memeorandum: An Ailing America Must Not Abandon Afghanistan (Barnett R. Rubin/Foreign Policy)

3:05 AM ET, March 27, 2020

Top Items:

Trump Administration Pulls Back From $1 Billion Coronavirus Ventilator Deal — A deal with General Motors and Ventec Life Systems to produce tens of thousands of the critical lifesaving devices seemed imminent. Then the announcement was pulled back. — WASHINGTON — The White House …

Discussion: Axios, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Mediaite, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Matthew Choi / Politico:

Trump: I don't believe you really need that many ventilators — Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York says his state needs 30,000 ventilators to respond to the escalating coronavirus crisis. — President Donald Trump doesn't believe him. — Speaking with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday night …

Discussion: Breitbart, Washington Post and Political Wire

Caitlin Oprysko / Politico:
Trump teases new coronavirus distancing guidelines based on county risk

Discussion: One America News Network, The Hill and Breitbart

Donald G. McNeil Jr / New York Times:

The U.S. Now Leads the World in Confirmed Coronavirus Cases — Following a series of missteps, the nation is now the epicenter of the pandemic. — Scientists warned that the United States someday would become the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. That moment arrived on Thursday.

Discussion: Sputnik News, PJ Media Home, The Daily Signal, Towleroad Gay News, Forbes and Washington Post

NPR:
READ: President Trump's Letter To Governors On New Coronavirus Guidelines

Discussion: CNN, Townhall and Patterico's Pontifications

Linda Qiu / New York Times:
Trump's Baseless Claim That a Recession Would Be Deadlier Than the Coronavirus

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Elena Renken / NPR:
Prepare For Outbreaks Like New York's In Other States, Warns Anthony Fauci

Discussion: Bloomberg

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

U.S. government has 1.5 million expired N95 masks sitting in an Indiana warehouse — Nearly 1.5 million N95 respirator masks are sitting in a U.S. government warehouse in Indiana and authorities have not shipped them because they are past their expiration date, despite Centers …

Discussion: New York Post and The Week

SEIU UHW:

Union Locates Massive Supply of N95 Masks — The Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) has located 39 million critically needed N95 masks and is connecting states, counties, health systems and individual hospitals to the supplier so they can purchase them in quantity.

Discussion: NBC Bay Area, Redstate, Breitbart and Patterico's Pontifications

Somini Sengupta / New York Times:

A N.Y. Nurse Dies. Angry Co-Workers Blame a Lack of Protective Gear. — “I'm okay. Don't tell Mom and Dad. They'll worry,” he wrote to his sister. He may be the first nurse in New York City to die from the coronavirus. — Kious Kelly, a nurse manager at a Manhattan hospital …

Discussion: Redstate, New York Post, Towleroad Gay News, Twitchy and Fox News

New York Post:
NYC doctors say coronavirus is worse than 9/11: 'There's no escaping this'

Discussion: The US Sun

Jesse Drucker / New York Times:

A Bonanza for Rich Real Estate Investors, Tucked Into Stimulus Package — A small change to tax policy could hand $170 billion in tax savings to real estate tycoons. — The federal government's planned $2 trillion economic rescue package includes financial aid for individuals and industries …

Discussion: Vanity Fair

Jennifer Smith / Daily Mail:

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that it was not the best strategy to shut the state down at the same time — An abandoned Fifth Avenue this week. Not only did quarantining everyone put older people in homes with young people at risk, it knee-capped the economy

Discussion: Florida Politics

New York Times:
New Orleans Faces a Virus Nightmare, and Mardi Gras May Be Why

Discussion: Fox News, The Lens, VICE and Townhall

New Orleans Times-Picayune: State moving beds into convention center this weekend to prep for looming overflow of coronavirus patients

Zachary Petrizzo / Mediaite:

Doctor Who Wrote Op-Ed on Coronavirus Infection Parties Says Federalist Made Unwanted Edits to Piece — Douglas Perednia says he never thought his opinion piece on “controlled infection” of the coronavirus, published in The Federalist, would draw such a heated backlash.

more at Mediagazer »

NBC News:

House members race back to Washington amid fears the $2 trillion coronavirus bill could be delayed — Democratic and Republican leaders suddenly believe the $2 trillion economic relief package might not pass by the long-distance voice vote scheduled for Friday.

Discussion: The Hill and Roll Call

Washington Post:
Live updates: Coronavirus death toll in U.S. reaches 1,000; more than 500,000 confirmed cases worldwide

Discussion: Newsroom, IJR and Deseret News

Washington Post:
Inslee clashes with Trump over his leadership on coronavirus aid: ‘We need a Tom Brady’

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, Breitbart, NPR and Mediaite

Manu Raju / CNN:
Many House members coming back to Washington in anticipation of vote on coronavirus stimulus

Discussion: The Daily Signal

Business Insider:

Spain, Europe's worst-hit country after Italy, says coronavirus tests it bought from China are failing to detect positive cases — Spain said it found that rapid coronavirus tests bought from China did not consistently identify positive cases and would return them to the manufacturer.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Townhall and Fox News

Keoni Everington / Taiwan News:
80% of coronavirus test kits ‘gifted’ to Czechs by China faulty

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Redstate, Real Clear Politics, National Review, The Daily Caller, Townhall and Spectator USA

Sky Palma / Raw Story:

Christian pastor who thought COVID-19 is just ‘mass hysteria’ is among the first in Virginia to die from virus — One of the first deaths in Virginia from coronavirus was a 66-year-old Christian “musical evangelist” who fell ill while on a trip to New Orleans with his wife.

Lauren Fruen / Daily Mail:

BREAKING: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave Canada and set up home in LA amid the coronavirus crisis and flew by private jet to California before Trump closed the border — The move is said to have ‘stunned and horrified’ others in the royal family after Prince Charles, 71, tested positive for coronavirus

Discussion: WayneDupree.com, Sputnik News, The US Sun, The Daily Beast and Page Six

Robby Soave / Reason:

Joe Biden Said He Believes All Women. Does He Believe Tara Reade? — When it comes to #MeToo sexual misconduct issues, former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party's presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, has made it no secret where he stands: automatically believe women.

Discussion: YouTube, Power Line, Redstate, National Review, Big League Politics, WND, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Royce Dunmore / NewsOne:
Joe Biden's Sexual Assault Accuser Breaks Silence With Graphic Allegations

Discussion: SoundCloud, Redstate, The Federalist and WND

1100 Pennsylvania:

Trump wants U.S. resurrected in time for hotel's pricey Easter brunch — The president would love the country ‘raring to go by Easter’—the day his D.C. hotel usually holds an expensive, popular brunch buffet — On Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump told Fox News viewers that he wanted the United States …

Robert Nicholson / Wall Street Journal:

A Coronavirus Great Awakening? — Sometimes the most important ingredient for spiritual renewal is a cataclysmic event. — Could a plague of biblical proportions be America's best hope for religious revival? As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, there is reason to think so.

Associated Press:

Flatter or fight? Governors seeking help must navigate Trump — SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — At first, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker tried to play nice. He limited criticisms of the federal government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and asked for medical supplies through official channels.

Ashton Pittman / MISSISSIPPI FREE PRESS:

Churches, Stores Reopen As Governor Overrides Mayors' COVID-19 Orders — Roadside mannequins are inviting residents of Moss Point, Miss., to resume shopping at a local clothing store, restaurants are returning their dine-in services, and churches are re-opening their doors for services.

Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:

EPA suspends enforcement of environmental laws amid coronavirus — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a sweeping suspension of its enforcement of environmental laws Thursday, telling companies they would not need to meet environmental standards during the coronavirus outbreak.

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News and TechCrunch

Washington Post:

Talking through a pandemic: Trump uses words as a weapon in coronavirus response — Since mid-January, President Trump has spent a total of 12 hours speaking publicly about the novel coronavirus — amounting to more than 137,000 words, according to Factba.se, a data analysis firm.

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post: As Trump signals readiness to break with experts, his online base assails Fauci

Brian Lyman / The Montgomery Advertiser:

Coronavirus: Ivey says ‘right now is not the time’ for Alabama-wide shelter-in-place order … Gov. Kay Ivey said Thursday she had no plans to issue a stay at home or shelter-in-place order any time soon. — The governor made a similar statement on a call for reporters on Monday …

ProPublica:

Internal Emails Show How Chaos at the CDC Slowed the Early Response to Coronavirus — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — On Feb. 13, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Sebastian Murdock / HuffPost:

Alex Jones Loses Sandy Hook Court Appeal, Must Now Pay Nearly $150,000 In Legal Fees — The Infowars host is being sued by nine people whose family members will killed in the shooting at the Connecticut elementary school. — Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist and repeated loser of court battles …

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Italy's new coronavirus cases are slowing. How soon will normal life return? — ROME — Italy's nationwide lockdown is showing the first small signs of payoff. The number of coronavirus cases is still rising, but at the lowest day-on-day pace since the outbreak began.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

The Charlotte Observer:

Richard Burr's troubles are not going away. So why isn't he? — Seven days have passed since news reports revealed how U.S. Sen Richard Burr profited off the coronavirus while failing to warn his constituents at the early, critical stages of the crisis. It has not been a good week.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Texas Monthly:

Inside the Story of How H-E-B Planned for the Pandemic — The grocer started communicating with Chinese counterparts in January and was running tabletop simulations a few weeks later. (But nothing prepared it for the rush on toilet paper.) — The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the country in just a handful of weeks.

Discussion: The Verge and ChurroPapi

Bloomberg:

Trump Campaign's Threat on TV Licenses May Be Mostly Bluster — Broadcasters in battleground states told to stop using ad — Trump appoints members at FCC which controls TV licenses — The Trump re-election campaign told TV stations they could lose their operating licenses …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

BBC:

Coronavirus: Mexicans demand crackdown on Americans crossing the border — Mexican protesters have shut a US southern border crossing amid fears that untested American travellers will spread coronavirus. — Residents in Sonora, south of the US state of Arizona, have promised to block traffic …

Discussion: Twitchy

Barnett R. Rubin / Foreign Policy:

An Ailing America Must Not Abandon Afghanistan — Slashing aid, abandoning the peace process, or going it alone will imperil U.S. interests. — On March 23, after failing to broker an agreement between incumbent Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah …

Discussion: The National Interest

Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times:

He survived COVID-19. He's broke. But he thinks America is overreacting — Joey Camp was the first person in Georgia to be quarantined at a special site after being diagnosed with COVID-19. — 3 AM — For three days, he was hooked up to an oxygen tube.

Joe Biden:

Statement from Vice President Joe Biden on Record Unemployment Claims — Last week saw the largest single-week jump in new unemployment claims in American history — 3.3 million people filed for unemployment, and likely many more than that are now out of work as people are staying home to slow the spread of COVID-19.