memeorandum: Liberal Groups Spend More Than $20 Million Attacking Trump, GOP on Coronavirus (Joe Schoffstall/Washington Free Beacon)

9:45 AM ET, April 8, 2020

Top Items:

William Grimes / New York Times:

John Prine, Who Chronicled the Human Condition in Song, Dies at 73 — John Prine, Who Chronicled the Human Condition in Song, Dies — The songwriter with a raspy voice and an off-beat sense of humor was revered by the likes of Bob Dylan. He was 73. — Albert Petrocelli, Fire Chief Who Lost a Son on 9/11, Is Dead at 73

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Wrap, Lawyers, Guns & Money and alicublog

Rolling Stone:

John Prine, One of America's Greatest Songwriters, Dead at 73 — Grammy-winning singer who combined literary genius with a common touch succumbs to coronavirus complications — John Prine, who for five decades wrote rich, plain-spoken songs that chronicled the struggles and stories …

Discussion: Just The News, Mediaite, CBS Los Angeles, Althouse and Balloon Juice

Yahoo News:

Mattis rebukes Trump over removal of Pentagon inspector general — Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis issued a rare public rebuke of President Trump Tuesday over his decision to fire Glenn Fine, the Pentagon inspector general charged with overseeing implementation of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, Politico, Reason and Mother Jones

CNN:

Trump is desperately seeking to avoid blame — Trump removes watchdog who oversees coronavirus emergency fund — Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own.

Discussion: New York Times, Lawfare and Los Angeles Times

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Pelosi Statement on Sudden Removal of Head of CARES Act Oversight

Discussion: The Hill and NPR

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Trump's dismissal of competent officials is an attack on accountability

Discussion: The American Independent, Law & Crime, Bloomberg, Daily Kos and The Hill

Steven T. Dennis / Bloomberg:
Senators to Seek Explanation From Trump of Watchdog's Firing

Discussion: Politico

New York Times:

Coronavirus Was Slow to Spread to Rural America. Not Anymore. — Feb. 20This map shows every rural county in America, areas where the coronavirus outbreak initially was slow to spread. Humboldt County in Northern California was the first rural county to report a case, on Feb. 20, a month after the virus first reached the U.S.

Discussion: LewRockwell

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:

In praise of Jonathan Karl or: The virtue of not being a self-important drama queen — In a sea of self-important buffoonery, ABC News's Jonathan Karl is an island. — On Monday, during a White House press briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump berated Karl during a back-and-forth …

Discussion: The Hill and Politico

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:
Here's How Pro-Beijing Outlet Phoenix TV Made It Into The White House Coronavirus Press Briefing

Discussion: Summit News, NB Blog and Redstate

Jack Shafer / Politico:
Trump Anoints a New Class of Media Stars

Discussion: HuffPost, The Wrap and The Daily Beast

Sharon Begley / STAT:

With ventilators running out, doctors say the machines are overused for Covid-19 — Even as hospitals and governors raise the alarm about a shortage of ventilators, some critical care physicians are questioning the widespread use of the breathing machines for Covid-19 patients …

Discussion: Medscape and Talking Points Memo

Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:

The Coronavirus Has Not Halted Trump's Power Grab — Both the president and his party are committed to a long-term project of impunity from both the law and the electorate. — Staff writer at The Atlantic — An hour or so into Monday's daily presidential briefing on the coronavirus pandemic …

Discussion: Common Dreams, SCOTUSblog, NBC News and Rolling Stone

Henry Grabar / Slate:
An Interview With the College Senior Behind the Iconic Photo of Wisconsin's Pandemic Election

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Law & Crime

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
Why Wisconsin Republicans Insisted on an Election in a Pandemic

Discussion: Common Dreams, The American Independent, CNN, Inside Political Risk, The Week, The Appeal, WisconsinWatch.org, Informed Comment, HuffPost, Axios and The Guardian

Brooke Singman / Fox News:

Pelosi, Schumer call for another $500B-plus as part of ‘interim’ coronavirus relief bill — Secretary Mnuchin says first coronavirus economic stimulus payments will reach taxpayers within two weeks — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday called …

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

NBC News:

The White House chooses its own reality with freewheeling Trump briefings — First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — WASHINGTON — There's alternative facts, and then there's President …

Discussion: Breitbart

Mike Stunson / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Coronavirus has officially killed more Americans in five weeks than H1N1 did in a year — From April 2009 to April 2010, 12,459 people in the United States died from the H1N1 virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. — Coronavirus has now claimed the lives …

Discussion: Wired, Gizmodo and Washington Post

BBC: Coronavirus: US records highest death toll in single day

Chris Kahn / Reuters:
Most Americans, unlike Trump, want mail-in ballots for November if coronavirus threatens: Reuters/Ipsos poll

Discussion: The Hill

CNN:

CNN Poll: Majority of Americans now say the federal government has done a poor job of preventing coronavirus spread — 11 times Donald Trump downplayed the coronavirus — (CNN)A majority of Americans — 55% — now say the federal government has done a poor job preventing the spread …

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

How Delays and Unheeded Warnings Hindered New York's Virus Fight — The federal response was chaotic. Even so, the state's and city's own initial efforts failed to keep pace with the outbreak, The Times found. — A 39-year-old woman took Flight 701 from Doha, Qatar …

The Texas Tribune:

Texas City nursing home residents with coronavirus being treated with unproven hydroxychloroquine drug — The physician and nursing home medical director who prescribed the drug is a campaign surrogate for President Donald Trump. — *Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Raw Story

Kathryn Eastburn / Galveston County Daily News: Texas City COVID-19 patients receive hydroxychloroquine

Will Parker / Wall Street Journal:

Nearly a Third of U.S. Renters Didn't Pay April Rent — Some tenants will be temporarily protected from eviction by a patchwork of federal and local laws — Nearly a third of U.S. apartment renters didn't pay any of their April rent during the first week of the month …

Discussion: The Week

Ian Millhiser / Vox:

Trump claims that his daughter created 10 percent of all the jobs in the United States — President Donald Trump speaks as his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump looks on during a news briefing on the coronavirus outbreak on March 20. Alex Wong/Getty Images — Ivanka, the jobs wizard.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Mike Allen / Axios: Ivanka Trump plans focus on coronavirus recovery for small businesses

ABC News:

Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: Sources — “Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event,” a source says. — As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China's Wuhan region …

Discussion: Raw Story

Walter Shapiro / New Republic:

Stop Panicking About Joe Biden — Critics are overestimating the value of attacking Trump right now. — Add to Pocket — In early April 1992, a news headline in the Wall Street Journal captured the depressed mood surrounding a certain presumptive presidential nominee …

Discussion: Twitchy

Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Biden describes his phone call with Trump about coronavirus response

Discussion: New York Post and Fox News

Victoria McGrane / The Boston Globe:

Ed Markey falling short of signatures ahead of May deadline — Harder to gather in-person support in coronavirus era — The e-mail subject line was notable for an incumbent United States senator: “Help get Ed on the ballot.” — That was the message the campaign of Edward J. Markey sent …

Michelle Cottle / New York Times:

Drop the Curtain on the Trump Follies — Why does the nation need to be subjected to the president's daily carnival of misinformation, preening and political venom? — Ms. Cottle is a member of the editorial board. — Even as the Trump administration slowly finds its footing in the war …

Discussion: Kaiser Health News

Washington Post:

The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate — The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus. For more free stories, sign up for our daily Coronavirus Updates newsletter.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Informed Comment, The Week, Axios, WSVN-TV, The Uptake and Politico

Noam N. Levey / Los Angeles Times:

Hospitals say feds are seizing masks and other coronavirus supplies without a word — Although President Trump has directed states and hospitals to secure what supplies they can, the federal government is quietly seizing orders, leaving medical providers across the country in the dark …

Gabby Orr / Politico:

Trump's evangelical supporters want China to pay a price for coronavirus — President Donald Trump's evangelical boosters want China to pay a price for its handling of the coronavirus — preferably before voters deliver their verdict on Trump at ballot boxes this fall.

Discussion: The Hill

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / USA Today:
Time to put China on lockdown for its dishonesty amid coronavirus crisis

Discussion: The Texan, Raw Story, The Dispatch and The Federalist

Luke O'Brien / HuffPost:

The Far-Right Helped Create The World's Most Powerful Facial Recognition Technology — Clearview AI, which has alarmed privacy experts, hired several far-right employees, a HuffPost investigation found. — Advanced facial recognition technology poses a mortal threat to privacy.

Discussion: Gizmodo and Raw Story

Sam Allard / Scene and Heard:

Plain Dealer Put Out to Pasture. In Final Death Blow, Remaining Reporters Given Impossible Choice — On the first workday after a brutal and debilitating round of layoffs at The Plain Dealer, Editor Tim Warsinskey delivered what will be the paper's final and cruelest blow.

Discussion: Poynter and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

Andy Balaskovitz / MiBiz:

‘V-shaped’ economic recovery unlikely as recession could span years, economist says — Three weeks ago, Tim Bartik laid out a series of steps to encourage a “V-shaped” economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. — Doing so involves quickly boosting the health care system's capacity …

Discussion: Raw Story

John Cassidy / New Yorker:

Trump's “Light at the End of the Tunnel” Is a Delusion — In the past couple of days, stock markets around the world have rebounded owing to news that curves tracking the coronavirus pandemic have flattened in some of the worst-affected countries, including Italy and Spain …

HHS News Releases:

HHS Announces Ventilator Contract with GM under Defense Production Act — This week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the first contract for ventilator production rated under the Defense Production Act, to General Motors. GM's contract, at a total contract price of $489.4 million …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico and New York Times

Garrett M. Graff / Politico:

Trump Broke the Agencies That Were Supposed To Stop the Covid-19 Epidemic — This week, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams promised that we're entering the darkest days of the Covid-19 epidemic: “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment. Only, it's not going to be localized …

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Trump, Citing Hannity's Show, Claims Things Are ‘Great’ With Ventilators — CABLE NEWS PRESIDENCY — President Donald Trump told Fox News host and unofficial presidential adviser Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that he had learned partly from the prime-time star's show just how “great” …

Frances Martel / Breitbart:

Report: Wuhan Funeral Homes Burned Coronavirus Victims Alive — Locals in Wuhan, where the Chinese coronavirus pandemic originated, have heard screams coming from funeral home furnaces, and some treated in hospitals say they saw workers put living coronavirus patients in body bags, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Monday.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Oliver Milman / The Guardian:

Trump order encourages US to mine the moon — Executive order says US will oppose any international effort to bar it from removing chunks of moon, Mars or elsewhere in space — The world may be racked by the coronavirus, but Donald Trump has less earthly concerns on his mind, too …

Discussion: Gizmodo and TechCrunch