.

Then he became president of EcoHealth Alliance.

In China, EcoHealth has worked for 15 years with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Together they’ve catalogued hundreds of bat viruses, research that is critical right now. 

Peter Daszak: The breakthrough drug, Remdesivir, that seems to have some impact on COVID-19 was actually tested against the viruses we discovered under our NIH research funding.

The drug wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for that funding. The interviewer asks him if that’s the case and he says it is.

But his funding from the NIH, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was killed, two weeks ago, by a political disinformation campaign targeting China’s Wuhan Institute.

On April 14, Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz claimed China’s Wuhan Institute had, quote, “birthed a monster.” Gaetz is a vigorous defender of the president. He’s been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly threatening a witness against Mr. Trump and he led a protest to delay impeachment testimony. 

And now he’s making sure thousands more people will die a hideous death.

Matt Gaetz on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”: The NIH gives this $3.7 million grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, they then advertise that they need coronavirus researchers. Following that, coronavirus erupts in Wuhan.

That’s a lie though. The grant was not to the Wuhan Institute. The lie spread.

Reporter in White House press briefing: There’s also another report that the NIH, under the Obama administration, in 2015 gave that lab $3.7 million in a grant. Why would the U.S. give a grant like that to China?

President Trump: The Obama administration gave them a grant of $3.7 million? I’ve been hearing about that. And we’ve instructed that if any grants are going to that area – we’re looking at it, literally, about an hour ago, and also early in the morning. We will end that grant very quickly. 

But the grant was not to the Wuhan Institute.

That grant was to Peter Daszak’s U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance for disease prevention it does throughout the world. His work was considered so important that, last year, the grant was reauthorized and increased by the Trump administration.

…

The Wuhan Institute is internationally respected. Two years ago, a team from the U.S. Embassy visited. That team sent a cable to Washington, concerned that one lab in the complex had a serious shortage of trained investigators. But the cable, first reported by the Washington Post, emphasized the Wuhan Institute is “critical to future… outbreak prediction and prevention.” EcoHealth’s work with Wuhan ended one week after Mr. Trump’s briefing room pledge, when the NIH revoked the grant.

Matt Gaetz on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”: I have called on Secretary Azar to immediately halt this grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They have not been honest and at worst, negligent to the point of many, many deaths throughout the world. 

[60 Minutes] Dishonest and negligent allegations have now ended EcoHealth’s carefully reviewed research designed to stop pandemics. Representative Matt Gaetz wore a gas mask on the floor of the House to lampoon the crisis. This was back in the beginning of March, weeks before masks were common. Peter Daszak, whose researchers wear masks to shield them from viruses in the wild, says his team is now facing layoffs.

Peter Daszak: This politicization of science is really damaging. You know, the conspiracy theories out there have essentially closed down communication between scientists in China and scientists in the U.S. We need that communication in an outbreak to learn from them how they control it so we can control it better. It’s sad to say, but it will probably cost lives. By sort of narrow-mindedly focusing in on ourselves, or on labs, or on certain cultural politics, we miss the real enemy. 

It’s hard to see how it can help costing lives.

I wish there were a hell so that Matt Gaetz could burn in it.

We’re now in the “let’em die” phase of Trump’s regime.

The message from President Trump and Republicans on the novel coronavirus has gone through multiple phases, each as misleading and/or bizarre as the last. First they told us the virus would barely touch us. Then they said it was serious but Trump’s management would quickly make it disappear. Then they said it could have been worse, and anyway it isn’t Trump’s fault.

And now they’re saying “Yes yes yes many thousands will die, now get back to your job!”

“There’ll be more death” as we resume economic activity, says President Trump, but “we have to get our country back.”

You know, the one where hospitals are full and sick people are piled up in the streets and mass burials are a commonplace.

The states rushing to reopen do not meet even the modest guidelines the Trump White House issued about when it would be safe to do so. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), who is eager to lift his state’s lockdown order, “shut down the work of academic experts predicting the peak of the state’s coronavirus outbreak was still about two weeks away.” Better just not to know how many people are going to die. The Ohio government is asking employers to report workers who refuse to return to work because of safety concerns so the state can take away their unemployment benefits. Iowa issued a similar warning to workers: Risk your life or lose your benefits… Trump signed an executive order declaring meatpacking plants “critical infrastructure” so that they stay open, even though there are now 10,000 covid-19 cases associated with such plants; workers at 170 facilities in 29 states have tested positive. But the president is getting personally involved to make sure there are enough burgers at Wendy’s.

It’ll be fine. This time people will just keep working through the virus, and if they drop dead on the job well that’s a hospital bed saved.

If we throw open the doors of every business, we’ll almost certainly see a second wave of infections — one that could be even worse than what we’re experiencing now — and then we’ll just have to close down all over again.

No we’ll work through the pain.

We’re moving toward an utterly horrifying partisan divide, in which Democrats want to contain the virus so that we’re able to get the economy back on its feet, while Republicans decide that the only brave and manly thing to do is to stop worrying about the virus and “get back to normal” immediately, no matter how many Americans it kills. In fact, we may soon reach the point where dismissing all those deaths is precisely how you show your loyalty to Trump.

In short – you think it’s bad now? You just wait.

Speaking of how heeding medical advice makes Macho Men feel weak…

There you go. Not wanting to die gasping for air in an ICU equals you’re SCARED, you’re AFRAID, you’re a COWARD and a WEAKLING and UNAMERICAN.

The Denver Post has more:

A Castle Rock restaurant saw big crowds Sunday when it fully reopened for Mother’s Day in open defiance of the statewide public health order that limits restaurants to takeout and delivery services.

Customers packed C&C Coffee and Kitchen on Trail Boss Drive on Sunday, filling the restaurant’s tables, its patio and forming a line out the door for dine-in service.

That’ll show that god damn Democrat liberal Obama-loving corona virus!

C&C Coffee and Kitchen owner April Arellano also did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday, but a Twitter account for the restaurant said it was reopening to stand “for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!!”

And God, and Trump, and Putin, and staring into the sun during an eclipse, and pussy-grabbing, and forced pregnancy, and MAGA!

Why do guys like Trump and Pence refuse to wear masks?

Perhaps because they see them as emasculating:

Why the reluctance to model safe behavior? My research with Jennifer Berdahl and others suggest one critical reason, which is that appearing to play it safe contradicts a core principle of masculinity: show no weakness. In short, wearing a mask emasculates.

There’s an irony here, which is that Trump shows his weakness whenever he talks, and he talks constantly and endlessly. He clearly thinks he comes across as a macho guy, but…no.

Leaders who are more concerned with preserving a macho public image put our lives at risk as they prove their manhood by showing resistance to experts’ opinions, hypersensitivity to criticism, and constant feuding with anyone who seems to disagree with them.

Or, rather, as they try to prove their manhood by doing those things. In reality they prove other things.

In our research, the show-no-weakness principle manifests by acting like you always know the answer. Admitting uncertainty or that you rely on anyone else’s opinion seems “weak.” Trump’s resistance to experts’ advice stems from a constant need to demonstrate that “I alone can fix it.”

Again – it’s the other way around. Consulting others and not professing dogmatic certainty where it isn’t possible doesn’t seem weak, it’s the conceited blustering and heedless Me First that seems and is weak. Trump didn’t look “strong” when he stood up there explaining to Doctor Birx that it would be a clever idea to use disinfectant to clean up inside the body, he looked weak and absurd and bratty.

It’s only other macho fools who think this way.

In South Dakota news:

Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters Friday to the leaders of both the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe demanding that checkpoints designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus on tribal land be removed, the governor’s office said in a statement.

“We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against Covid-19,” Noem said. “I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on US and State Highways and remove all travel checkpoints.”

“We are strongest when we work together therefore I am telling the tribes to stop protecting themselves from the virus.” I guess the virus if it doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?

In response, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier said in a news release Friday that while he agreed it’s important to work together, “you continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our ability to protect everyone on the reservation.”

And if you think about it it’s not really “working together,” now is it. It’s “you do what I say.”

“Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions,” he said. “We invite you to join us in protecting the lives of our people and those that live on this reservation. I regretfully decline your request.”

The governor is the one who’s been bungling the Smithfield disaster, too. Take the road blocks down! Open up the meatpacking plant where all those infections happened!

According to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe checkpoint policies posted on its social media, its reservation residents may travel within South Dakota to areas the state has not deemed a Covid-19 “hotspot” if it’s for an essential activity such as medical appointments or to get supplies unavailable on the reservation. But they must complete a health questionnaire when they leave and when they return every time they go through a checkpoint.

Those who don’t live on the rez can’t visit except for a very good reason, and then they have to fill out a health questionnaire.

Both tribes have also issued strict stay-at-home orders and curfews for their communities. Noem has not issued stay-at-home orders for the state.

The tribes are being more reasonable and cautious than the governor. She’s threatened to take them to court if they don’t obey.

An item from Friday:

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken to a number of world leaders in recent days, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and “they all view us as the world leader” when it comes to fighting coronavirus, “and they’re following us.”

Nope. No they don’t, no they aren’t, no they haven’t, no they won’t. Not even a little tiny bit.

Trump was speaking to Republican members of the U.S. Congress on Friday. Citing calls with Merkel, Japan’s Shinzō Abe and other, unnamed leaders, he said “so many of them, almost all of them, I would say all of them” believe the U.S. is leading the way when it comes to tackling the virus.

That progression is so typical of him. He tells the lie and then expands it and then expands it some more – apparently oblivious to how he’s giving away the fact that he’s making it all up. “so many of them, almost all of them, I would say all of them” – Start modestly, just say “so many,” but then feel a stab of pain at the inadequacy and move to “almost all” but then instantly feel the anguish of “almost” and make it oh what the hell all of them, “I would say all of them” because that’s just what a pinhead I am.

Then he says “not everybody wannoo admit it but they all view us as…[pause] the world leader, and they’re following us.”

Not everybody do wannoo admit it, that’s very true, and in fact none of them wants to admit it, and they don’t admit it, and they can’t “admit” it because it isn’t true. They could say it, and it would be untrue, but they can’t “admit” it. I can’t “admit” that I’m forty feet tall, because I’m not.

They are getting nervous.

The Trump administration is racing to contain an outbreak of Covid-19 inside the White House, as some senior officials believe that the disease is already spreading rapidly through the warren of cramped offices that make up the three floors of the West Wing.

…

The discovery of the two infected employees has prompted the White House to ramp up its procedures to combat the coronavirus, including daily tests for some senior staff, increased usage of masks and more rigorous screening of people entering the complex.

The concern about an outbreak of the virus at the White House — and the swift testing and contact tracing being done to contain it — underscores the broader challenge for Americans as Mr. Trump urges them to begin returning to their own workplaces despite warnings from public health officials that the virus continues to ravage communities across the country.

Well. Yes, but. People returning to their own workplaces is not the same as Trump staying in his. People are just people, while Trump is…you know. Above that level.

Mr. Trump himself continues to reject guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wear a mask when meeting with groups of people. But a senior administration official said the president was spooked that his valet, who is among those who serve him food, had not been wearing a mask. And he was annoyed to learn that Ms. Miller tested positive and has been growing irritated with people who get too close to him, the official said.

Masks are for the little people.

Robert Reich presents some blunt truths:

With 4.25% of the world population, America has the tragic distinction of accounting for about 30% of pandemic deaths so far.

And it is the only advanced nation where the death rate is still climbing. Three thousand deaths per day are anticipated by 1 June.

No other nation has loosened lockdowns and other social-distancing measures while deaths are increasing, as the US is now doing.

Much of this is because we’re not really an advanced nation, not in all senses. Technologically we’re hot shit, but socially and politically we’re a disaster.

We now know Donald Trump and his administration were told by public health experts in mid-January that immediate action was required to stop the spread of Covid-19. But according to Dr Anthony Fauci, “there was a lot of pushback”. Trump didn’t act until 16 March.

Epidemiologists estimate 90% of the deaths in the US from the first wave of Covid-19 might have been prevented had social distancing policies been put into effect two weeks earlier, on 2 March.

That’s a lot of premature deaths that are Trump’s doing.

And they’re Trump’s doing not even for any reason. It wouldn’t have cost him anything to pay attention to what the experts were telling him and do what needed to be done. He didn’t because…what? He got it into his flatulent head that paying attention to experts is a Democratic thing? He was too busy watching Fox and tweeting? He didn’t understand what the experts were telling him? He didn’t feel like it? What? Just sheer incompetence and stupidity and not giving a fuck, apparently.

No nation other than the US has left it to subordinate units of government – states and cities – to buy ventilators and personal protective equipment. In no other nation have such sub-governments been forced to bid against each another.

We like to be special.

In no other advanced nation has Covid-19 forced so many average citizens into poverty so quickly. The Urban Institute reports that more than 30% of American adults have had to reduce their spending on food.

Elsewhere around the world, governments are providing generous income support. Not in the US.

Oh but you see this is where we’re so clever. Having this massive impoverished underclass means the bosses can pay lousy wages for working in dangerous conditions. They get rich! They buy golf resorts and airplanes! It’s all worth it!

The coronavirus has been especially potent in the US because America is the only industrialized nation lacking universal healthcare. Many families have been reluctant to see doctors or check into emergency rooms for fear of racking up large bills.

That puts it too mildly though. It’s not “fear of” racking up huge bills – it’s certain knowledge that huge bills will be the result. There’s no element of chance here.

America is also the only one of 22 advanced nations failing to give all workers some form of paid sick leave. As a result, many American workers have remained on the job when they should have been home.

Adding to this is the skimpiness of unemployment benefits in America – providing less support in the first year of unemployment than those in any other advanced country.

American workplaces are also more dangerous. Even before Covid-19 ripped through meatpackers and warehouses, fatality rates were higher among American workers than European.

What I’m saying. Shit pay and protections, dangerous conditions, all so that a few people can amass more money than they know what to do with.

It turns out Obama has not been hugely impressed with Trump’s recent work. He

delivered a blistering critique of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis, describing it as “an absolute chaotic disaster” during a private call Friday night with people who worked for him in the White House and across his administration.

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In a 30-minute conversation with members of the Obama Alumni Association, the former president said the response to the coronavirus outbreak served as a critical reminder for why strong government leadership is needed during a global crisis. The call was intended to encourage former Obama staffers to become more engaged in Biden’s presidential campaign.

“This election that’s coming up — on every level — is so important because what we’re going to be battling is not just a particular individual or a political party,” Obama said. “What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life.”

Yes, but it is the Trump Republicans who are enabling and cheering on the trends. It is Trump who exemplifies them so thoroughly.

He also talked about the Flynn disgrace.

Weighing in on the case during the call, Obama said Attorney General William Barr’s decision to drop the criminal case against Flynn suggested “the rule of law was at risk” in the United States. Before taking office, Obama warned Trump about Flynn and raised questions about his conduct with Russia.

But Obama saved his strongest words for the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis and its worldview.

“It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,” Obama said. “It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”

To hell with everybody else – “to heck with” is not an idiom.

Anyway, here’s hoping Trump is running around with his pants on his head screaming.

Well now there’s an essential industry.

Community spread of the coronavirus in California began in a nail salon, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, as other states allow their manicurists to reopen.

Why allow nail salons of all places to open during a pandemic? Are women unable to function without long painted fingernails?

State health directors have put some “red flags” on nail salons as a high-risk business, Newsom added, likening them to gyms and hair salons. He announced Monday that the state will allow some low-risk businesses, including bookstores, warehouses, florists and more, to begin reopening with modifications and offering curbside pick up as soon as Friday.

One salon owner was shocked to hear it.

Saunders James said she employs 12 people in her business, which opened in January and has been closed since mid-March. In preparation for reopening, whenever that may be, she said she’s stocking up on personal protective equipment and disinfectants.

“I am just intuitively kind of following the rules of what a nurse would wear or a physician, or something that is more in the medical field,” she said. “Because if you’re comfortable enough to go to the dentist, or go in to see your physician, then if we’re wearing the same thing and our environment is as sterile and sanitized as a medical office, then why wouldn’t the customer feel comfortable getting a manicure in that situation?”

Because medical treatment and dental work are necessary for health. Polished fingernails are not remotely necessary for health. Why take a risk by going to a nail salon (and getting up close and personal with the person who decorates your fingernails) when doing so is far from essential?

Other states haven’t been as cautions when it comes to reopening personal care locations like nail salons. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced earlier this week hair and nail salons, barber shops and tanning salons will be allowed to reopen with modifications on Friday. 

Again: stupid. Why take that risk for optional fripperies?