Tag: pandemic

Navy removes aircraft carrier captain who raised alarm about coronavirus response

Washington Post logoThe Navy on Thursday removed the captain of an aircraft carrier crippled by the coronavirus, two days after a blunt letter the officer wrote warning the service of the need to get more sailors off the vessel created a furor.

Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was relieved of command at the direction of acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly.

The Navy had become increasingly convinced that Crozier was involved in leaking the letter to the news media to force the service to address his concerns over the outbreak on his ship, a defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Continue reading.

Journalist Mehdi Hasan on Trump’s Iran warmongering: ‘What kind of maniac risks such a war in the middle of a global pandemic?’

AlterNet logoThe Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called for an immediate halt to “warmongering during the coronavirus outbreak” as U.S. forces reportedly deployed Patriot missiles to Iraq and President Donald Trump warned—without presenting a shred of evidence—that Tehran is planning a “sneak attack” on American troops in the region.

Warning that heightened U.S. military activity in Iraq could lead to further “instability and disaster” in the Middle East, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the Trump administration should “respect the wishes of the Iraqi people and government and leave the country.” The Pentagon insisted in a statement that the Patriot missiles were mobilized for purely defensive purposes.

As Common Dreams reported, Trump on Wednesday threatened Iran with a “very heavy price” if it attacks “U.S. troops and/or assets” in the region, ignoring pleas from advocacy groups and the United Nations for a global ceasefire and international cooperation against the novel coronavirus, which has devastated the U.S. and Iran and is spreading quickly in Iraq. Continue reading.

CBO: Unemployment rate could hit 12 percent by summer

The new estimate was based in part on news that new weekly unemployment claims hit 6.6 million

The Congressional Budget Office says the unemployment rate will shoot up above 10 percent and gross domestic product will contract by at least 7 percent in the second quarter in an updated economic forecast reflecting the disruption caused by the coronavirus.

The decline in GDP could be “much larger,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel wrote in a blog post Thursday where he noted that the forecast included the impacts from the more than $2 trillion law signed into law Friday, March 27. Swagel called the estimates “very preliminary” based on economic data available as of Thursday morning.

“CBO expects that the economy will contract sharply during the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the continued disruption of commerce stemming from the spread of the novel coronavirus,” Swagel wrote. Continue reading.

White House expected to urge Americans to wear face coverings in public to slow spread of coronavirus

Washington Post logo Free article The White House is poised to urge Americans to wear cloth masks or face coverings in public to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, in a reversal of earlier advice.

President Trump said Thursday at a coronavirus task force briefing that “a recommendation is coming out,” but “I don’t think it will be mandatory. If people want to wear them, they can.” Vice President Pence, who heads the task force, confirmed new guidance would be released in “coming days.”

Later, however, a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate internal discussions, said that the guidance being considered is “narrowly targeted to areas with high community transmission” and that the matter remains under discussion. Continue reading. 

Trump to expand use of Defense Production Act to build ventilators

The Hill logoPresident Trump announced Thursday that he is expanding his use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to help several manufacturers secure supplies for ventilators.

Trump issued a memorandum allowing the secretary of Health and Human Services to use authority under the powerful Korean War-era law to help six companies, including General Electric and Medtronic, secure supplies to make ventilators.

“Today’s order will save lives by removing obstacles in the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators,” Trump said in a statement. Continue reading.

When stupid people think they’re smart, they do maximum damage. That’s where we are with Trump and this pandemic

AlterNet logoThe Dunning-Kruger effect is a term that describes a psychological phenomenon in which stupid people do not know that they are in fact stupid.

Writing at Pacific Standard, psychologist David Dunning — one of the social psychologists who first documented this type of cognitive bias — describes it in more detail:

In many areas of life, incompetent people do not recognize  —  scratch that, cannot recognize  —  just how incompetent they are, a phenomenon that has come to be known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. Logic itself almost demands this lack of self-insight: For poor performers to recognize their ineptitude would require them to possess the very expertise they lack. To know how skilled or unskilled you are at using the rules of grammar, for instance, you must have a good working knowledge of those rules, an impossibility among the incompetent. Poor performers  —  and we are all poor performers at some things  —  fail to see the flaws in their thinking or the answers they lack. What’s curious is that, in many cases, incompetence does not leave people disoriented, perplexed, or cautious. Instead, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by something that feels to them like knowledge. Continue reading.

MN GOP Chair Accuses Democrats of “Communist Control” for Social Distancing

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Yesterday, the Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, Jennifer Carnahan, took to Twitter to allege that “Democrats have turned Coronavirus into an excuse for extreme communist control,” due to social distancing measures implemented in the city of Minneapolis.

The full text of Carnahan’s tweet reads as follows:

“Was it necessary for Minneapolis to close the beaches for the summer in early Apr? Much can unfold, change & transpire between now/then. The Democrats have turned Coronavirus into an excuse for extreme communist control. Wake up people!”

Ken Martin, Chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party issued the following statement in response:

“I am shocked that the Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party would undermine important social distancing measures to score cheap political points. Jennifer Carnahan’s allegation that Democrats are using COVID-19 to push ‘extreme communist control’ is as ignorant as it is dangerous.

“Political leaders from both parties agree that the COVID-19 outbreak is the worst public health crisis our nation has seen in a century. New York City is converting convention centers to field hospitals and the Pentagon is preparing to distribute 100,000 body bags for the people this virus kills. In the midst of so much tragedy, uncertainty, and chaos, it is astonishing that the head of the Minnesota Republican Party felt it was appropriate to launch a hackneyed political attack because Minneapolis city officials are trying to keep Minnesotans safe.

“Giving up swimming in our beautiful Minneapolis beaches this summer is the least we can do to protect the lives of Minnesotans and prevent this scourge from spreading even further. Thousands of people are dying and will die because of the cavalier attitude of people who are putting their own privilege ahead of our community.  I sincerely hope this outbreak comes to a swift end. However, until it does, it is vital that we adhere to strict social distancing guidelines in order to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.”

 

Pelosi forms House committee to oversee coronavirus response

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday announced the creation of a special House committee charged with overseeing the unprecedented, multitrillion-dollar federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pelosi has tapped Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the Democratic whip, to lead the bipartisan panel, which will be authorized “to examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus and ensure the taxpayer’s dollars are being wisely and efficiently spent.”

“The panel will root out waste, fraud and abuse; it will protect against price-gauging, profiteering and political favoritism,” she told reporters on a press call. “The fact is, we do need transparency and accountability.” Continue reading.

Shivering, hallucinating, beaten ‘like a pinata’: Chris Cuomo’s ‘haunted’ night with coronavirus

Washington Post logoWhen the sun came up Wednesday morning, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was already awake. But as Cuomo tells it, his early rising wasn’t by choice.<

“I was up all night,” he said during Wednesday’s edition of “Cuomo Prime Time,” broadcast live from his basement where he is self-quarantining after announcing one day earlier that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The cause of Cuomo’s insomnia?

“This virus came at me. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cuomo said, telling viewers that he was racked with a fever of around 103 degrees “that wouldn’t quit.” Continue reading.

Dire projections put new focus on Trump coronavirus response

The Hill logoDire projections of U.S. deaths from the coronavirus are placing new scrutiny on the Trump administration’s initial response while prompting questions about whether faster action could have lowered the death toll.

The White House presented sobering numbers on Tuesday that the best-case scenario with full mitigation measures in place is between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the United States. Those figures would exceed the U.S. death toll from the Vietnam War and Korean War combined.

The numbers have raised questions specifically about why the U.S. was slow to roll out tests to identify the virus, while bringing new criticism on President Trump for downplaying the virus’s threat earlier this year. Continue reading.