On Tuesday evening March 31st President Trump and the coronavirus task force held a briefing that lasted more than two hours.  Here’s the 24,000 word transcript:

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everyone. Our country is in the midst of a great national trial, unlike any we have ever faced before. You all see it. You see it probably better than most.

We’re at war with a deadly virus. Success in this fight will require the full, absolute measure of our collective strength, love, and devotion. Very important.

Each of us has the power, through our own choices and actions, to save American lives and rescue the most vulnerable among us.

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Yesterday during the white house briefing on the status of the coronavirus, CNN asked President Trump why he wasn’t being more dramatic and emphasizing the potential downsides to the COVID-19 impact on the nation.  President Trump responded:

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[Hat Tip Carpe Donktum for the video recap]

One of the many things that makes President Trump valuable during this crisis is his non-political authenticity. We can see and feel President Trump’s desire to get through this challenge, hold our people together, and exit even stronger than before.

No decisions are easy and the pressure is enormous; yet inherently most Americans know what President Trump is trying to do is deliver the best possible outcome for our nation.

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On Friday March 27th Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer threatened to revoke the medical licenses of doctors and pharmacists who prescribe hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus in Michigan.  Four days later, March 31st, the same governor asks the federal government to send her hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients. Go figure.

MICHIGAN – […] “We want to ensure that doctors have the ability to prescribe these medicines,” she said. “We also want to make sure that the people who have prescriptions that predated COVID-19 have access to the medication they need. And so all of the work that we’ve done is trying to strike that balance.”

In its approval letter, the FDA wrote that “[b]ased on the totality of scientific evidence available to FDA, it is reasonable to believe that chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate may be effective in treating COVID-19.”

“When used under the conditions described in this authorization, the known and potential benefits of chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate when used to treat COVID-19 outweigh the known and potential risks of such products,” FDA Chief Scientist Denise M. Hinton wrote in the approval letter. (more)

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I’m not exactly sure what the federal violation is considering the man was selling the face masks; but the FBI determined he was ‘hoarding’ his supply, and arrested him for price gouging. The FBI confiscated 80,000 face masks from his “stash” of supplies.

New York – Baruch Feldheim, 43, is facing charges of assault and making false statements to the feds on Sunday outside his Borough Park home where he allegedly peddled and stored massive amounts of N95 respirator masks, federal officials said.

Feldheim is also accused of price-gouging. On March 18, he’s suspected of selling a New Jersey doctor about 1,000 of the masks for $12,000, a markup of roughly 700 percent, authorities said.

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New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio has released 900 inmates from city jails in an effort to reduce the risk of coronavirus. Days earlier he announced the intent to permanently close houses of worship that defy the ‘stay-at-home’ dictates.

New York – De Blasio made the announcement at a press briefing while reporting that a second member of New York City’s corrections department had died from the disease.

[…]  De Blasio announced last week that the city would release hundreds of nonviolent offenders, with those accused of offenses such as domestic abuse not eligible for release. Advocates have warned that jails and prisons are hotspots for the transmission of coronavirus due to the close proximity of inmates. (read more)

Beware of Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite. A review of his social media shows a strong political alignment with team “resistance“.  The head of the Army Corps of Engineers appears with Martha MacCallum to discuss his efforts within the COVID-19 response team.

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As more essential service outlets start to become overwhelmed at the stress upon their food delivery operations; and with more food store employees necessarily absent due to the coronavirus spread; regionally, the food supply chain will becoming more dependent on food bank distribution.

If the virus spread continues at current pace, some regional supermarkets with multiple locations will likely begin targeted shut-downs by retreating and disbursing available healthy (non-infected) employees on a store-by-store basis.  The potential for this issue is most likely to first originate within urban communities; and then outflow.

This reality is starting to become more evident in localized communities, and a distribution center in the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area gives a great example of what could become increasingly common across the nation.

Approximately 1,500 cars line up to receive essential food products from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Center.  The capacity was anticipated around 1,700 at the beginning of the three hour event. 1,500 cars were in line before it began.  [Video Story]

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Strange times we live in…

Earlier today in Tampa, Florida, the county sheriff let the criminal inmates out of his jail, and then went to arrest a pastor for delivering Sunday church services and put him in the same jail.

Now a federal judge rules that getting a hip replacement should be delayed to help offset medical supply needs; but killing babies is an “essential service” that needs to continue.

TEXAS – […] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced last week that abortion providers were covered by a state order that required postponement of non-urgent medical procedures to preserve hospital beds and equipment during the pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin ruled that Paxton’s action “prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable.” (read)

“[Government] shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  (First Amendment – U.S. Constitution)

Setting aside my profound disdain for this action… In the short-term there will likely be those who genuinely believe this is legally defensible as a result of a public health emergency. However, in the long-term two things will happen: (1) over time, and up to the possibility of SCOTUS intervention, the pastor will win any legal case against him; and (2) hopefully people will realize quickly the term “essential service” is arbitrary.

Inside the definition of two words “essential services” (which is different from area to area) is all that remains of your liberty.  The first amendment of the constitution applies equally for all persons in all areas; the definition of “essential services” does not.  That’s the legal issue that will see this pastor win, if he chooses to fight.  Faith, the ability to worship, is easily argued as the preeminent ‘essential service’ to the individual and church.

FLORIDA – A Hillsborough County pastor was arrested Monday after he intentionally and repeatedly violated orders that no gatherings of 10 or more people he held in order to stop of the spread of COVID-19 by holding services at his megachurch, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced Monday afternoon.

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An executive order [Full pdf Here] from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam requires all residents of Virginia to remain in lock-down until June 10, 2020.  Virginia is essentially shut down for three months…. But don’t forget to pay your taxes comrades.

RICHMOND—Governor Ralph Northam today issued a statewide Stay at Home order to protect the health and safety of Virginians and mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. The executive order takes effect immediately and will remain in place until June 10, 2020, unless amended or rescinded by a further executive order.

The order directs all Virginians to stay home except in extremely limited circumstances. Individuals may leave their residence for allowable travel, including to seek medical attention, work, care for family or household members, obtain goods and services like groceries, prescriptions, and others as outlined in Executive Order Fifty-Three, and engage in outdoor activity with strict social distancing requirements.

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