Balloon Juice | Politics Archives

Corvids, Not COVID

by Betty Cracker| February 25, 20203:06 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

I’d rather discuss smart, delightful corvids than COVID-19, but there’s this headline at The Post:

Dow dives 900 points after CDC warns of coronavirus inevitability in U.S.
Health officials in the United States warned Tuesday that the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country appears inevitable, marking a significant change in tone as global travel disruptions continued to worsen, South Korea neared 1,000 cases and Iran reported at least 15 deaths.

Huh. Just yesterday, as the stock market plummeted 1,000 points, Trump told us this:

The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

Why, it’s almost like he’s an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about! Trump hasn’t piped up on today’s selloff, but Wall Street is the only symptom of the outbreak that would be meaningful to him. He’s stupid, but even Trump knows that if a pandemic tanks the economy, he’ll get bounced out of the White House even if the Democrats raid Lenin’s Tomb and put the occupant at the top of the ticket.

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Meanwhile, the low quality hires sense trouble on the horizon:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday criticized China and Iran for allegedly suppressing information about the spread of coronavirus and warned the countries’ efforts at censorship are harming a global response.

Yep, it’s totally their fault. Also this morning, even reliable Trump toadies in the Senate joined in a bipartisan grilling of Trump-appointed DHS officials:

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) slammed acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf on Tuesday for Wolf’s lack of answers during a tense grilling on the U.S. response to the coronavirus outbreak.
In a subcommittee hearing on the 2021 DHS budget, Wolf failed to provide specific answers Kennedy’s questions, including one on how many people are predicted to become infected with the new strain of virus.
“We’re working with HHS to determine that,” Wolf said, repeatedly deferring to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Yes, sir, but you’re head of Homeland Security and your job is to keep us safe,” Kennedy shot back, often talking over Wolf. “Don’t you think you ought to check on that?”

Dim Son No. 1 is pathetically leveraging the outbreak to ingratiate himself to his monstrous father:

The coronavirus outbreak shows how important it is for us to keep our borders secure. It’s also why @realDonaldTrump is right to want a trade policy focused on increasing American manufacturing. He understands that it’s dangerous for our economy to be beholden to China!
Coronavirus is the intersection of 3 issues @realDonaldTrump has been right about all along: border control, American manufacturing, China hawk. Boom, boom, boom. Proven right again!
While Dems were outraged about him shutting down air travel from there he was right there too.

Uh huh.

Anyhoo, I don’t know how hard COVID-19 will hit the U.S. Maybe we’ll get lucky. But it seems just as likely that we’ll find out that having tens of millions of uninsured people who can’t afford an emergency room visit (let alone expensive testing or a hospital stay) is a public health emergency after all.

Open thread.

Corvids, Not COVIDPost + Comments (115)

Stupidity, hatred, love and courage in India…and everywhere else

by Betty Cracker| February 25, 202010:50 am| 141 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Trump is on a state visit to India right now, and in news conferences, he has been bragging about his reception there while downplaying the coronavirus in a completely flailing way that demonstrates he doesn’t have a clue what’s happening or how to address it. Meanwhile:

Stop what you’re doing, watch this video & read about what’s happening in India.
As Trump and Modi parade across the country, mobs are openly attacking Muslims, looting their businesses & desecrating houses of worship just like you see in this video.pic.twitter.com/ouMXwXMsVg
— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) February 25, 2020

Good people are trying to protect their neighbors:

In one part of Delhi, a gurdwara opens its doors to Muslims and anyone who needs shelter.
In Seelampur, Dalits blocked the roads against mobs, sheltered their Muslim neighbours.
Police and politicians have forgotten their duty; but the people have courage and heart.#DelhiRiots
— Nilanjana Roy (@nilanjanaroy) February 25, 2020

As we know, the good people don’t always win. But we damn well better try, here, there and everywhere. Things are getting ugly.

Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but here we are. Open thread.

Stupidity, hatred, love and courage in India…and everywhere elsePost + Comments (141)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Monday / Tuesday, 2/24-2/25

by Anne Laurie| February 25, 20204:54 am| 32 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Health Care

China has posted its Feb. 24 #Covid19 numbers.
+508 confirmed cases, +71 deaths.
It says it has confirmed, in total, 77,658 cases & 2,663 deaths. pic.twitter.com/smyB8pDwMO
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 25, 2020

Of immediate interest to some Balloon Juice readers:

This is important for university students abroad as @CDCgov level 2 alerts tend to be the threshold for universities to start contingency planning for potentially bringing students back. https://t.co/HfVzztbYpD
— Dr. Saskia Popescu (@SaskiaPopescu) February 25, 2020

Smart advice for us ‘worried well’ (by all means read the whole article!)

IMO a really good post!
"Buy a few of the things each weekly shop. Don’t buy things you won’t eat later, don’t hoard and don’t buy more than you’ll need for a 2 week period. We’re not talking zombie apocalypse and we very probably won’t see power or water interruptions either." https://t.co/iGtIHylmwj
— Paul (@davispg) February 25, 2020

GENEVA, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the novel coronavirus outbreak was not out of control globally nor causing large-scale deaths and it was "too early" to speak of a pandemic.@WHO
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) February 24, 2020

Prepare like it's going to be a pandemic, @WHO tells countries, though it said the #coronavirus epidemic does not yet qualify as one. https://t.co/oCN7C9L02Y
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 24, 2020

I spoke with @katarinazimmer @TheScientistLLC the other day about #SARS_CoV_2 and #COVID19 disease. The short answer – it's complicated + your immune system has a lot to do with how things turn out. Also featuring @angie_rasmussen and Dr. Stanley Perlman.https://t.co/QYCSlo3b6U
— Lisa Gralinski (@LisaGralinski) February 24, 2020

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Put the Qom imams' rejection of quarantine and social distancing together with the South Korea religious cult and BINGO — #COVID19 out of control.
Not good to mix religion with epidemic controlhttps://t.co/J6IY6gKcM0 https://t.co/vkhKtDRcvT
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 25, 2020

To be honest, it’s not the religious cultists overseas that worry me most, at this point — it’s the political cultists right here:

“The view in the White House is that this is one of those classic black swan events, and all we can do is control the health issues in the U.S.,” said Stephen Moore, an informal economic adviser to the Trump team. https://t.co/kOfPbabdzr @politico by @ddiamond & @nancook
— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) February 25, 2020

… With the possibility of a U.S. outbreak growing by the day, Trump allies and advisers have grown increasingly worried that a botched coronavirus response will hit the U.S. economy. Even Donald Trump Jr. has mused to associates he hopes the White House does not screw up the response and put the president’s best reelection message at risk, said two individuals with knowledge of his comments.
“Trump’s reelection effort is so closely tied to the strength of the stock market and the economy,” said Moore, a distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and 2016 Trump campaign adviser. “Anything that shakes us off of that pro-growth track is a concern, but I think the view of officials in the White House is that this will be contained.”
“Once the virus is contained, the market will bounce right back,” Moore added…
But inside the White House, officials have been quietly studying models of the pandemic’s potential effect on both the U.S. and the global economy, said one Republican close to the White House. Among policy aides, there‘s widespread concern that the spread of the coronavirus will hit a slew of industries including manufacturers, airlines, automakers and tech companies, slowing down both the U.S. and Chinese economies. Aides fear the White House has few economic tricks it can deploy to lessen the impact.
Meanwhile, officials like acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and domestic policy chief Joe Grogan have turned their fire on HHS Secretary Alex Azar, who’s leading the coronavirus response, arguing that Azar has poorly coordinated the strategy, failed to escalate the potential risks to Trump and pushed for a multibillion-dollar emergency-funding request that they initially viewed as extreme, said four individuals familiar with the matter.The Trump administration on Monday night announced a request for $2.5 billion in emergency coronavirus cash, which would also shift at least $535 million in previously committed funds.
Funding the response had been a major sticking point between the White House and Azar, who lobbied to request additional funds from Congress before he makes four separate hearings on the Hill this week. Officials had spent days jockeying over the final figure for the emergency package, veering anywhere between $1 billion to $5 billion. The package also is expected to face resistance from Democrats, who have warned the Trump administration against shifting money away from existing commitments…

Fortunately, there are still some grown-ups in the government. Per NBC:

The White House is asking Congress for $2.5 billion to respond to the coronavirus illness known as COVID-19 that has killed more than 2,600 people in mainland China, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the request inadequate.
Pelosi, D-California, said in a statement that the administration’s request is “is long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency.”
She also accused the Trump administration of leaving vacant critical positions at the National Security Council and Department of Homeland Security.
“And now, the president is compounding our vulnerabilities by seeking to ransack funds still needed to keep Ebola in check,” Pelosi said.
“The president should not be raiding money that Congress has appropriated for other life-or-death public health priorities,” she said, suggesting that the House would move forward with its own plan…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, signaled his disapproval as well, saying the effort was “too little too late.”
“That President Trump is trying to steal funds dedicated to fight Ebola — which is still considered an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — is indicative of his towering incompetence and further proof that he and his administration aren’t taking the coronavirus crisis as seriously as they need to be,” Schumer said in a statement.
There have been no deaths from the coronavirus illness in the United States, but there are confirmed cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that there have been two cases of person-to-person transmission in the U.S., and that the virus can be spread via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The CDC says on its website that the virus is not currently spreading in the U.S…

The acting deputy secretary of homeland security is asking the internet where to get information about the spread of #Covid19.
We are so borked. pic.twitter.com/hWony9uGG4
— Greg Greene (@ggreeneva) February 24, 2020

The @JohnsHopkins map is a great tool. But when I coordinated the Ebola response in 2014-15, I got two briefings a day from the CIA … and never crowd-sourced the response on @Twitter. https://t.co/eT1FVmtaSQ
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) February 25, 2020

Another excellent thread, from someone who knows what he’s talking about:

As both an emergency manager and as someone who helped manage the 2014 USG Ebola response, let me tell you why this is such a damaging tweet.
This is the loudest voice in the US government sharing actively problematic risk communication. https://t.co/L3PPHX4gW8
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) February 24, 2020

Wow, this has blown up. While you're here: don't despair, do prepare.
This outbreak can be managed, and damaging overreaction is as risky as damaging under-reaction.
Here's an overview of what governments should be doing to get ready: https://t.co/mboRx431i2
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) February 25, 2020

The coronavirus story will also become a health-insurance story in America. This guy went to China, caught the flu, came back, did the responsible thing and reported himself for possible coronavirus — but tested negative and now might have to pay $1,400+. https://t.co/GdDqyODPVw
— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) February 24, 2020

This is EXACTLY the argument against formally declaring a pandemic. Pandemic does not necessarily mean "category 5 hurricane". It simply means that the outbreak has taken root in multiple geographic regions. But the word elicits panic and hysteria, which are NOT helpful.
— Sanghyuk Shin (@sanghyuk_shin) February 25, 2020

The Chinese CDC today published the largest case series to date of #COVID19 in mainland China (72 314 cases through 2/11/20). Here are some of the data:
Case-fatality rate
• 2.3% Overall
• 14.8% age >= 80
• 8.0% age 70-79
• 49.0% in critical caseshttps://t.co/ZFR6pScCpa
— JAMA (@JAMA_current) February 24, 2020

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Chinese have sacrificed so much. The party members have covered up, and the cadres produced theater, but the everyday Chinese put their lives on hold to save the world. We owe them the best use of our remaining bought time https://t.co/zqoRA9BmeD
— Daniel Sinclair (@_DanielSinclair) February 24, 2020

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Monday / Tuesday, 2/24-2/25Post + Comments (32)

About Today’s ‘Pandemic’ Panic

by Anne Laurie| February 24, 202011:41 pm| 85 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Health Care, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

Yeah, the political risk to Trump. That’s what we’re worried about. How about putting shortsighted amateur President actions come back to bite world in ass? pic.twitter.com/JjAwiZz7Eg
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 25, 2020

Every night for the past month, I’ve been posting a ‘Coronavirus Update’, usually between 4am-5am. (I know it’s easy to overlook at that hour, but it’s when I have the time to pay attention, and I think predictability has its advantages given the current firehose of breaking news.)

I am in no way an expert, but if you’re curious about where this mess is coming from, my earlier posts should give you an idea of what the actual experts have been saying, as well as some twitter feeds to follow — Helen Branswell, Dr. Tara C. Smith, ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ, et al. And I’m always grateful for leads to new, trustworthy sources!

The @WHO have said that the coronavirus outbreak was not out of control globally nor causing large-scale deaths and so it is too early to declare it a pandemic https://t.co/LaqLXSSczc pic.twitter.com/No0I8rij8X
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 24, 2020

Nice to know as people are worrying about staying healthy and sane he will be tweeting, “Great time to invest!” pic.twitter.com/0etTI6sRBk
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 25, 2020

Fox, very useful in a crisis. https://t.co/EHMqgDzrfT
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 25, 2020

Remember the mantra: KEEP CALM & CARRY ON. (Also, never forget your towel. Seriously — individual towel usage, highly recommended for slowing the spread of viruses… )

About Today’s ‘Pandemic’ PanicPost + Comments (85)

Representation Matters

by Betty Cracker| February 24, 20202:47 pm| 256 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics

I’m not a Pete person,* but the effect of his candidacy on this kid (and millions of other kids we don’t see) is a wonderful thing:

It’s a big fucking deal that an openly gay person won a statewide contest for one of the two major party’s presidential nomination. That’s never happened before.

Sometimes I think we (Americans who aren’t homophobic assholes, I mean) should pay more attention to that. For all the dismissive talk about “identity politics” in some quarters, what it really comes down to is that people need to know their country values them as equal human beings who have as much right to participate in their democracy as anyone else. There is no default setting for “American,” or at least there shouldn’t be. Representation matters.

Open thread.

*If Buttigieg wins the nomination, I’ll become a Pete person so damned fast it’ll make my head spin.

Representation MattersPost + Comments (256)

Justice Sotomayor Calls Out SCOTUS Bias

by Betty Cracker| February 24, 202011:45 am| 109 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Open Threads, Politics

The Trump administration has been a Category 5 shit-storm for three years and change, so if you didn’t notice its abnormally frequent reliance on “emergency” SCOTUS relief to enforce its shitty policies, it’s no wonder, what with the galloping authoritarianism and all. But Trump’s flunkies have run to their stacked court more than the Obama and Bush administrations COMBINED. Justice Sotomayor noticed. Here’s her dissent in the recent “can’t we just restrict immigration to white Europeans” case:

The Supreme Court unveiled a 5-4 decision on Friday to allow the Trump administration to deny entry or green cards to immigrants based on a “wealth test,” claiming that low-income immigrants were likely to become a “public charge” and use social programs such as food stamps or Medicaid. All four justices nominated by Democrats voted against the case. Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored the blistering dissent and accused the court’s conservatives of bias in favor of Trump.
Sotomayor said the administration has too quickly gone to the Supreme Court to appeal unfavorable decisions made by lower courts, and that by taking the cases, the Supreme Court is “putting a thumb on the scale in favor of” the president.
“Claiming one emergency after another, the government has recently sought stays in an unprecedented number of cases, demanding immediate attention and consuming limited court resources in each,” Sotomayor wrote. “And with each successive application, of course, its cries of urgency ring increasingly hollow.”
“It is hard to say what is more troubling,” she added. “That the government would seek this extraordinary relief seemingly as a matter of course, or that the Court would grant it.”

I suspect Chief Justice Roberts has no issue with Trump administration policies, but he cares very much about maintaining the fiction that the SCOTUS is above the political fray. Kudos to Justice Sotomayor for declining to participate in that ruse.

Justice Sotomayor Calls Out SCOTUS BiasPost + Comments (109)

Everybody Loves Their Insurance

by download my app in the app store mistermix| February 24, 20208:15 am| 193 Comments

This post is in: World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

In 2010, I had good union health insurance. Obamacare was the law of the land. In November that yr my 1yo son was struck by a careless driver in a crosswalk. After two surgeries and a night in intensive care, he died.
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

I googled FMLA and learned I wouldn't qualify b/c I hadn't been at my job for a year. If I lost my job we would both be without insurance. Without my income, there was no way we could afford $1K/month COBRA.
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

My husband who was also injured in the crash, was refused treatment by his primary care doc b/c she didn't accept payment from auto insurance and his health insurer wouldn't pay til we exhausted our auto insurance.
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

We ended up with around $5K in out-of-pocket expenses and our health insurer paid $175K. Eventually, we'd receive a settlement from the at-fault driver. For a minute, we thought we might be OK financially.
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

(Side Note: It took me 8 yrs but in 2019 I initiated and passed a bill making this practice illegal in OR. It remains legal in many states.)
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

Through all this, my husband and I both were suffering from PTSD. We had jobs, a mortgage. All of it hung in the balance. In a humane system, we could grieve without having to navigate an insurance juggernaut, without worrying about being thrust into debt and poverty.
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

Every one of us lives in a body that is going to fail. Sometimes it happens suddenly, catastrophically. Do you want to fight with insurers when this happens? Do you want to sort through a mountain of bills when you lose someone you love, when your grief is raw?
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

I believe change is coming. I am ready to fight for other families, for #MedicareForAll, and to elect @BernieSanders president. Sending solidarity and love to all who are suffering under this awful system. ❤️👊
— Michelle DuBarry (@DuBarryPie) February 23, 2020

I don’t know how someone can be as strong as this woman. I know how it feels to have a child in the hospital, but ours survived. I can’t imagine combining that with financial ruin. Michelle has two first graders now, and this is her website.

Everybody Loves Their InsurancePost + Comments (193)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Sunday/Monday 2/23-2/24

by Anne Laurie| February 24, 20204:03 am| 23 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Health Care

China's Feb 23 #Covid19 numbers are out. +409 cases & +150 deaths.
The totals there are now listed as 77,150 cases & 2592 deaths.
Report is here: https://t.co/wGoN5m7n9Q pic.twitter.com/nQwL4uAW5D
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 24, 2020

Welcome to the new “normal”. “Global health lawyer”:

It’s time for a Pandemic thread for #COVID19
(prompted by questions from the excellent @MackayIM & @onisillos – thank-you)
🌏What is a pandemic?
🌍Are we in a pandemic?
🌎How do pandemic and PHEIC declarations differ?
🌏What is the impact of declaring a pandemic?
(1/?)
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) February 23, 2020

2. A pandemic refers to the spread of a disease worldwide or over a significant proportion of the world, generally considered to be two or more continents. “Pandemic” is a descriptive term, not a legal term, and specifically describes spread, not severity, of a disease.
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) February 23, 2020

7b. What is the impact of a pandemic declaration?
(national law – varies country to country)
📚 regulatory and funding agencies may have laws that depend on a pandemic declaration.
📚Some contracts (e.g. insurance especially) may have clauses trigger on a pandemic.
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) February 23, 2020

8. Are we in a pandemic? I think we are incredibly close:
🔺more than incidental local transmission in Asia (China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Iran) & Europe (Italy).
🔺 assume some undetected spread occurring globally.
But, I think we are still on the cusp. pic.twitter.com/JR5LuMSeaH
— Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) February 23, 2020

I wrote this piece with @mlipsitch about how reporters can help cover the #Covid_19 pandemic better. It’s also targeted at the general public, to help understand the different sorts of knowledge we can talk about. Many thanks to @sciam for hosting! https://t.co/krxSbwv7HG
— Bill Hanage (@BillHanage) February 23, 2020

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Thread on how much #Covid19 testing is being done in the US (spoiler alert: not enough). https://t.co/OJKzOu6TJA
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 23, 2020

An infographic summary of the biggest #COVID19 case analysis to date, and a reminder of how to name the disease (COVID-19) and the virus that infects us to cause it (SARS-CoV-2), with references. https://t.co/FhcjU3h6NM
— ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 (@MackayIM) February 23, 2020

A seafood market in Wuhan might have boosted circulation of the deadly #coronavirus, but may not have ben where it originated, according to a new study. https://t.co/KijQiHGPeG pic.twitter.com/lkwCHWRApW
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) February 24, 2020

Virus-hit China set to postpone its annual parliament session for the first time since the Cultural Revolution https://t.co/NW2JQRwHhK #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/sSur8oC8gu
— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 24, 2020

(It was due to begin on March 5th.)

#Breaking Afghanistan confirms the first case of #coronavirus: agencies (File Photo) pic.twitter.com/58IwsFt445
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 24, 2020

Oil and Asia stocks slump as coronavirus spreads outside China https://t.co/KwmGOo8P3c
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 24, 2020

U.S. national and local officials are, predictably, handling the whole situation sub-optimally…

#BREAKING: The city of Costa Mesa is seeking to block the transfer of up to 70 confirmed coronavirus patients from near Sacramento to the former Fairview Development Center https://t.co/r2aB9iXf5O pic.twitter.com/uSG767VhpH
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 22, 2020

… At a press conference, officials including Mayor Katrina Foley gathered to answer questions about the injunction filed to block the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health from transferring as many as 50 patients who have tested positive for coronavirus from Sacramento to the city’s Fairview Developmental Center….
Federal court papers filed Friday state that the federal government planned to transfer the patients from Travis Air Force Base on Sunday or Monday. Thursday night, Costa Mesa city officials began hearing of the plan to move between 30 and 50 patients to the state-owned land…
The California Health and Human Services Agency released a statement Saturday regarding the possible transfer of coronavirus patients to Costa Mesa.
“The federal quarantine of former Diamond Princess cruise ship passengers at Travis Air Force Base remains a federal operation,” the statement said. “California has been working hard to support this federal effort in a way that ensures the public health and safety of our communities and the passengers themselves.”
According to the statement, the federal government has determined that anyone testing positive for coronavirus cannot stay at Travis Air Force Base, and the Fairview Developmental Center is one of the locations under consideration to quarantine the patients until the infection has cleared.
“If Fairview were chosen, the federal government would be responsible for providing health care – easing the burden on our hospitals during flu season – and for providing robust security to ensure the public safety and public health of the surrounding community,” the statement said…
As of Feb. 21, the CDC had only confirmed 35 cases of coronavirus in the U.S., with California’s confirmed total at 15.

Letting fear corrode our communities makes us all less resilient. If we do face tough times, we will need to get though it together. https://t.co/DHjll9pvnX
— Caitlin Rivers (@cmyeaton) February 24, 2020

Reuters:

The Trump administration has backed off plans to quarantine patients from the Diamond Princess cruise ship stricken with coronavirus at a federal facility in Alabama, the state’s governor and a U.S. senator said on Sunday…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Saturday that it would house American passengers evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who had tested positive for coronavirus at a former Army base in Anniston, Alabama.
It was unclear where those patients would be quarantined if the plan to house them in Alabama had been scrapped…

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Sunday/Monday 2/23-2/24Post + Comments (23)

Open Thread: Voter Information At Your Fingertips

by TaMara (HFG)| February 23, 202012:03 pm| 24 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Right to Vote, Voter Suppression

I had asked in the comments a few days ago if anyone had a site where you could check your voter registration without entering your email. I wanted to post on FB and I knew I had some folks who would be reluctant to give their email, knowing they’d be inundated with donation and other requests.

Turns out the League of Women Voters have just such a site.

Love the personalized election guide from @vote411 and @lwv! #lwv #VOTE #2020election #ThursdayThoughts https://t.co/7j1sIJnnCE
— Holly Bodner (@bodner_h) February 13, 2020

From Vote411.org you can register to vote, check your voter registration and see what’s on your ballot, with signing up for unwanted emails.

Share far and wide!

Here’s a big puppy trying and succeeding to fit into the smallest place possible (my spot, btw).

Open thread

Open Thread: Voter Information At Your FingertipsPost + Comments (24)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Saturday / Sunday

by Anne Laurie| February 23, 20202:16 am| 57 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Health Care

Typo in my tweet below. #Covid19 death toll in China is 2442. https://t.co/Yfg21mpAcB
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 23, 2020

2. Of the international #COVID19 cases, 45% are people who were infected on cruise ships. For a while, the cruise ship infections made up more than half of all out-of-China cases. With most (?) people off ships & spread picking up in Italy, Iran, South Korea, this is shifting. pic.twitter.com/XROnOzIsxh
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 22, 2020

New stage in public perception, if not in the actual spread of the virus — “science journalist. molecular biologist. curious. Contributing Correspondent at @sciencemagazine”:

For me and for everyone I know who has been following #covid19, the last few days have felt like a profound shift in the epidemic. We are clearly entering a new phase. And since I've had some time to digest recent news, here is a short thread about that „window of opportunity“
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 22, 2020

The @WHO and @drtedros have emphasized again and again that there is a “window of opportunity” to contain #COVID19. On Friday, Tedros said he believed that window of opportunity was still there, but narrowing. Personally, I think the last days have shown that time is up.
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 22, 2020

…

From the summary: "we estimated that about two thirds of COVID-19 cases exported from mainland China have remained undetected worldwide, potentially resulting in multiple chains of as yet undetected human-to-human transmission outside mainland China"
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 22, 2020

The massive efforts in China have bought us time. But we should be using that time to prepare and that includes preparing the world by communicating what is happening, what is likely to happen and what the response might look like. That is the “window of opportunity” we have now.
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 22, 2020

Scoop: Trump will ask Congress for emergency funds to fight coronavirus, although health officials fear the request – potentially $1B – will be too small and quickly exhausted. https://t.co/XhHCn7gA6K
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) February 23, 2020

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Saturday / SundayPost + Comments (57)

The Weaponization of Intelligence for the President’s Political Purposes: The Coming Influence Operation Against Senator Sanders

by Adam L Silverman| February 22, 20206:04 pm| 44 Comments

This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election Year, Foreign Affairs, Information Warfare, Open Threads, Politics, Russia, Silverman on Security

Last night I wrote that it was a problem that Senator Sanders sat on the information that Vladimir Putin was interfering in the Democratic primaries to elevate his candidacy for a month. That by waiting, by not finding a way to get the information released or even leaked in a manner that he could control to get ahead of the information, he placed himself at the mercy of someone else leaking it. Someone else did leak it. And that leak was not done to assist Senator Sanders or his campaign. By sitting on the information, Senator Sanders made himself vulnerable to the other two principal leaders who also had the information: the President and Vladimir Putin. Neither of whom wants Senator Sanders to be the nominee because they want him to become President. Rather the President wants Senator Sanders to be the nominee because he has determined that Senator Sanders will be the easiest of the Democratic primary candidates to defeat. Vladimir Putin wants Senator Sanders to be the nominee because he has assessed that Senator Sanders is the most likely to create chaos within the Democratic Party, which furthers his goal of seeing the President reelected.

As was easily predictable, the information is now being weaponized by the President’s surrogates.

National security adviser Robert O'Brien tells ABC in interview to air tomorrow that he hasn't seen any evidence of Russia seeking to help Trump. Asked whether Russia might be helping Sanders, he says reports could be credible. "That's no surprise. He honeymooned in Moscow."
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 22, 2020

Assistant to the President-National Security Advisor (APNSA) O’Brien’s statement clearing the President of suspicion, but reaffirming the negative information against Senator Sanders will just be the first of many. Expect the Acting DNI, Ambassador Grennell, to make similar statements. Likely backed up by further leaks and/or official disclosures. US intelligence will be weaponized to dirty up Senator Sanders by the political loyalists the President has placed in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The narrative will be to tie the information that Putin is interfering in the primaries on behalf of Senator Sanders with Senator Sanders long history of support for hard socialist and communist leaders and officials in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia. This may not be fair, but this is what is going to happen.

This influence campaign, one which will be carried out not just by surrogates and supporters outside of government, but by actual appointed senior officials in the President’s administration like APNSA O’Brien has done with his statement today are not really intended to effect Senator Sanders’ core supporters. Nor is it really intended to influence the Democratic primary. What it is intended to do is create material for Facebook ads to micro-target more moderate Democrats, Democratic leaning Independents, and formerly Republican leaning Independents, as well as to provide material that can be weaponized to reach these same people on Twitter and other social and digital media platforms. The point of doing this will be to depress Democratic turnout, as well as the turnout of non Democrats that will be needed to ensure an Electoral College victory against the President should Senator Sanders be the Democratic nominee. It is also intended to effect down balance races to maintain the Republican majority in the Senate, flip the House majority back to the Republicans, and capture as many Democratic held governorships and state legislatures as possible before the next round of redistricting after the 2020 census.

I’m not writing this to harm Senator Sanders. I guarantee that there is a similar influence operation already planned for each of the potential Democratic nominees. Whichever Democrat gets the nomination is going to face something similar. We’ve been watching the operation against VP Biden for well over a year now. And we know, because I’ve put it on the front page at least eight times, that the seeds of that influence operation against VP Biden were first sown in 2o14. And that should be a concern to Senator Sanders, his campaign, his key surrogates, and his supporters because Senator Sanders has over 40 years of taking controversial, hard left positions and supporting some of the worst hard left, socialist, and communist leaders outside the US. And because the Soviet Intelligence Services were collecting video and audio on him the entire time he was in Soviet Russia for his honeymoon; video and audio that Vladimir Putin will weaponize if and when he feels the need too. And that’s before the President, his campaign, and his surrogates decide to juxtapose the now leaked intelligence that Putin is acting to aid Senator Sanders in the Democratic primary with Senator Sanders voting record regarding Russia – a voting record that leaves a lot to be desired. He voted against the Magnitsky Act in 2012, the sanctions against Russia in 2014 and 2017, and didn’t vote at all when the sanctions against Russia bill came up in 2019. This voting record combined with the now leaked intelligence that Putin is interfering in the Democratic primary on his behalf is all the President, his campaign, and his surrogates need to argue that the President is the one who has and will continue to stand up to Putin, not Senator Sanders who always votes in Putin’s favor. That’s not my argument, that is me anticipating the President’s argument.

This is the reality of the 2020 election. I warned everyone who reads Balloon Juice that the 2020 election was going to be open information warfare back in March 2019. What is happening should not be surprising to anyone. And if Senator Warren or Mayor Buttigieg or Senator Klobuchar were the front runners right now, we would have different weaponized information to produce influence being deployed against them right now. And if one of them should become the front runner, we will.

Open thread.

The Weaponization of Intelligence for the President’s Political Purposes: The Coming Influence Operation Against Senator SandersPost + Comments (44)

Playing to Win: Day 3

by WaterGirl| February 22, 202010:51 am| 126 Comments

This post is in: Playing to Win, Political Action, Politics

Note for the day:

The first Playing to Win went up on Thursday. I am putting this up again today so the weekend people can also see it. I find it inspiring to see what everyone is doing and it’s great to see people answering the questions that come up in these threads. But this is for you guys, so please speak up about what you want and what works for you.

If you are interested in these posts, feel free to share your thoughts on frequency and times. Some of the suggestions so far have been M-W-F, Tu-Th, and one or two weekdays + one weekend day.

In the meantime, people have asked for an easy way to find these threads. There is a link in the hamburger (on mobile) that will take you to the whole series, with the latest post on top. There is a link in the sidebar (on computers and tablets in landscape mode). You can also click on the Playing to Win category that shows up just under the byline at the top of the post. And if you’re ~~super lazy~~ worn out from all your work canvassing and calling and texting, you can click this link right here.

I have started compiling a list of opportunities and resources that people have shared on the threads so far, and I’ll continue to do that if you guys find that useful. You’ll find the link to those resources on the Playing to Win page described in the paragraph above.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Let’s try Wednesday and Friday mornings, somewhere close to 9am, and Sunday afternoon. The Sunday afternoon thread will come after the Garden Chat and before the BGinCHI guest posts on culture, which are always at 5pm.

*****

A couple of our jackals requested a daily political “action” thread, so how about if we try it for a bit and see how that goes? If you guys think it’s useful, we can keep it up, and if it ends up being more “seemed like a good idea at the time,” then we can let it go.

The goal is a poll-free, spin-free, prognostication-free, media-free, what’s-wrong-with-the-other-candidate-free-zone – a political thread where the focus is on ACTION: What can be done to help our candidates, and what are we doing to help them, every day?

The hope is that this will help provide inspiration, and encourage action, as an alternative to anger, frustration and despair.

Everyone is free to chime in about what they are doing for their their preferred candidate. What actions are we taking at Balloon Juice, individually or collectively, to help candidates we believe in?

What might you like to do, if you weren’t stuck on not quite knowing how to go from thinking about doing something to actually doing something?

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Playing to Win: Day 3Post + Comments (126)

‘Sad and pathetic and hypocritical…’

by Betty Cracker| February 22, 20206:01 am| 29 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

Anderson Cooper burns Blago to the ground, whisks the ashes into a dustpan, deposits them in a toilet and flushes…

“I’d be happy to work with people on criminal justice reform, but I wouldn’t work with you.” – Anderson Cooper (@AC360)
pic.twitter.com/V9PCOMdMid
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@K_JeanPierre) February 22, 2020

Well done, Anderson Cooper!

‘Sad and pathetic and hypocritical…’Post + Comments (29)

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday / Saturday

by Anne Laurie| February 22, 20205:17 am| 8 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Health Care

1. #COVID19: China's Feb. 21 numbers are out.
397 new cases, 109 new deaths.
The official totals are now 76,288 confirmed & 2345 deaths. There are also 5365 suspect cases, and I don't know if that means results pending, never tested but probably Covid-19 or a mix of the 2. pic.twitter.com/t4PQUvREZ7
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 22, 2020

oh look, a day after officials were told that they would be punished if any hidden cases were found past that day the number of new infections has significantly dropped. what an amazing coincidence.
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) February 20, 2020

The tweet below is snark, BUT… it’s just in the last day or so that I’m seeing coronavirus stories linked on the ‘Political Twitter’ threads I follow. The monster, it would seem, is inside the house.

The odd thing about the Chinese Death Plague is that the closer it gets to a global pandemic, the less coverage it gets in The Discourse.
— Starfish Who Should Be Told To Get Back To Work (@IRHotTakes) February 21, 2020

Starting to feel like the #COVID19 outbreak has gone next level. https://t.co/vT3EzfAh3R
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 21, 2020

Doesn’t mean that we’re all gonna die, of course — or even that it’s going to become widespread in the U.S. But it looks like it’s not going to ‘disappear’ the way SARS did, either.

Where the immune system is concerned, men are the weaker sex. In the coronavirus outbreak, that is making a difference. https://t.co/mc1RzFffcg
— NYT Health (@NYTHealth) February 21, 2020

China develops COVID-19 detection kit that delivers results in 15 minutes https://t.co/ifG5YCHui3 via @cgtnofficial
— ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 (@MackayIM) February 21, 2020

I know we have a lot of red alerts right now, but when you read coronavirus stories where everything went to hell when the Americans took over, maybe we need to knock this up ahead of a brokered convention on our doomsday list. https://t.co/DMAK4AbDIT
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 21, 2020

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Coronavirus patient re-hospitalized in China's Chengdu after testing positive again https://t.co/dT809iPWiy pic.twitter.com/V7GnPodcUl
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2020

… The patient tested positive during a check-up 10 days after being discharged, the center said in a statement. Similar cases have been reported in other regions.
The positive result after discharge was likely due to a discrepancy in samples, the state media People’s Daily reported late Friday, citing an expert.
Official guidelines say patients must test negative for the virus twice, with at least a day between tests, before being discharged.
Hospitals had used nose and throat swabs for such tests before discharging patients, but are now required to use samples from lungs, where the virus is most likely to be detected as it develops, Lei Xuezhong, a doctor working on a treatment for coronavirus-caused pneumonia in Sichuan province told People’s Daily…

Looks like everyone getting their bad news in before the weekend: This is not good https://t.co/4fRw8PwXem
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) February 21, 2020

.@drtedros says while #COVID19 numbers outside China remain small, @WHO is "concerned about the number of cases with no clear epidemiological link”. Indeed! Also mentions Iran where he says there are now 18 cases and 4 deaths!
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 21, 2020

.@HelenBranswell asks what we are all wondering: Is this epidemic at a tipping point? @DrTedros: The window of opportunity to contain this outbreak is still there, but it is narrowing. That is why we asked the international community to act (and they haven’t really stepped up).
— Kai Kupferschmidt (@kakape) February 21, 2020

Useful thread on #COVID19 in #Iran and religious significance of Qom.
Ramadan starts April 23 this year….. https://t.co/Ydd0r7yIrA
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 21, 2020

… Iran once relied heavily on China to buy its oil and some Chinese companies have continued doing business with Iran in the face of U.S. sanctions. Unlike other countries — such as Saudi Arabia, which barred its citizens and residents from traveling to China — Iran has not imposed such measures. But it has suspended all passenger flights with China for the past two weeks, allowing only cargo flights.
Iran’s civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said on Thursday that the “cargo flights, if necessary, are under supervision, and controls imposed by the health ministry are carried out.” …

7 of South Korea’s confirmed coronavirus cases had just returned from an 8 day trip to Israel. 77 people were on the holiday organised by their Catholic Church.
— Laura Bicker (@BBCLBicker) February 22, 2020

Another country people have worried about:

North Korean cancels marathon. Says the country is free of #coronavirus
Analysts of the isolated country have speculated that there could be cases after Pyongyang ordered schools closed for the next month and put foreigners under a month-long quarantine. https://t.co/AMSRTGaXQL
— COVID19 (@V2019N) February 21, 2020

Somebody brought the virus to the conference. Who?
(Some participants were from China, including Hubei province, Singapore health officials later learned.) This piece lays out the tracking happening behind the scenes. Incredible. https://t.co/ei22Pyafo5 pic.twitter.com/sezeOZgkxV
— COVID19 (@V2019N) February 21, 2020

White House officials are also concerned they won't have the capability to quarantine everyone in the case of the disease spreading. Dozens of meetings in recent weeks: https://t.co/tCFEgIxXTN
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 21, 2020

So they don’t. https://t.co/vHDxMGI16g https://t.co/sROYqesue4
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 21, 2020

Some interesting responses to this tweet:

Academics, have your universities put in any travel policies/restrictions/cancellations of upcoming trips due to #SARSCoV2?
— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) February 21, 2020

you know what's a good way to support Chinese students over the coronavirus? refunding them for the semester, organizing online classes, showing flexibility over exams and coursework. https://t.co/FM8Tn9TxLc
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) February 21, 2020

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday / SaturdayPost + Comments (8)

Are You Kidding Me?

by TaMara (HFG)| February 21, 202011:15 pm| 151 Comments

This post is in: I Can No Longer Rationally Discuss The Sanders Campaign, Politics

I've got news for the Republican establishment. I've got news for the Democratic establishment. They can't stop us.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 22, 2020

This pretty much sums up my feelings about that:

The “Democratic Establishment” is just Democrats.
If you don’t want Democrats to have a voice get the hell out of OUR primary.
— Millennials For Her (@Millennials4Her) February 22, 2020

Everything else I’m thinking I won’t say, except I just filled out my ballot for Elizabeth Warren.

Are You Kidding Me?Post + Comments (151)

Shock troops for the Unitarian Jihad.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Hot Air and Ill Informed Banter

Militantly superior in their own minds…

A snarling mass of vitriolic vicious jackals

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

This blog is Obama’s Katrina.

Where tasty lettuce and good mustard aren’t elitist.

Also, too.

Mission Accomplished!

Women: They Get Shit Done

We Survived Breitbartpocalypse!

This is a big f—–g deal.

Almost as fun as hiking the Appalachian Trail.

What fresh hell is this?

Just a few bad apples.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

How has Obama failed you today?

I showered with Rahm and all I got was this shitty blog.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Yes we did.

This Blog Goes to 11…

Good luck with your asparagus.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Corvids, Not COVID

Stupidity, hatred, love and courage in India…and everywhere else

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Monday / Tuesday, 2/24-2/25

About Today’s ‘Pandemic’ Panic

Representation Matters

Justice Sotomayor Calls Out SCOTUS Bias

Everybody Loves Their Insurance

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Sunday/Monday 2/23-2/24

Open Thread: Voter Information At Your Fingertips

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Saturday / Sunday

The Weaponization of Intelligence for the President’s Political Purposes: The Coming Influence Operation Against Senator Sanders

Playing to Win: Day 3

‘Sad and pathetic and hypocritical…’

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday / Saturday

Are You Kidding Me?