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'An Utter Disgrace': GOP Stimulus Plan Would Cut Taxes for Corporations While Denying Benefits to Poorest - "Senate Republicans are using the COVID-19 pandemic to cut corporate taxes again and stop you from getting paid sick leave."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/20/utter-disgrace-gop-stimulus-plan-would-cut-taxes-corporations-while-denying-benefits

Inside a pro-Trump YouTube disinformation network that spans Vietnam to Bosnia
https://www.cnet.com/features/inside-a-pro-trump-youtube-disinformation-network-that-spans-vietnam-to-bosnia/

Africa sees 'extremely rapid evolution' of pandemic, UN says. More African countries have closed their borders as the coronavirus’ local spread threatens to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/africa-sees-extremely-rapid-evolution-pandemic-69685414

Trump administration ordering state officials to hold off releasing unemployment numbers to cover up the fact that millions have been laid off since last week. Remember when within a couple of days the number was going to be down to close to zero? That was a fun, fanciful, completely fabricated time. “It’s all going to go away, just like a miracle”.
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/nyt-trump-admin-asking-state-officials-to-hold-off-releasing-unemployment-numbers-80998981982

Trump Taps Former Attorney Of Trophy Hunting Group For Wildlife Protection Job | Anna Seidman, a 20-year veteran of Safari Club International, has joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — an agency she’s sued several times.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/safari-club-lawyer-fish-and-wildlife-international-affairs_n_5e73c372c5b6f5b7c540a3db

Grand Celebration of Ram Navami by 1 million people in Ayodhya, India cancelled due to Covid-19
https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/ayodhya-ram-navami-celebrations-coronavirus

Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., also sold large stock holdings after private briefings on the coronavirus scandal.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/republican-jim-inhofe-dumped-up-to-450000-in-stock-the-fourth-gop-senator-implicated-in-scandal-report/

Sen. Kelly Loeffler Dumped Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing | Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee hosted a private, all-senators briefing.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-kelly-loeffler-dumped-millions-in-stock-after-coronavirus-briefing

Sen. Richard Burr, who sold stock before recent market decline, voted in 2012 against banning insider trading for Congress
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/20/coronavirus-richard-burr-stock/

The Trump administration is using the coronavirus to implement conservative policies that Republicans have long wanted before the pandemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/us/politics/trump-virus-conservative-policies.html

Renters Won’t Receive Protections Under Republican Proposal
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/most-renters-will-not-receive-protections-under-wh-proposal/2336073/

Jobless claims set to skyrocket by 700 percent in one week as U.S. sees "unprecedented surge in layoffs"—Goldman Sachs
https://www.newsweek.com/jobless-claims-skyrocket-700-percent-one-week-u-s-layoffs-goldman-sachs-1493411

We may end the week with 2.25 million layoffs. We’re not equipped for this.
https://slate.com/business/2020/03/economy-coronavirus-unemployment-bad-bad-bad.html

Andrew Yang's non-profit to spend more than $1 million to aid working families impacted by coronavirus
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/politics/andrew-yang-nonprofit-coronavirus/index.html

'Nature is taking back Venice': wildlife returns to tourist-free city - With the cruise ships gone and the souvenir stalls closed, the coronavirus lockdown has transformed La Serenissima’s waterways
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/20/nature-is-taking-back-venice-wildlife-returns-to-tourist-free-city

More than 50,000 people in Italy charged with breaking quarantine rules - Those flouting the rules can face fines or even a prison sentence, as Italian authorities fight to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
https://www.thelocal.it/20200320/more-than-50000-people-in-italy-charged-with-breaking-quarantine-rules

Sharp increase in Moscow "pneumonia" cases fuels fears over government-reported coronavirus statistics
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-coronavirus-health-russia/sharp-increase-in-moscow-pneumonia-cases-fuels-fears-over-coronavirus-statistics-idUSKBN216305

British scientists discover antibody in blood of patient who fought off SARS that could neutralise coronavirus
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8133255/British-scientists-discover-antibody-blood-patient-fought-SARS.html

Locust crisis poses a danger to millions, forecasters warn | Experts fear swarms like those seen in Africa will become more common as tropical storms create favourable breeding conditions - locust crisis that has now reached 10 countries could carry on to endanger millions more people, say experts
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/20/locust-crisis-poses-a-danger-to-millions-forecasters-warn

As the coronavirus pandemic grows, gun sales are surging in many states | Gun sales are surging in many U.S. states, especially in those hit hardest by the coronavirus — California, New York and Washington. But there’s also been an uptick in less-affected areas, with some first-time gun buyers fearing an unraveling of the social order and some gun owners worried that the government might use its emergency powers to restrict gun purchases. | “The unintended consequence of these panic-induced purchases in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could be a tragic increase of preventable gun deaths for the loved ones these individuals are trying to protect,” Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement Monday. | According to various reports, the surge in gun sales started several weeks ago in states such as Washington and California, and included large numbers of Asian Americans, some fearful of anti-Asian backlash over the coronavirus.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-15/coronavirus-pandemic-gun-sales-surge-us-california
https://www.thetrace.org/2020/03/coronavirus-gun-sales-washington-california-asian-americans/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-03/feinstein-decries-unconscionable-racism-amid-coronavirus-outbreak

Man Lynched By Mob In Kenya After Suspected Of Having Coronavirus
https://buzzworldonline.com/mob-in-kenya-lynched-man-to-death-after-suspected-of-having-coronavirus/

More than 99 percent of those who have died in Italy from COVID-19 coronavirus had pre-existing medical conditions, a new study has found. The results showed only three of the deceased did not have health issues before they became infected.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/03/99-percent-of-italian-covid-19-deaths-had-health-issues.html

Indonesia estimates more than 500,000 had contact with virus suspects
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coronavirus-indonesian-president-vows-to-use-all-powers-to-tackle-health-economic-woes

Air pollution plummeted in China due to coronavirus. It’s starting to go up again
https://globalnews.ca/news/6704818/air-pollution-declined-china-coronavirus/

"Isn't it amazing how in 2016, Hillary Clinton was considered the pivotal deciding vote on the Iraq War, but now the oral history of the war as told by anti-war activists doesn't mention her at all and instead is all about Biden being the architect of the war? What changed?"
https://twitter.com/agraybee/status/1240814862747435013

Bloomberg to transfer $18M to DNC to defeat Trump
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/488624-bloomberg-to-send-money-transfer-campaign-organization-to-dnc

Conversation I have with Republicans always end with: "I don't hate the poor, I just don't want them to have things they can't afford. They need to work for it like I work for it." (and they didn't work for anything)

Trump is using the purchase power of the federal government to make the States beholden to him for supplies, so he can set insane prices, and selectively punish certain States he deems "enemies" by giving them worse terms: Massachusetts Governor Says He's Being Outbid by Federal Government For Coronavirus Supplies, Despite Trump Telling Govs to Get Their Own
https://www.newsweek.com/massachusetts-governor-says-hes-being-outbid-federal-government-coronavirus-supplies-despite-1493332

Falcons sign RB Todd Gurley
https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1240972185583353857?s=20

"Patricia cussed out Kerryon Johnson in front of the whole team because he didn’t know what year ford field was constructed"
https://twitter.com/G_Hudson46/status/1240823105989328897

Matt Patricia is literally the worst person I’ve encountered in my entire football career. I was excited when the lions cut me. It was that bad
https://twitter.com/G_Hudson46/status/1240822653323264001

Tom Brady's contract details with Tampa, sources tell ESPN: 2 years, $50 million deal, all guaranteed, that also includes another $9 million in incentives - $4.5 million in incentives per year. The contract also prohibits and trades.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1241021852241321984?s=21

Here's how the Falcons' offensive skill group now shapes up: QB: Matt Ryan RB: Todd Gurley WR: Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley TE: Hayden Hurst 10 of the 11 projected offensive starters entered the NFL as first round picks. Tons of talent and pedigree.
https://twitter.com/fieldyates/status/1240978437893787650?s=21

California AG sues Betsy DeVos for overturning Obama-era rule aimed at for-profit colleges
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-ag-sues-betsy-de-vos-for-overturning-obamaera-rule-aimed-at-forprofit-colleages-211735118.html

Sean Spicer resurfaced at the White House coronavirus briefing as a 'reporter' and Trump dodged his question
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-dodges-sean-spicers-question-at-white-house-briefing-2020-3

The Republican National Committee has rehired a prominent consulting firm it axed after it allowed a massive data breach in 2017. The committee paid $700,000 to Deep Root Analytics last month, according to a senior party official. The expenditure is expected to be reflected on the committee’s next finance report, to be released Friday. Following the 2016 election, the Northern Virginia-based media consulting firm took responsibility for accidentally exposing the personal information and political dispositions of nearly 200 million Americans, or around 60 percent of the country’s population. At the time, Deep Root Analytics served as a vendor for the RNC and, along with several other firms, helping to develop highly refined voter data. The data — which included names, birthdays, and personal addresses — was discovered in June 2017 on an Amazon web server by the cyber risk firm UpGuard. UpGuard described the mishap as “perhaps the largest known exposure of voter information in history.” The RNC moved swiftly to separate itself from Deep Root Analytics and the firm locked down the information to prevent further public access. Republican officials say the data was unsecured for around two weeks and that other than UpGuard no one gained access.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/20/rnc-deep-root-analytics-hire-138889

The Obama-Biden Administration set up the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense to prepare for future pandemics like COVID-19. Donald Trump eliminated it — and now we're paying the price.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1240646710021537792

The S&P 500 falls 15% in its biggest weekly drop since October 2008. U.S. stocks fall 4.4% to their lowest in three years https://trib.al/cXmEk8W
https://twitter.com/business/status/1241093786920419328

The District of Columbia is extending the closure of schools, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues until the end of April. “We won’t have enough time by April the 1st to measure whether our strategies are working,” said Mayor Bowser.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-virginia-maryland-coronvirus-news-friday/2020/03/20/d2f5dc7a-6aca-11ea-abef-020f086a3fab_story.html

"The practice of continuing elective surgeries without proper protections of medical workers and patients is 'ethically repugnant . . .If you need your boobs done, why can’t that wait?'" | People are still getting tummy tucks and cataract surgeries — and health-care workers fear it puts all at risk for coronavirus | “This needs to stop, and it has unfortunately become obvious that many centers will not stop voluntarily.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/20/coronavirus-elective-surgeries/

Reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, Trump's family business has cut back hotel operations, closed some golf courses and restaurants and shed dozens of workers — all while pushing to keep other properties open and promote them on social media.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/business/trump-businesses-coronavirus.html

Delta warns second-quarter revenue to fall $10 billion because of coronavirus; company burning through $50M in cash per day.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/20/delta-warns-second-quarter-revenue-to-fall-10-billion-because-of-coronavirus.html

Everyone seems to treat the fact that we're only detecting a small fraction of COVID cases as a rounding error when it's a really huge problem and will often lead to conclusions that are either (i) directionally right, but off by an order of magnitude or (ii) directionally wrong.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1241097995946426368

Moreover, the detection rate is not constant over time, not constant over place, and not constant over health outcomes (and probably also not constant over other relevant parameters such as age) so multiplying the number of detected cases by a constant is not a good workaround.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1241099030840606720

Not sure we've communicated well enough that social distancing interventions will pay dividends in 1-3 weeks. Anything that happens in the next 10 days was already baked in prior to that. A surge in cases now would NOT mean that social distancing isn't working.
https://twitter.com/katecallen/status/1241002377148276736

Looking at the coronavirus data is like looking at funhouse mirrors. Everything is distorted in some direction or another; some things look much bigger than they really are, others much smaller.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1241064789738217473

1. Covid-19 hospitalizations (confirmed and suspected, ICU and non-ICU)
2. % ventilators in use
3. Physician-ordered Covid-19 tests declined by administrators/officials
4. Deaths caused by unexplained pneumonias
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1240976978976653313

Govt officials should be collecting and providing this information, including retroactively, but individual hospitals could start releasing their own numbers too. It would help the public to demand the resources their staff and patients need.
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1240983952552312832

Some Friday-after-the-close news: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon gets a 19% raise. It's the biggest payday for a Goldman exec since Lloyd Blankfein took home $41m in 2007.
https://twitter.com/lizrhoffman/status/1241104933476282368

"This new data about the male/female ratio is really quite striking," Birx says on CNN. From age 50 on it, almost twice as many men are dying as women of cororonavirus, she says.
https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1241111612418920448

Major London hospital declares 'critical incident' after running out of ICU beds due to surge in Covid-19 cases One senior director in the capital just told me - 'this is f**king petrifying'
https://www.hsj.co.uk/news/hospitals-critical-care-unit-overwhelmed-by-coronavirus-patients/7027189.article

Leading U.S. lawmakers proposed legislation on Wednesday aimed at preventing goods made from forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region from reaching the United States. The legislation would require importers to obtain certification from the U.S. government that goods were not produced using forced labor by minority Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. The heart of the proposed Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is a “rebuttable presumption” that assumes that all goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labor and therefore banned under the 1930 Tariff Act, unless the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection certifies otherwise. This would shift the burden of proof from the current rule, which bans goods if there is reasonable evidence of forced labor. The bill also calls for the U.S. president to impose sanctions on “any foreign person who ‘knowingly engages’” in forced labor of minority Muslims. It would also require firms to disclose dealings with Xinjiang.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-xinjiang-labor/u-s-lawmakers-seek-to-tighten-ban-on-forced-labor-goods-from-chinas-xinjiang-idUSKBN20Y2DQ

The president's job is to reassure, as well as protect, the American people. No one should be surprised that given a chance to do so, he responded by personally attacking a reporter. But it is a reminder of what's newly at stake in restoring real leadership to the White House.
https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/status/1241075716327976963

Trump’s racism isn’t a distraction from his incompetence. It is essential to his failure as president. The same is true as he struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. I wrote for @RollingStone about his “Chinese virus,” and why we don’t have time for this.
https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/1241118081994219521
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/coronavirus-trump-racism-970571/

The nation’s second-largest municipal health system has told its staff that it is essentially abandoning hope of containing the coronavirus outbreak and instructed doctors not to bother testing symptomatic patients if a positive result won’t change how they would be treated. The guidance, sent by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services to its doctors on Thursday, was prompted by a crush of patients and shortage of tests, and could make it difficult to ever know precisely how many people in L.A. County contracted the virus. The department “is shifting from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality,” according to the letter. Doctors should test symptomatic patients only when “a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-20/coronavirus-county-doctors-containment-testing

https://covidtracking.com/data/

Doctors in Russia are accusing the government of covering up its coronavirus outbreak, and denying them protective equipment
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-russia-doctors-say-government-is-covering-up-cases-2020-3

Five more Italian doctors die battling coronavirus: Thirteen medics have now lost their lives, with 2,629 health workers infected - 8.3% of country's total
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8129499/More-2-600-medical-workers-infected-coronavirus-Italy.html

WHO officials say at least 20 coronavirus vaccines are in development in global race for cure
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/20/who-officials-say-at-least-20-coronavirus-vaccines-are-in-development-in-global-race-for-cure.html

Florida Gov closes beaches but keeps Golf courses open. Same area where Trump plays and other socialites.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20200320/coronavirus-florida-restaurants-ordered-to-close-statewide-as-state-cases-top-500-pbc-at-34

With no commerce from tourism, Florida will be in total collapse sooner than anywhere in the country, or the Earth. F!ck it already is.

Remembering Larry Edgeworth, a beloved NBC News colleague who died after testing positive for the coronavirus." We are heartbroken," @LesterHoltNBC says.
https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1241141530871705600

Some of us are incredibly frugal, because we have felt real hunger and real poverty, not this kind of self-made, overly dramatic fake poverty. We know of places and times with no safety net, no handouts, no free meals, no big car, no SNAP, no Medicaid, no free lunches. So we scrimp, and we save, and we don't smoke, and we don't do drugs, and we did not waste hundreds of dollars on tattoos, and some of us are vegans who eat very healthy (not the new breed of junkfood vegans), and we don't have that many kids, and we don't have fancy cell phones or even a car. This isn't a story of poverty, but of American entitlement and abundance.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/us/coronavirus-poverty-school-lunch.html

Pence staffer tests positive for coronavirus
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/488744-pence-staffer-tests-positive-for-coronavirus
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/politics/staffer-vice-president-office-coronavirus/index.html

1 in 8 Trump voters lives in a county with no ICU beds
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/1-8-trump-voters-lives-county-with-no-icu-beds/

Trump-Appointed Judge Halts Congressional Lawsuit for Trump's Tax Returns
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-appointed-judge-again-halts-congressional-lawsuit-for-presidents-tax-returns/

I asked one of the virologists in that piece about this, re: the deaths of young doctors. She noted that HCWs, who are exposed to v. high titers of virus, are also extremely exhausted and stressed--and thus essentially immunocompromised. Both factors likely play a role.
https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1241151488426213376

Smoke from Australia's bushfires killed far more people than the fires did
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/21/smoke-from-australias-bushfires-killed-far-more-people-than-the-fires-did-study-says

He knew. And yet he told us not to worry. And did nothing to prepare us. And people will die because we are so behind.
https://twitter.com/neeratanden/status/1241161788332400640

—@AndersonCooper is broadcasting from home tonight, telling viewers that someone on his team thinks they might be positive for coronavirus. Cooper says he feels fine, but has taken the step out of an "abundance of caution."
https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1241157169640353793

Fox Business host Lou "coronavirus is a hoax" Dobbs is in self-quarantine after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-business-employee-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-lou-dobbs-and-co-workers-in-self-quarantine/

"The swiftness in which patients turn from mildly sick to struggling to breathe and requiring a ventilator is shocking, health-care workers said."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-cases-strain-new-york-city-hospitals-were-getting-pounded-11584719908

Roundup contamination 'unpreventable', world-first glyphosate research shows: Australian agricultural scientists have created a map that pinpoints global hotspots of glyphosate contamination.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-03-19/international-glyphosate-roundup-hotspot-map/12063156