hotair--2020-03-15--Thoughts on tomorrow's vote on the Freedom Act extension

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to extend the USA Freedom Act .
The House quickly approved an extension last week even as coronavirusmania started running wild all over the federal government .
The extension repeals the NSA ’ s data collection program , something the agency claims already ended .
Independent advisers can also review requests by law enforcement on FISA warrants , provide advice , and identify concerns with the warrant request .
Questions remain on whether the USA Freedom Act will reform the FISA process or allow it to carry on with minor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress wants the latter more than the former given House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler ’ s decision to call off a vote on the bill last month .
He and Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff disagreed with multiple proposed amendments by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren that changed the FISA process more including increased Fourth Amendment protections in the U.S. Senate leadership is unlikely to go for more reform given the interaction on Thursday between Senator Mike Lee and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr .
Lee attempted to get a 45-day extension of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could offer up amendments to the House-passed bill .
Burr objected to the request , not once , but at least four times to a simple unanimous consent of the extension .
It was during this debate when Burr offered up a rather curious comment regarding Executive Order 12333 used by the intelligence community to collect information .
“ If that ’ s true , and the executive branch truly believes it can conduct warrantless surveillance on Americans via Executive Order 12333 , that ought to prompt questions from every member of Congress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any , limits the executive branch believes exist on their power to spy domestically , ” FreedomWorks Senior Policy Analyst Josh Withrow told me in an email .
“ FISA was passed into law very specifically to prevent the kind of lawlessness that Senator Burr casually implied on the floor of the US Senate.
” Mark Jaycock at Electronic Frontier Foundation previously wrote about the dangers of EO 12333 in 2014 : The Executive Order purports to cover all types of spying conducted with the President ’ s constitutional powers—including mass spying .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of the spying conducted under EO 12333 is reportedly similar to the mass spying conducted under Section 702 of the FAA .
Under this type of spying , millions of innocent foreigners ’ communications are collected abroad , inevitably containing Americans ’ communications .
In the Section 702 context , this includes techniques like Prism and Upstream .
While we don ’ t know for sure , the Executive Order probably uses similar techniques or piggybacks off of programs used for Section 702 spying .
The second section of the EO partly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence agencies can collect , retain , and share about US persons .
The current guidelines , the United States Signals Intelligence Directive SP0018 , also known as “ USSID 18 , ” are ( just like the “ minimization procedures ” based off of them ) littered with loopholes to over-collect , over-retain , and over-share Americans ’ communications—all without a probable cause warrant or any judicial oversight .
Just slightly troubling , to say the least .
It ’ s time for Congress to go further than the banal limits in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 12333 .
The White House would likely veto any repeal , however , Congress could always vote to override .
The next step is real limits on what data the intelligence community can collect , especially when it comes to the data of American citizens .
After all , the Constitution does require Congress to set all rules of governance – not the presidency through executive fiat .
Lee ’ s desire for a 45-day extension to review the USA Freedom Act makes sense .
The bill is around 50 pages long .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Let ’ s review the act and make necessary tweaks to protect Americans and their privacy from intrusive government .
Anything else is a dereliction of duty by Congress .

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to extend the USA Freedom Act. The House quickly approved an extension last week even as coronavirusmania started running wild all over the federal government. The extension repeals the NSA’s data collection program, something the agency claims already ended. Independent advisers can also review requests by law enforcement on FISA warrants, provide advice, and identify concerns with the warrant request.
Questions remain on whether the USA Freedom Act will reform the FISA process or allow it to carry on with minor changes to the process. It appears Congress wants the latter more than the former given House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler’s decision to call off a vote on the bill last month. He and Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff disagreed with multiple proposed amendments by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren that changed the FISA process more including increased Fourth Amendment protections in the U.S.
Senate leadership is unlikely to go for more reform given the interaction on Thursday between Senator Mike Lee and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr. Lee attempted to get a 45-day extension of the current FISA rules so the Senate could offer up amendments to the House-passed bill. Burr objected to the request, not once, but at least four times to a simple unanimous consent of the extension.
It was during this debate when Burr offered up a rather curious comment regarding Executive Order 12333 used by the intelligence community to collect information.
The statement elicited alarm from FISA reform advocates.
“If that’s true, and the executive branch truly believes it can conduct warrantless surveillance on Americans via Executive Order 12333, that ought to prompt questions from every member of Congress and the public on what, if any, limits the executive branch believes exist on their power to spy domestically,” FreedomWorks Senior Policy Analyst Josh Withrow told me in an email. “FISA was passed into law very specifically to prevent the kind of lawlessness that Senator Burr casually implied on the floor of the US Senate.”
Mark Jaycock at Electronic Frontier Foundation previously wrote about the dangers of EO 12333 in 2014:
The Executive Order purports to cover all types of spying conducted with the President’s constitutional powers—including mass spying. That’s important to note because some of the spying conducted under EO 12333 is reportedly similar to the mass spying conducted under Section 702 of the FAA. Under this type of spying, millions of innocent foreigners’ communications are collected abroad, inevitably containing Americans’ communications. In the Section 702 context, this includes techniques like Prism and Upstream. While we don’t know for sure, the Executive Order probably uses similar techniques or piggybacks off of programs used for Section 702 spying. The second section of the EO partly covers mass spying by establishing what information intelligence agencies can collect, retain, and share about US persons. The current guidelines, the United States Signals Intelligence Directive SP0018, also known as “USSID 18,” are (just like the “minimization procedures” based off of them) littered with loopholes to over-collect, over-retain, and over-share Americans’ communications—all without a probable cause warrant or any judicial oversight.
Just slightly troubling, to say the least.
It’s time for Congress to go further than the banal limits in the USA Freedom Act. Repeal EO 12333. The White House would likely veto any repeal, however, Congress could always vote to override. The next step is real limits on what data the intelligence community can collect, especially when it comes to the data of American citizens. After all, the Constitution does require Congress to set all rules of governance – not the presidency through executive fiat.
Lee’s desire for a 45-day extension to review the USA Freedom Act makes sense. The bill is around 50 pages long. Congress is more focused on coronavirus. Let’s review the act and make necessary tweaks to protect Americans and their privacy from intrusive government. Anything else is a dereliction of duty by Congress.


hotair--2020-03-15--Nation's largest union endorses Biden, surprising absolutely no one

The National Education Association ( NEA ) endorsed Joe Biden for president .
The nation ’ s largest labor union was never going to endorse anyone else but Joe Biden so finally coming out and doing so isn ’ t exactly a surprise announcement .
There is also the fact that a very high profile public figure is a member of the union – Jill Biden , wife of sleepy Joe .
Last month the American Federation of Teachers ( AFT ) , the other teachers union , took a cowardly approach and endorsed three top candidates at the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Then as Warren ’ s campaign was flaming out , the president of the ATF decided to go rogue and endorse Elizabeth Warren as the Massachusetts primary approached .
The NEA held off with their endorsement .
Now the NEA is ready to “ use its power ” and get good old Joe elected .
Lily Eskelsen García , president of the 3 million-member teachers ’ union , made the announcement just days before Florida and other key states hold primaries in which Biden faces off with his main rival , Sen. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a day before the two men are set to debate .
Eskelsen García , who had earlier that she would wait to endorse to see who had the ability to attract voters , made the announcement not long after Biden ’ s seemingly stalled campaign got a huge and surprising boost in Super Tuesday races in early March .
“ He understands that as a nation we have a moral responsibility to provide a great neighborhood public school for every student in every Zip code , ” Eskelsen García said , noting that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden , is an NEA member .
“ With so much at stake in this election , educators are determined to use their voice to propel Joe Biden to the White House , ” she said .
The socialists in the teachers union aren ’ t happy .
They are ready to rumble for Bernie .
The NEA is ready to end the primary race between the two men , though , and concentrate on helping secure a Biden victory in November against the bad Orange Man .
Eskelsen Garcia said Biden is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most innovative schools in the country , especially in low-income communities where the need is the highest.
” Hmm .
Did I miss all that great innovation during the Obama-Biden administration ?
Shouldn ’ t Status Quo Joe have already done all that good stuff during his 40 years in public service ?
What the Obama-Biden administration offered was Race to the Top , a $ 4.35 billion United States Department of Education grant created to encourage and reward innovation and reforms in state and local district K-12 education .
How did that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which was a hugely expensive government bail-out at the time .
Race to the Top came on the heels of the Bush administration ’ s No Child Left Behind , also a failed big government solution to local education systems .
Swamp Democrats are desperate for Joe Biden to win the Democrat primary .
The teacher unions will all fall into line and put their millions of dollars from union coffers behind Joe .
Should he be elected in November , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very own multi-billion-dollar plan to bail out failing school systems from Washington , D.C. because doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome is the very definition of insanity .
When it comes to big government solutions , Democrats are insane .
Status Quo Joe will be happy to rubber stamp anything the unions want and school children across America will be no better off .
It is not a lack of federal funding that is causing America ’ s schools to fail .
Government funding for schools continues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more interested in protecting their members than educating children .
If the union was truly interested in innovation and improving schools they would allow school choice to actually become a thing .
Charter schools – public schools that partner up with the private sector – are a good beginning .
The best choices for schools are made at the local level where the needs of the children are best known , not a one-size-fits-all approach from Washington , D.C. Joe ’ s ready to be hair-sniffer-in-chief .
Eskelsen Garcia boasted of the high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with a voting rate of over 90 % .
He issued a statement to thank the NEA .
“ I am honored to have the support of the National Education Association — not only America ’ s biggest union , but a preeminent and powerful voice for public school educators and students across the country ” Biden said .
“ I know what it ’ s like to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a teacher — I ’ ve been doing it almost my whole life .
That ’ s why I will continue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the campaign trail and in the White House .
Together , we are going to beat Trump , replace Betsy Devos , and appoint a Secretary of Education that parents , students , and educators deserve : someone who has worked in a public school classroom , ” he continued .

The National Education Association (NEA) endorsed Joe Biden for president. The nation’s largest labor union was never going to endorse anyone else but Joe Biden so finally coming out and doing so isn’t exactly a surprise announcement. There is also the fact that a very high profile public figure is a member of the union – Jill Biden, wife of sleepy Joe.
Last month the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the other teachers union, took a cowardly approach and endorsed three top candidates at the time – Biden, Sanders, and Warren. Then as Warren’s campaign was flaming out, the president of the ATF decided to go rogue and endorse Elizabeth Warren as the Massachusetts primary approached. The NEA held off with their endorsement.
Now the NEA is ready to “use its power” and get good old Joe elected.
Lily Eskelsen García, president of the 3 million-member teachers’ union, made the announcement just days before Florida and other key states hold primaries in which Biden faces off with his main rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and a day before the two men are set to debate. Eskelsen García, who had earlier that she would wait to endorse to see who had the ability to attract voters, made the announcement not long after Biden’s seemingly stalled campaign got a huge and surprising boost in Super Tuesday races in early March. “He understands that as a nation we have a moral responsibility to provide a great neighborhood public school for every student in every Zip code,” Eskelsen García said, noting that Biden’s wife, educator Jill Biden, is an NEA member. “With so much at stake in this election, educators are determined to use their voice to propel Joe Biden to the White House,” she said.
The socialists in the teachers union aren’t happy. They are ready to rumble for Bernie. The NEA is ready to end the primary race between the two men, though, and concentrate on helping secure a Biden victory in November against the bad Orange Man.
NEA has organized and engaged our members in unprecedented ways. Hundreds of thousands of educators have participated in town halls, taken action online, & attended candidate events across the country. Now, they're enthusiastically telling us it's time to get behind @JoeBiden. — Lily Eskelsen García (@LilytheTeacher) March 15, 2020
Eskelsen Garcia said Biden is “pledging to build the best, most innovative schools in the country, especially in low-income communities where the need is the highest.” Hmm. Did I miss all that great innovation during the Obama-Biden administration? Shouldn’t Status Quo Joe have already done all that good stuff during his 40 years in public service? What the Obama-Biden administration offered was Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education grant created to encourage and reward innovation and reforms in state and local district K-12 education. How did that multi-billion taxpayer-funded experiment work out? It was a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which was a hugely expensive government bail-out at the time. Race to the Top came on the heels of the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind, also a failed big government solution to local education systems.
Swamp Democrats are desperate for Joe Biden to win the Democrat primary. The teacher unions will all fall into line and put their millions of dollars from union coffers behind Joe. Should he be elected in November, Dr. Jill can come up with her very own multi-billion-dollar plan to bail out failing school systems from Washington, D.C. because doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome is the very definition of insanity. When it comes to big government solutions, Democrats are insane. Status Quo Joe will be happy to rubber stamp anything the unions want and school children across America will be no better off.
It is not a lack of federal funding that is causing America’s schools to fail. Government funding for schools continues to rise every year. Unions are more interested in protecting their members than educating children. If the union was truly interested in innovation and improving schools they would allow school choice to actually become a thing. Charter schools – public schools that partner up with the private sector – are a good beginning. The best choices for schools are made at the local level where the needs of the children are best known, not a one-size-fits-all approach from Washington, D.C.
Joe’s ready to be hair-sniffer-in-chief. Eskelsen Garcia boasted of the high level of participation teachers produce in elections, with a voting rate of over 90%. He issued a statement to thank the NEA.
“I am honored to have the support of the National Education Association — not only America’s biggest union, but a preeminent and powerful voice for public school educators and students across the country” Biden said. “I know what it’s like to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a teacher — I’ve been doing it almost my whole life. That’s why I will continue to stand with educators every day on the campaign trail and in the White House. Together, we are going to beat Trump, replace Betsy Devos, and appoint a Secretary of Education that parents, students, and educators deserve: someone who has worked in a public school classroom,” he continued.
We are proud to recommend @JoeBiden, a tireless advocate for students, educators, and strong public schools to be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States. #EducatorsforJoe #StrongPublicSchoolshttps://t.co/wIrjKzMBiy — NEA (@NEAToday) March 15, 2020
We support @JoeBiden because he will work to double the number of:
✅psychologists,
✅guidance counselors,
✅nurses,
✅social workers,
✅and other health professionals in our schools. Are you on Team #EducatorsforJoe? Sign the pledge today: https://t.co/g5ASQPlM0L — NEA (@NEAToday) March 15, 2020


hotair--2020-03-15--Send this WaPo visualization on social distancing to everyone you know

You ’ ve seen that graph from which the term “ flattening the curve ” derives 100 times already this week .
But this series of visual simulations at WaPo explains the virtues of social distancing amid an epidemic even more effectively .
The point to bear in mind when watching each simulation is that we have a finite capacity in our ICUs , of course .
Speed kills with this disease because it ’ ll overwhelm that capacity .
Slowing the spread thus matters momentously to the quality of care gravely ill people will receive , and not just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ICUs are full , by definition no one ’ s getting in .
Not cardiac patients .
Not diabetes patients .
Full means full .
So if you want to do a small public service today , read that WaPo piece and then forward it to your friends .
Especially the friends whom you think are most likely to blow this off and keep socializing in crowds .
Because , let me tell you , there are a lot of idiots in the United States who are blowing this off .
Every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a crowded place was a willing vector for this disease .
The young are less likely to become gravely ill than the old but there ’ s no evidence that they ’ re less likely to pass the virus along , which means every additional potential carrier who ’ s out mingling in crowds is raising the threat to older people exponentially .
Nor is it the case that asymptomatic people are less of a risk to others ; to the contrary , there ’ s evidence that those without symptoms are playing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this around .
A German study suggests the infected are actually more contagious in the earliest stages of the illness than they are after it ’ s hit them hard , adding to the fiendish difficulty of trying to control the spread .
The only effective strategy is avoiding crowds even if you feel fine and are low-risk .
And as much as I ’ d like to tell you that it ’ s only random morons who are continuing with business as usual ( which would be bad enough ) , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oklahoma : I mean this without exaggeration : If , God forbid , Stitt comes down with a case of this illness that requires hospitalization , he should go to the back of the line .
I don ’ t care who he is .
Unlike the average American dipsh*t , he had every reason to know from his health advisors how insanely reckless it is to promote going out at a moment when the country is scrambling to slow this thing down .
If there ’ s one ventilator left and it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grandma who stayed home but then got infected at her doctor ’ s office because of an appointment she couldn ’ t miss , let grandma have it .
Stitt can take his chances with Tylenol and well wishes .
It ’ s only fair .
He isn ’ t the only idiot among the leadership class who ’ s encouraging the spread of the disease .
Bill de Blasio is still telling New Yorkers , even at this late hour , that it ’ s okay to keep schools open because kids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Which is true , they are more or less immune , but the parents and grandparents to whom they ’ re going to spread the disease after contracting it on the playground are not .
Devin Nunes was on Fox Business this morning advising “ healthy ” people that “ it ’ s a great time to go out and go to a local restaurant , likely you can get in easily.
” Again , the entire problem with this disease is that people who already have it are perfectly capable of infecting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had symptoms yet and think they ’ re healthy .
Is there any other country in the world where public officials can ’ t or won ’ t follow the most basic health advice offered by medical experts in the teeth of a catastrophe ?
Said one Twitter pal , “ Imagine being in a global war where all we need to do to win is stay at home , eat a pack of noodles and binge watch Netflix and we ’ re still somehow losing it.
” But it ’ s worse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s momentarily still hypothetical here is actually playing out in western Europe , in a first-world country with a perfectly fine medical system , where the spread of the disease 10 days ago looked exactly how it looks in the U.S..
It would be tragic but understandable if Americans ignored speculation about a public health disaster which they were told was days away ; human beings often have to learn the hard way .
But Italy has already learned the hard way for us .
American newspapers are full of dispatches from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re experiencing because doctors and nurses can ’ t cope with the patient load .
Six days ago BuzzFeed published a piece about the lockdown in Italy quoting one Italian as saying , “ Probably for true Milanese , it ’ s quite difficult not to go for an aperitivo , and that ’ s why you can still see people pouring into restaurants and bars , completely ignoring safety advice.
” Now they ’ re dealing with 3,500 new cases per day .
Italian journalist Mattia Ferraresi has a piece in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus cautionary tale from Italy : Don ’ t do what we did.
” Go look again at the WaPo simulations to see what he means about not being able to see the threat until it ’ s too late .
In the first few seconds of the “ free-for-all ” simulation , only a few dots are infected .
A few seconds later , dozens are .
If people are distancing themselves early in the outbreak , it takes awhile for carriers to reach all of the uninfected .
If people don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say , 20 percent are infected , there are a lot more infected dots bouncing around to spread the contagion to all but the most thoroughly isolated .
Italy has been brought to its knees .
Americans who are there right now , like Newt Gingrich , are pleading with those of us back home that there ’ s no time to waste in distancing themselves .
Newspapers are publishing stories with headlines like “ Please , don ’ t go out to brunch today.
” Trump himself has very belatedly taken to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slow the virus down .
Humanity has never been able to spread information as quickly as it does now .
So why can ’ t we listen , pause a moment to absorb what Italy ’ s enduring , and change our behavior ?
Has the sense that we ’ re too rich and too “ advanced ” to have major calamities befall us paralyzed us , even when evidence of our vulnerability is right in front of us ?
Even when all we ’ re being asked to do to manage this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
The sense of uncertainty and of the fragility of human life that I saw in Asia over the past two months is easy to explain if poverty and disease are still an everyday occurrence or at most two or three generations in the past .
Often , that historical experience is reflected in public institutions : The lack of advanced social security and public healthcare systems forces Asians to contemplate in their daily lives the possibility that their world might suddenly collapse .
In Europe the general psychology too often reflects the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most serious threats to individual happiness have been definitively conquered .
Why worry about an epidemic if you have excellent public hospitals available more or less for free ?
What no one considered was that a virus could bring this perfect system to the point of breakdown .
Of course Europeans have their own nightmares and demons .
But remember that the tragedy of the World Wars has been interpreted in political terms .
They are a reminder of the dangers of nationalism and imperialism .
The practical import of our recent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rightness of our values , not to force us to doubt ourselves .
And even the bloody history of the 20th century in Europe has not changed the fact that we look at the world from what we think is a central position to which others can only aspire .
Europeans have been taught by the whole course of modern history to think that they can guide or at least influence the rest of the world while being protected from events originating elsewhere .
Is our sclerotic bureaucracy , especially as mismanaged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American airports being turned into petri dishes last night as people returned en masse from Europe ) , just not nimble enough to deal with major threats anymore ?
Without the threats and violence of the Chinese system , in other words , we have the same results : scientists not allowed to do their job ; public-health officials not pushing for aggressive testing ; preparedness delayed , all because too many people feared that it might damage the political prospects of the leader .
I am not writing this in order to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ am writing this so that Americans understand that our government is producing some of the same outcomes as Chinese communism .
This means that our political system is in far , far worse shape than we have hitherto understood… The United States , long accustomed to thinking of itself as the best , most efficient , and most technologically advanced society in the world , is about to be proved an unclothed emperor .
When human life is in peril , we are not as good as Singapore , as South Korea , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not that we are behind technologically , as the Japanese were in 1853 .
The problem is that American bureaucracies , and the antiquated , hidebound , unloved federal government of which they are part , are no longer up to the job of coping with the kinds of challenges that face us in the 21st century .
Global pandemics , cyberwarfare , information warfare—these are threats that require highly motivated , highly educated bureaucrats ; a national health-care system that covers the entire population ; public schools that train students to think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more .
Has too much of the general public become slovenly in its ignorance and perceptions of basic civic responsibilities ?
I feel like it ’ s not a great sign that people are pleading with LeBron James and Taylor Swift to get involved in the push for social distancing because it ’ s somehow not enough to have the president ’ s top infectious disease expert warning them hourly that our hospitals are two weeks away from catastrophe .
Now that Lady Gaga ’ s gotten on board , perhaps our very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corner .
Or is this all mostly a function of selfishness ?
Maybe there ’ s a certain cohort of people in the low-risk category that understands the epidemiology here and decided they ’ re going to enjoy their Saturday night out anyway , even if doing so meaningfully raises the risk of a health-care fiasco and a wave of deaths among local older people .
As social solidarity atrophies , so does civic responsibility .
It ’ s worth your time to read this short piece crunching the numbers and urging NYC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restaurants , everything except the supermarkets , banks , and pharmacies — within the next week or else the metropolitan area will be facing somewhere between 65,000 and 115,000 infections … 13 days from now .
That means social distancing not just on a macro scale , like shutting down sporting events , but on the kind of micro scale that Americans all over the country openly flouted last night .
My guess is that we ’ re collectively just too slovenly to voluntarily stay away from things like bars if they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ snow day — which is why de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo will have to make a hard decision to declare a public health emergency to try to force them closed .
Better do it soon , though .
St. Patrick ’ s Day is 48 hours away .
Here ’ s Anthony Fauci ineffectually pleading with people to be just slightly less stupid than usual and selfish because their lives , and the lives of everyone around them , literally do depend on it .

You’ve seen that graph from which the term “flattening the curve” derives 100 times already this week. But this series of visual simulations at WaPo explains the virtues of social distancing amid an epidemic even more effectively. The point to bear in mind when watching each simulation is that we have a finite capacity in our ICUs, of course. Speed kills with this disease because it’ll overwhelm that capacity. Slowing the spread thus matters momentously to the quality of care gravely ill people will receive, and not just people gravely ill with coronavirus. If the ICUs are full, by definition no one’s getting in. Not cardiac patients. Not diabetes patients. Full means full.
So if you want to do a small public service today, read that WaPo piece and then forward it to your friends. Especially the friends whom you think are most likely to blow this off and keep socializing in crowds.
Because, let me tell you, there are a lot of idiots in the United States who are blowing this off.
Downtown Nashville is undefeated. pic.twitter.com/BFIOzukFct — Janna Abraham (@SportsPundette) March 15, 2020
France has ordered all restaurants closed. Spain has told everyone to stay home. This was the scene in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. (Photos by my always awesome niece.) pic.twitter.com/XyDYoopH2T — Eric Umansky (@ericuman) March 15, 2020
Text from a friend: "I’m running through Rockridge (Oakland) and the popular restaurants are PACKED. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. People jammed in like sardines in a FAMILY STYLE eating place that is actually perfectly set up to do robust delivery." — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 15, 2020
Honestly blown away by the number of people I follow posting Instagram stories of themselves out at crowded bars and restaurants with ironic tags about social distancing or quarantines. — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 15, 2020
A physician friend driving home tonight from a long, grueling day at nearly-overwhelmed hospital treating COVID19 patients, knowing it's going to get much worse for us all, saw lines of young people waiting to get in the bars in his city, writes, "I cannot believe the stupidity." — Rod Dreher (@roddreher) March 15, 2020
Speaking to friends/family in Spain, they are upset the gov didn’t shut things down earlier. No one headed the warnings coming from Italy n stopped. 2nite it’s business as usual in the East Village. People partying like crazy. It’s not a badge of honor. Its a colossal mistake — Kirsten Fleming (@KirFlem) March 15, 2020
Every person who was out last night in a crowded place was a willing vector for this disease. The young are less likely to become gravely ill than the old but there’s no evidence that they’re less likely to pass the virus along, which means every additional potential carrier who’s out mingling in crowds is raising the threat to older people exponentially. Nor is it the case that asymptomatic people are less of a risk to others; to the contrary, there’s evidence that those without symptoms are playing a bigger role than thought in passing this around. A German study suggests the infected are actually more contagious in the earliest stages of the illness than they are after it’s hit them hard, adding to the fiendish difficulty of trying to control the spread. The only effective strategy is avoiding crowds even if you feel fine and are low-risk.
And as much as I’d like to tell you that it’s only random morons who are continuing with business as usual (which would be bad enough), it is not. Meet the governor of Oklahoma:
I mean this without exaggeration: If, God forbid, Stitt comes down with a case of this illness that requires hospitalization, he should go to the back of the line. I don’t care who he is. Unlike the average American dipsh*t, he had every reason to know from his health advisors how insanely reckless it is to promote going out at a moment when the country is scrambling to slow this thing down. If there’s one ventilator left and it’s down to him and some grandma who stayed home but then got infected at her doctor’s office because of an appointment she couldn’t miss, let grandma have it. Stitt can take his chances with Tylenol and well wishes. It’s only fair.
He isn’t the only idiot among the leadership class who’s encouraging the spread of the disease. Bill de Blasio is still telling New Yorkers, even at this late hour, that it’s okay to keep schools open because kids are largely immune from the disease. Which is true, they are more or less immune, but the parents and grandparents to whom they’re going to spread the disease after contracting it on the playground are not. Devin Nunes was on Fox Business this morning advising “healthy” people that “it’s a great time to go out and go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easily.” Again, the entire problem with this disease is that people who already have it are perfectly capable of infecting others even when they haven’t had symptoms yet and think they’re healthy.
Is there any other country in the world where public officials can’t or won’t follow the most basic health advice offered by medical experts in the teeth of a catastrophe? Said one Twitter pal, “Imagine being in a global war where all we need to do to win is stay at home, eat a pack of noodles and binge watch Netflix and we’re still somehow losing it.”
But it’s worse than that. The nightmare scenario that’s momentarily still hypothetical here is actually playing out in western Europe, in a first-world country with a perfectly fine medical system, where the spread of the disease 10 days ago looked exactly how it looks in the U.S.. It would be tragic but understandable if Americans ignored speculation about a public health disaster which they were told was days away; human beings often have to learn the hard way. But Italy has already learned the hard way for us. American newspapers are full of dispatches from that country about the health-care meltdown they’re experiencing because doctors and nurses can’t cope with the patient load.
Italy has reported its biggest day-to-day jump in cases of COVID-19. National health authorities told reporters on Saturday that health officials recorded 3,497 new cases in 24 hours. That’s roughly a 20% increase in cases from the day before. A little more than half of those new cases occurred in Lombardy, the populous northern region which has been hardest hit in Europe’s worst outbreak. Italy’s total cases now tally 21,157. The death toll rose by 175. A day earlier, the same authorities had predicted glumly that Italy would still see a jump in cases despite a national lockdown that began on March 9, barely two days after severe restrictions on personal movement in the north. They cited irresponsible behavior by many citizens, who despite the earlier warnings not to gather in large numbers, headed to beaches or ski resorts, and hung out together in town squares, especially after the closure of schools.
Six days ago BuzzFeed published a piece about the lockdown in Italy quoting one Italian as saying, “Probably for true Milanese, it’s quite difficult not to go for an aperitivo, and that’s why you can still see people pouring into restaurants and bars, completely ignoring safety advice.” Now they’re dealing with 3,500 new cases per day. Italian journalist Mattia Ferraresi has a piece in the Boston Globe today titled “A coronavirus cautionary tale from Italy: Don’t do what we did.”
We of course couldn’t stop the emergence of a previously unknown and deadly virus. But we could have mitigated the situation we are now in, in which people who could have been saved are dying. I, and too many others, could have taken a simple yet morally loaded action: We could have stayed home. What has happened in Italy shows that less-than-urgent appeals to the public by the government to slightly change habits regarding social interactions aren’t enough when the terrible outcomes they are designed to prevent are not yet apparent; when they become evident, it’s generally too late to act. I and many other Italians just didn’t see the need to change our routines for a threat we could not see.
Go look again at the WaPo simulations to see what he means about not being able to see the threat until it’s too late. In the first few seconds of the “free-for-all” simulation, only a few dots are infected. A few seconds later, dozens are. If people are distancing themselves early in the outbreak, it takes awhile for carriers to reach all of the uninfected. If people don’t start distancing themselves until, say, 20 percent are infected, there are a lot more infected dots bouncing around to spread the contagion to all but the most thoroughly isolated.
Italy has been brought to its knees. Americans who are there right now, like Newt Gingrich, are pleading with those of us back home that there’s no time to waste in distancing themselves. Newspapers are publishing stories with headlines like “Please, don’t go out to brunch today.” Trump himself has very belatedly taken to encouraging social distancing as a way to slow the virus down. Humanity has never been able to spread information as quickly as it does now. So why can’t we listen, pause a moment to absorb what Italy’s enduring, and change our behavior?
Has the sense that we’re too rich and too “advanced” to have major calamities befall us paralyzed us, even when evidence of our vulnerability is right in front of us? Even when all we’re being asked to do to manage this is … to stay home for awhile?
The sense of uncertainty and of the fragility of human life that I saw in Asia over the past two months is easy to explain if poverty and disease are still an everyday occurrence or at most two or three generations in the past. Often, that historical experience is reflected in public institutions: The lack of advanced social security and public healthcare systems forces Asians to contemplate in their daily lives the possibility that their world might suddenly collapse. In Europe the general psychology too often reflects the ideology of development, the idea that the most serious threats to individual happiness have been definitively conquered. Why worry about an epidemic if you have excellent public hospitals available more or less for free? What no one considered was that a virus could bring this perfect system to the point of breakdown. Of course Europeans have their own nightmares and demons. But remember that the tragedy of the World Wars has been interpreted in political terms. They are a reminder of the dangers of nationalism and imperialism. The practical import of our recent history is to confirm our conviction in the rightness of our values, not to force us to doubt ourselves. And even the bloody history of the 20th century in Europe has not changed the fact that we look at the world from what we think is a central position to which others can only aspire. Europeans have been taught by the whole course of modern history to think that they can guide or at least influence the rest of the world while being protected from events originating elsewhere.
Is our sclerotic bureaucracy, especially as mismanaged by the current administration (e.g., American airports being turned into petri dishes last night as people returned en masse from Europe), just not nimble enough to deal with major threats anymore?
Without the threats and violence of the Chinese system, in other words, we have the same results: scientists not allowed to do their job; public-health officials not pushing for aggressive testing; preparedness delayed, all because too many people feared that it might damage the political prospects of the leader. I am not writing this in order to praise Chinese communism—far from it. I am writing this so that Americans understand that our government is producing some of the same outcomes as Chinese communism. This means that our political system is in far, far worse shape than we have hitherto understood… The United States, long accustomed to thinking of itself as the best, most efficient, and most technologically advanced society in the world, is about to be proved an unclothed emperor. When human life is in peril, we are not as good as Singapore, as South Korea, as Germany. And the problem is not that we are behind technologically, as the Japanese were in 1853. The problem is that American bureaucracies, and the antiquated, hidebound, unloved federal government of which they are part, are no longer up to the job of coping with the kinds of challenges that face us in the 21st century. Global pandemics, cyberwarfare, information warfare—these are threats that require highly motivated, highly educated bureaucrats; a national health-care system that covers the entire population; public schools that train students to think both deeply and flexibly; and much more.
Has too much of the general public become slovenly in its ignorance and perceptions of basic civic responsibilities?
We are doomed pic.twitter.com/EpIXKo84IH — Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 15, 2020
I feel like it’s not a great sign that people are pleading with LeBron James and Taylor Swift to get involved in the push for social distancing because it’s somehow not enough to have the president’s top infectious disease expert warning them hourly that our hospitals are two weeks away from catastrophe. Now that Lady Gaga’s gotten on board, perhaps our very serious country will begin to turn the corner.
Or is this all mostly a function of selfishness? Maybe there’s a certain cohort of people in the low-risk category that understands the epidemiology here and decided they’re going to enjoy their Saturday night out anyway, even if doing so meaningfully raises the risk of a health-care fiasco and a wave of deaths among local older people. As social solidarity atrophies, so does civic responsibility.
It’s worth your time to read this short piece crunching the numbers and urging NYC to fully shut down — bars, restaurants, everything except the supermarkets, banks, and pharmacies — within the next week or else the metropolitan area will be facing somewhere between 65,000 and 115,000 infections … 13 days from now. That means social distancing not just on a macro scale, like shutting down sporting events, but on the kind of micro scale that Americans all over the country openly flouted last night. My guess is that we’re collectively just too slovenly to voluntarily stay away from things like bars if they’re open — this is not a snow day — which is why de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo will have to make a hard decision to declare a public health emergency to try to force them closed. Better do it soon, though. St. Patrick’s Day is 48 hours away.
Here’s Anthony Fauci ineffectually pleading with people to be just slightly less stupid than usual and selfish because their lives, and the lives of everyone around them, literally do depend on it.


hotair--2020-03-15--Google answers naysayers - all systems go for a COVID-19 website

On Friday , President Trump announced that engineers at Google were working on a website focused on helping get information out on the coronavirus .
By Friday evening the usual suspects in the left-wing media were calling that information a lie , something that President Trump just made up out of thin air and Google didn ’ t even know in advance that he was going to make such an announcement .
Guess what happened Saturday evening ?
Google cleared it all up .
Let ’ s just say there ’ s a lot of tweets that have not aged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and their willing cohorts in the media are desperate to turn the COVID-19 pandemic into the end of Trump ’ s presidency .
The Trump administration team leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been clear from the beginning , it ’ s an all-in approach .
Google ’ s parent company Alphabet confirmed working on a website for people to get information on coronavirus testing .
CNBC viewed internal memos about it .
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees Thursday that Verily and Google are working on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing .
The company asked employees if they want to volunteer in the effort .
Most of the work is still in the planning stage and the effort was the idea of employees at Google wanting to do something to help people get information .
Verily is a Google subsidiary , a life sciences company .
“ Yesterday at TGIF , someone had a question about whether Verily could assist in the effort to test people for the COVID-19 .
I know we are all looking for ways to help right now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see if they could use support from Google and our other bets for a new effort being planned , ” Pichai said .
“ The good news is that a planning effort is underway to use the expertise in life sciences and clinical research of Verily in partnership with Google to aid in the COVID-19 testing effort in the U.S. ” Sounds good , right ?
The science research affiliate of Google is teaming up with Google engineers to put together a website to get out information on testing kits and locations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is a tool , a website where testing sites and other information can be distributed from public health officials and healthcare agencies .
If you go to the website link you will see that at the bottom of the home page , Stanford Medicine , Duke University School of Medicine , American Heart Association , and Google are all listed as partners .
The Project Baseline website apparently will have a separate page for COVID-19 information , apart from the research section .
“ As more test kits become available , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for public health and healthcare agencies to direct people to our Baseline website , where individuals who are at higher risk can be directed to testing sites based on the latest guidance from public health authorities , ” Pichai said in the memo .
Project Baseline , which says it ’ s “ collaborating to build the next generation of healthcare tools and services ” is an initiative that maps health data points used in clinical research .
That research is used in collaboration with other researchers , clinicians , engineers , designers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s website .
Verily is already working on developing a small body-worn temperature patch that transmits data to a phone application for early diagnosis of flu-like sicknesses .
Google tweeted Friday evening that it is developing a triage tool to help with COVID-19 testing it will deploy first to its Mountain View , California headquarters .
Verily is in the early stages of development and the roll-out will be slow .
Just like that , Wired and Verge wrote articles alleging that Google was caught off-guard by the president ’ s announcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an effort to clarify that Verily is taking the lead and Google engineers are assisting from their end of the project , as far as I can tell .
The president said Google is “ helping develop a website.
” Apparently the left was upset that Trump made a little dig at the disastrous roll-out of the Obamacare website as he explained the purpose of the website .
Anti-Trump Twitter pounced .
The lefties in the media were happy to assist .
Saturday evening Google released a Twitter thread of six tweets explaining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saying they are partnering with the government .
The thread took up where the initial tweets from Friday left off .
The initial reaction by those wishing failure on the Trump administration at the expense of the health of Americans was petty and unhelpful .
Instead of criticizing and blaming Trump for a worldwide pandemic it would be nice if the anti-Trump media would take a breath and do some real reporting instead of offering up personal opinions .
It will go a long way with the public if reporters would just report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying to do gotcha pieces .
The roll-out on this website will be slow and cautious .
It will be nationwide , as the administration said , but the first to test it will be in the Mountain View , California community .

On Friday, President Trump announced that engineers at Google were working on a website focused on helping get information out on the coronavirus. By Friday evening the usual suspects in the left-wing media were calling that information a lie, something that President Trump just made up out of thin air and Google didn’t even know in advance that he was going to make such an announcement. Guess what happened Saturday evening? Google cleared it all up. Let’s just say there’s a lot of tweets that have not aged well after that clarification.
The left and their willing cohorts in the media are desperate to turn the COVID-19 pandemic into the end of Trump’s presidency. The Trump administration team leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been clear from the beginning, it’s an all-in approach. Google’s parent company Alphabet confirmed working on a website for people to get information on coronavirus testing. CNBC viewed internal memos about it. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees Thursday that Verily and Google are working on a new effort to help with coronavirus testing. The company asked employees if they want to volunteer in the effort. Most of the work is still in the planning stage and the effort was the idea of employees at Google wanting to do something to help people get information. Verily is a Google subsidiary, a life sciences company.
“Yesterday at TGIF, someone had a question about whether Verily could assist in the effort to test people for the COVID-19. I know we are all looking for ways to help right now, so I checked in with their team to see if they could use support from Google and our other bets for a new effort being planned,” Pichai said. “The good news is that a planning effort is underway to use the expertise in life sciences and clinical research of Verily in partnership with Google to aid in the COVID-19 testing effort in the U.S.”
Sounds good, right? The science research affiliate of Google is teaming up with Google engineers to put together a website to get out information on testing kits and locations. It is called Project Baseline. It is a tool, a website where testing sites and other information can be distributed from public health officials and healthcare agencies. If you go to the website link you will see that at the bottom of the home page, Stanford Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, American Heart Association, and Google are all listed as partners. The Project Baseline website apparently will have a separate page for COVID-19 information, apart from the research section.
“As more test kits become available, the planners are looking to develop a pathway for public health and healthcare agencies to direct people to our Baseline website, where individuals who are at higher risk can be directed to testing sites based on the latest guidance from public health authorities,” Pichai said in the memo. Project Baseline, which says it’s “collaborating to build the next generation of healthcare tools and services” is an initiative that maps health data points used in clinical research. That research is used in collaboration with other researchers, clinicians, engineers, designers, and volunteers, according to Baseline’s website.
Verily is already working on developing a small body-worn temperature patch that transmits data to a phone application for early diagnosis of flu-like sicknesses.
Google tweeted Friday evening that it is developing a triage tool to help with COVID-19 testing it will deploy first to its Mountain View, California headquarters. Verily is in the early stages of development and the roll-out will be slow. Just like that, Wired and Verge wrote articles alleging that Google was caught off-guard by the president’s announcement. Google’s tweet Friday was an effort to clarify that Verily is taking the lead and Google engineers are assisting from their end of the project, as far as I can tell.
The president said Google is “helping develop a website.” Apparently the left was upset that Trump made a little dig at the disastrous roll-out of the Obamacare website as he explained the purpose of the website.
“I want to thank Google,” Trump said. “Google is helping to develop a website. It’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past, to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.” The comment appeared to be a reference to the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov, the website used for the US government’s health insurance exchange, which was premiered by President Barack Obama’s administration.
Anti-Trump Twitter pounced. The lefties in the media were happy to assist.
Officials in California were stunned Friday to see their graphic for a modest pilot program California has been developing with Google’s parent company Alphabet presented by the White House as if it were a nationwide Trump administration initiative that is ready to go… — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 14, 2020
Saturday evening Google released a Twitter thread of six tweets explaining its role in the process and specifically saying they are partnering with the government. The thread took up where the initial tweets from Friday left off.
“We are fully aligned and continue to work with the US Government to contain the spread of COVID-19, inform citizens, and protect the health of our communities. (1/6) https://t.co/eI1uXra6AB — Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
“Google is partnering with the US Government in developing a nationwide website that includes information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing information. (2/6) — Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
“This is in addition to other measures we are taking, including: a Google “home page promotion” to promote greater awareness of simple measures citizens can take to prevent the spread of the disease; (3/6) — Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
“Work being done by our sister company Verily to launch a pilot website that will enable individuals to do a risk assessment and be scheduled for testing at sites in the Bay Area; (4/6) — Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
“Rolling out free access to our advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally until 7/01/20; advancing health research and science; and financially supporting global relief efforts.” – Google Spokesperson (6/6) — Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
The initial reaction by those wishing failure on the Trump administration at the expense of the health of Americans was petty and unhelpful. Instead of criticizing and blaming Trump for a worldwide pandemic it would be nice if the anti-Trump media would take a breath and do some real reporting instead of offering up personal opinions. It will go a long way with the public if reporters would just report on updates and stop wasting energy on trying to do gotcha pieces. The roll-out on this website will be slow and cautious. It will be nationwide, as the administration said, but the first to test it will be in the Mountain View, California community.


hotair--2020-03-15--Living water and the end of thirst: Sunday reflection

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar , near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph .
Jacob ’ s well was there .
Jesus , tired from his journey , sat down there at the well .
It was about noon .
A woman of Samaria came to draw water .
Jesus said to her , “ Give me a drink.
” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food .
The Samaritan woman said to him , “ How can you , a Jew , ask me , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her , “ If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you , ‘ Give me a drink , ’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.
” The woman said to him , “ Sir , you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep ; where then can you get this living water ?
Are you greater than our father Jacob , who gave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself with his children and his flocks ?
” Jesus answered and said to her , “ Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again ; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst ; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
” The woman said to him , “ Sir , give me this water , so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.
” Jesus said to her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come back.
” The woman answered and said to him , “ I do not have a husband.
” Jesus answered her , “ You are right in saying , ‘ I do not have a husband.
’ For you have had five husbands , and the one you have now is not your husband .
What you have said is true.
” The woman said to him , “ Sir , I can see that you are a prophet .
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain ; but you people say that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Jesus said to her , “ Believe me , woman , the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem .
You people worship what you do not understand ; we worship what we understand , because salvation is from the Jews .
But the hour is coming , and is now here , when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth ; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him .
God is Spirit , and those who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ truth.
” The woman said to him , “ I know that the Messiah is coming , the one called the Christ ; when he comes , he will tell us everything.
” Jesus said to her , “ I am he , the one speaking with you.
” At that moment his disciples returned , and were amazed that he was talking with a woman , but still no one said , “ What are you looking for ?
” or “ Why are you talking with her ?
” The woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the town and said to the people , “ Come see a man who told me everything I have done .
Could he possibly be the Christ ?
” They went out of the town and came to him .
Meanwhile , the disciples urged him , “ Rabbi , eat.
” But he said to them , “ I have food to eat of which you do not know.
” So the disciples said to one another , “ Could someone have brought him something to eat ?
” Jesus said to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work .
Do you not say , ‘ In four months the harvest will be here ’ ?
I tell you , look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest .
The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life , so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together .
For here the saying is verified that ‘ One sows and another reaps.
’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and you are sharing the fruits of their work.
” Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified , “ He told me everything I have done.
” When the Samaritans came to him , they invited him to stay with them ; and he stayed there two days .
Many more began to believe in him because of his word , and they said to the woman , “ We no longer believe because of your word ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.
” This Gospel reading comes at a perfect time , not just in our progress at Lent but also to remind us of our connectedness in spite of all our differences .
Today ’ s Gospel and readings remind us that Jesus came not to save the perfected and the spotless , but to rescue all who would come to Him , regardless of their social status or human divisions .
In today ’ s readings , we get two different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for both it and communion with God .
The first takes place in Exodus , in which the Israelites have grown rebellious yet again , this time over a lack of water .
They have refused to trust the Lord or Moses , His prophet , in ensuring their survival until they come to the Promised Land .
Despite the fact that the Lord appeared in their midst as a pillar of fire and split the Red Sea to rescue them from the Egyptians , the Israelites still thirst — not just for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lord loves them .
This pushes Moses to an understandable frustration with his people , but he turns to the Lord for help rather than deal with it on his own authority .
Moses , at least , still trusts in the Lord and acknowledges the proper relationship between himself and God .
The Lord works with him to provide living water from the rock , a miracle that not just provides water for the Israelites ’ physical needs but a sign of the Lord ’ s love for them .
He wants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for His sake but for their own ; had they rebelled , they would have either fled into the desert to die or ended up enslaved by Egyptians or others .
The water in this case provides that communion between the Lord and His people .
He again condescends to the Israelites to free them of their attachment to sin and obstinacy , emphasizing His love for them and His sustenance as long as they remain true to their covenant .
By the time Jesus meets the Samaritan woman , the Israelites have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ utterly failed in their mission to bring God ’ s Word to the nations of the world .
It has become so bad that Judeans and Samaritans will have little to do with each other , divided over the proper form of worship as a consequence of the Babylonian conquest centuries earlier .
The divide between the two communities has become so profound that Jesus uses it in one of his most well-known parables , that of the Good Samaritan who truly loves his neighbor — a parable that certainly seemed intended to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cousins in Samaria .
This , however , goes far beyond a parable .
Jesus is not just speaking to the Samaritans , he is speaking with a Samaritan woman , and a sinful one at that .
His request for water from the community well crosses all sorts of boundaries of that time , and Jesus even weighs in on the Judean/Samaritan divide in the Judeans ’ favor .
Yet not only does Jesus continue to engage and encourage her , He also preaches to her in more direct terms than He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His nature by describing her sins in detail , and He also tells the Samaritan woman that He is the Messiah — a revelation Jesus carefully avoids with His disciples for much of His mission .
Why does Jesus provide this living water so directly to the Samaritan woman ?
He senses her thirst for it , and her willingness to receive it .
The Samaritans are lost in their own way and dying of thirst , even if they do not necessarily realize it .
Jesus provides the living water of faith @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bring them out of their own desert of isolation and sin .
However , do not forget that Jesus is doing the same for the Judeans as well throughout His mission .
The Judeans are also lost , but in a different way .
They “ understand ” the law , as Christ tells the Samaritan woman , but not fully — and that failure is also preventing their full communion with the Lord .
The Samaritans worship what they do not understand , while the Judeans have turned worship into both a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ idolatry over the temple , just as they had in the days before the Babylonian conquest .
Jesus has come to bring living water to both , and then to all nations of the world .
In the end , Christ will sacrifice Himself and conquer death for all to drink from this water — the word of God — and to bring humanity back into full communion with the Lord .
The alternative is to rush out away from the Lord and our own destruction , and Christ in His love for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Father — just as the Lord did with Moses and the rock .
This Gospel passage teaches us that we are far more alike and equal in our failings than we imagine ourselves to be .
It puts our prejudices and grudges into their proper perspective , which is immaterial when it comes to our self-created divisions with the Lord .
We are called to overcome and forget those divisions so that we might all be saved by the living water of God , and return to our true natures as brothers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way , we can all help each other drink from the well .
The front-page image is a detail from “ Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well ” by Annibale Carracci , c. 1604-5 .
Currently on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna , Austria .
Via Wikimedia Commons .
“ Sunday Reflection ” is a regular feature , looking at the specific readings used in today ’ s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world .
The reflection represents only my own point of view , intended to help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion .
Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here .
For previous Green Room entries , click here .

This morning’s Gospel reading is John 4:5–42:
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.” At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
This Gospel reading comes at a perfect time, not just in our progress at Lent but also to remind us of our connectedness in spite of all our differences. Today’s Gospel and readings remind us that Jesus came not to save the perfected and the spotless, but to rescue all who would come to Him, regardless of their social status or human divisions.
In today’s readings, we get two different scenes dealing with water and our thirst for both it and communion with God. The first takes place in Exodus, in which the Israelites have grown rebellious yet again, this time over a lack of water. They have refused to trust the Lord or Moses, His prophet, in ensuring their survival until they come to the Promised Land. Despite the fact that the Lord appeared in their midst as a pillar of fire and split the Red Sea to rescue them from the Egyptians, the Israelites still thirst — not just for water, but for confidence that the Lord loves them.
This pushes Moses to an understandable frustration with his people, but he turns to the Lord for help rather than deal with it on his own authority. Moses, at least, still trusts in the Lord and acknowledges the proper relationship between himself and God. The Lord works with him to provide living water from the rock, a miracle that not just provides water for the Israelites’ physical needs but a sign of the Lord’s love for them. He wants to build their trust in Him not for His sake but for their own; had they rebelled, they would have either fled into the desert to die or ended up enslaved by Egyptians or others.
The water in this case provides that communion between the Lord and His people. He again condescends to the Israelites to free them of their attachment to sin and obstinacy, emphasizing His love for them and His sustenance as long as they remain true to their covenant.
By the time Jesus meets the Samaritan woman, the Israelites have long since devolved into factions and have utterly failed in their mission to bring God’s Word to the nations of the world. It has become so bad that Judeans and Samaritans will have little to do with each other, divided over the proper form of worship as a consequence of the Babylonian conquest centuries earlier. The divide between the two communities has become so profound that Jesus uses it in one of his most well-known parables, that of the Good Samaritan who truly loves his neighbor — a parable that certainly seemed intended to tweak Judeans for their attitudes towards their cousins in Samaria.
This, however, goes far beyond a parable. Jesus is not just speaking to the Samaritans, he is speaking with a Samaritan woman, and a sinful one at that. His request for water from the community well crosses all sorts of boundaries of that time, and Jesus even weighs in on the Judean/Samaritan divide in the Judeans’ favor. Yet not only does Jesus continue to engage and encourage her, He also preaches to her in more direct terms than He usually does with Judeans. Jesus reveals His nature by describing her sins in detail, and He also tells the Samaritan woman that He is the Messiah — a revelation Jesus carefully avoids with His disciples for much of His mission.
Why does Jesus provide this living water so directly to the Samaritan woman? He senses her thirst for it, and her willingness to receive it. The Samaritans are lost in their own way and dying of thirst, even if they do not necessarily realize it. Jesus provides the living water of faith to keep them alive and to help bring them out of their own desert of isolation and sin.
However, do not forget that Jesus is doing the same for the Judeans as well throughout His mission. The Judeans are also lost, but in a different way. They “understand” the law, as Christ tells the Samaritan woman, but not fully — and that failure is also preventing their full communion with the Lord. The Samaritans worship what they do not understand, while the Judeans have turned worship into both a material-world power struggle and a form of idolatry over the temple, just as they had in the days before the Babylonian conquest. Jesus has come to bring living water to both, and then to all nations of the world. In the end, Christ will sacrifice Himself and conquer death for all to drink from this water — the word of God — and to bring humanity back into full communion with the Lord. The alternative is to rush out away from the Lord and our own destruction, and Christ in His love for us wants to direct us back to the Father — just as the Lord did with Moses and the rock.
This Gospel passage teaches us that we are far more alike and equal in our failings than we imagine ourselves to be. It puts our prejudices and grudges into their proper perspective, which is immaterial when it comes to our self-created divisions with the Lord. We are called to overcome and forget those divisions so that we might all be saved by the living water of God, and return to our true natures as brothers and sisters in Christ. In that way, we can all help each other drink from the well.
The front-page image is a detail from “Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well” by Annibale Carracci, c. 1604-5. Currently on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. Via Wikimedia Commons.
“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here. For previous Green Room entries, click here.


hotair--2020-03-15--WaPo: Yeah, that Joe Biden ad gets four Pinocchios

In the midst of all the coronavirus news , it ’ s getting easier to forget that there ’ s still an election going on .
Of course , those two stories have blended together at this point because the Democrats appear to have largely abandoned their old strategy ( assuming you believe they had one ) and are now planning on turning the election into a referendum on how Trump handles the pandemic .
This past week , Joe Biden attempted to take advantage of the situation by releasing a campaign ad implying that the President called the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that work out for Uncle Joe ?
Not very well , as it turns out .
The Free Beacon reminds us that even the Washington Post tagged Biden with four Pinocchios for that deceptive and maliciously edited clip .
And when you ’ re a Democrat and you ’ ve lost the WaPo… well , let ’ s just say it wasn ’ t a good day for Team Biden .
A Joe Biden ad received the worst possible rating from the Washington Post fact-checker for attacking President Donald Trump with manipulated video @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Four Pinocchios ” for an ad that deceptively edited video of a Trump campaign rally to make it appear that the president called the coronavirus a hoax .
In the ad , Trump can be seen saying “ coronavirus , ” followed immediately by “ This is their new hoax.
” You can view the ad in this tweet from Biden ’ s own account , meaning that he clearly approved of this message .
The only thing true about the ad was the fact that Trump did say the word “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ this is their new hoax.
” Left out from that display were the more than 120 other words the President said in between .
He never claimed that the virus didn ’ t exist or that it was “ a hoax.
” He was talking at length about the Democrats ’ efforts to use this crisis as leverage for political gain .
That ’ s the part that ’ s a hoax .
And while we ’ re on that topic , how is it that more people in the media weren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something that is clearly a crisis of global proportions ?
People are dying out there and our society ( and economy ) are being shut down by this pandemic .
Oh , wait… I think I answered my own question .
Most of these news outlets are openly rooting for Biden .
Why dwell on such unpleasantness ?
As for the ad itself , one might suspect that it would qualify for Twitter ’ s new “ manipulated media ” tag , no ?
But as of this morning , the ad is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have that tag .
Twitter ’ s only answer thus far is that the ad was tweeted a few days before the new policy went into effect .
What in the world does that have to do with anything ?
Are they saying that previously posted content is immune from any new policies put in place ?
You may recall the debacle that ensued last January when Twitter determined that the phrase “ learn to code ” was prohibited speech .
They then turned around and retroactively banned any number of accounts that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the policy went into effect .
Meanwhile , the Trump campaign sent a letter to Twitter about the deceptive video last Monday .
As of this date they have still not received an answer .
Gee… it ’ s almost as if there ’ s one set of rules for Democrats and another for Republicans .
But they ’ d never really do that , would they ?
Naw .
Must be my imagination .

In the midst of all the coronavirus news, it’s getting easier to forget that there’s still an election going on. Of course, those two stories have blended together at this point because the Democrats appear to have largely abandoned their old strategy (assuming you believe they had one) and are now planning on turning the election into a referendum on how Trump handles the pandemic. This past week, Joe Biden attempted to take advantage of the situation by releasing a campaign ad implying that the President called the virus “a hoax.”
So how did that work out for Uncle Joe? Not very well, as it turns out. The Free Beacon reminds us that even the Washington Post tagged Biden with four Pinocchios for that deceptive and maliciously edited clip. And when you’re a Democrat and you’ve lost the WaPo… well, let’s just say it wasn’t a good day for Team Biden.
A Joe Biden ad received the worst possible rating from the Washington Post fact-checker for attacking President Donald Trump with manipulated video. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee received “Four Pinocchios” for an ad that deceptively edited video of a Trump campaign rally to make it appear that the president called the coronavirus a hoax. In the ad, Trump can be seen saying “coronavirus,” followed immediately by “This is their new hoax.”
You can view the ad in this tweet from Biden’s own account, meaning that he clearly approved of this message.
We can't sit by and lose this country to Donald Trump. Today, we take it back — together. Go vote: https://t.co/Hy8C4n0lUk pic.twitter.com/0YgyJFr9YR — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 3, 2020
The only thing true about the ad was the fact that Trump did say the word “coronavirus” along with the phrase, “this is their new hoax.” Left out from that display were the more than 120 other words the President said in between. He never claimed that the virus didn’t exist or that it was “a hoax.” He was talking at length about the Democrats’ efforts to use this crisis as leverage for political gain. That’s the part that’s a hoax.
And while we’re on that topic, how is it that more people in the media weren’t calling out Biden for politicizing something that is clearly a crisis of global proportions? People are dying out there and our society (and economy) are being shut down by this pandemic. Oh, wait… I think I answered my own question. Most of these news outlets are openly rooting for Biden. Why dwell on such unpleasantness?
As for the ad itself, one might suspect that it would qualify for Twitter’s new “manipulated media” tag, no? But as of this morning, the ad is still up and it doesn’t have that tag.
Twitter’s only answer thus far is that the ad was tweeted a few days before the new policy went into effect. What in the world does that have to do with anything? Are they saying that previously posted content is immune from any new policies put in place? You may recall the debacle that ensued last January when Twitter determined that the phrase “learn to code” was prohibited speech. They then turned around and retroactively banned any number of accounts that were reported for having tweeted the phrase before the policy went into effect.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign sent a letter to Twitter about the deceptive video last Monday. As of this date they have still not received an answer.
Gee… it’s almost as if there’s one set of rules for Democrats and another for Republicans. But they’d never really do that, would they? Naw. Must be my imagination.


hotair--2020-03-15--Trump's coronavirus test results returned quickly. What's next?

Yesterday , Allahpundit examined the President ’ s decision to go ahead and get tested for the coronavirus and the potential implications of that choice , both medical and political .
While we were told the results would be available “ in a few days , ” barely 24 hours later the results were back , so I wanted to take a fresh look at those issues now that we ’ re on the back end of the event .
But just so we don ’ t keep anyone who hasn ’ t heard in suspense , the results were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ metaphorical bullet this time , particularly when you consider all of the high-profile people who visited Mar-a-Lago and subsequently tested positive .
( NBC News ) President Donald Trump tested negative for the coronavirus , his doctor announced Saturday .
Trump had taken the test Friday to determine whether he has the virus and said it would take a “ day or two ” for the results to come back from the lab .
“ One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago , the President remains symptom free , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said in a statement .
Are we really surprised that the President isn ’ t infected ?
As the media has always loved to say , Trump is a well-known germaphobe .
He was washing his hands constantly long before anyone had heard of COVID-19 .
He ’ s probably losing a layer of skin per day from the scrubbing at this point .
Circling back to some of Allahpundit ’ s questions , one of the first concerned the optics of getting tested in the first place .
I agree that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inevitable media criticism for being a person showing no symptoms using up one of a limited number of test kits .
But at the same time , he ’ s someone who is constantly in meetings with tons of people… meetings that frequently can not be avoided .
Plus , it ’ s now been confirmed that several people he met with recently have tested positive .
It would have been just as irresponsible to not get tested and continue with his schedule of meetings and events .
In other words , CNN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ got the test or he didn ’ t .
Put another way , this is a day ending in a Y. Allahpundit also opined that the White House probably wouldn ’ t tell us if Trump tested positive .
While I could understand that being a natural impulse for any political strategists on the team , I have to disagree .
That never would have worked .
Imagine the quandary they would be facing if the test had come back positive after publicly announcing that he would be tested .
They would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be to say nothing .
That would hold for four or maybe five days tops if they blamed it on backed up conditions at the lab .
After that , the press would start filling in the blanks themselves and CNN would start the “ Trump Death Watch ” clock ticking away in their chyron 24/7 .
The other option would be to lie about it and say that he was negative .
But as Allahpundit pointed out , the guy is in his seventies , one of the demographics hardest hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it off with no visible symptoms are pretty low .
What do they say to the public when he suddenly starts going into coughing fits and missing meetings ?
No… I just don ’ t see it .
They were always going to tell us the results of the test .
Assuming we ’ re done worrying about the President falling ill , what about the rest of us ?
By this point , whether you happen to be one of Trump ’ s supporters or critics , I think we can all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get out ahead of this thing fast enough .
I ’ m not talking so much about the travel bans , “ social distancing ” and all the rest .
There was such a lack of reliable information ( not to mention a healthy supply of CCP misinformation ) about the virus when it was first breaking out in China that the impulse to not rush into drastic measures and start a panic was understandable .
No , the area where we clearly dropped the ball was not moving early and aggressively to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developed and massively deployed .
Also , the lack of respirators at hospitals is probably going to become critical soon and there should have been an earlier effort to start addressing that and mitigating the eventual damage .
And , of course , there ’ s the question of getting the vaccine ready for deployment .
We ’ re going to need more than a quarter of a billion doses in a short period of time .
Every day lost in that effort will wind up being costly .
It ’ s too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how well the White House handled this crisis .
( And yes… at this point there ’ s really no other word for it . )
If we come out the other side without a massive death toll and the economy rebounds relatively quickly , Trump will probably deserve a fairly good grade .
If not , well… he ’ s the captain of the ship .
And you know who gets blamed when it hits an iceberg .

Yesterday, Allahpundit examined the President’s decision to go ahead and get tested for the coronavirus and the potential implications of that choice, both medical and political. While we were told the results would be available “in a few days,” barely 24 hours later the results were back, so I wanted to take a fresh look at those issues now that we’re on the back end of the event. But just so we don’t keep anyone who hasn’t heard in suspense, the results were negative, so Trump has dodged a metaphorical bullet this time, particularly when you consider all of the high-profile people who visited Mar-a-Lago and subsequently tested positive. (NBC News)
President Donald Trump tested negative for the coronavirus, his doctor announced Saturday. Trump had taken the test Friday to determine whether he has the virus and said it would take a “day or two” for the results to come back from the lab. “One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago, the President remains symptom free,” his physician, Sean P. Conley, said in a statement.
Are we really surprised that the President isn’t infected? As the media has always loved to say, Trump is a well-known germaphobe. He was washing his hands constantly long before anyone had heard of COVID-19. He’s probably losing a layer of skin per day from the scrubbing at this point.
Circling back to some of Allahpundit’s questions, one of the first concerned the optics of getting tested in the first place. I agree that he’s opened himself up to inevitable media criticism for being a person showing no symptoms using up one of a limited number of test kits. But at the same time, he’s someone who is constantly in meetings with tons of people… meetings that frequently can not be avoided. Plus, it’s now been confirmed that several people he met with recently have tested positive. It would have been just as irresponsible to not get tested and continue with his schedule of meetings and events. In other words, CNN was going to trash him whether he got the test or he didn’t. Put another way, this is a day ending in a Y.
Allahpundit also opined that the White House probably wouldn’t tell us if Trump tested positive. While I could understand that being a natural impulse for any political strategists on the team, I have to disagree. That never would have worked. Imagine the quandary they would be facing if the test had come back positive after publicly announcing that he would be tested. They would have been faced with two choices. One would be to say nothing. That would hold for four or maybe five days tops if they blamed it on backed up conditions at the lab. After that, the press would start filling in the blanks themselves and CNN would start the “Trump Death Watch” clock ticking away in their chyron 24/7.
The other option would be to lie about it and say that he was negative. But as Allahpundit pointed out, the guy is in his seventies, one of the demographics hardest hit by COVID-19. His odds of shaking it off with no visible symptoms are pretty low. What do they say to the public when he suddenly starts going into coughing fits and missing meetings? No… I just don’t see it. They were always going to tell us the results of the test.
Assuming we’re done worrying about the President falling ill, what about the rest of us? By this point, whether you happen to be one of Trump’s supporters or critics, I think we can all fairly say that we didn’t get out ahead of this thing fast enough. I’m not talking so much about the travel bans, “social distancing” and all the rest. There was such a lack of reliable information (not to mention a healthy supply of CCP misinformation) about the virus when it was first breaking out in China that the impulse to not rush into drastic measures and start a panic was understandable.
No, the area where we clearly dropped the ball was not moving early and aggressively to see how fast testing kits could be developed and massively deployed. Also, the lack of respirators at hospitals is probably going to become critical soon and there should have been an earlier effort to start addressing that and mitigating the eventual damage. And, of course, there’s the question of getting the vaccine ready for deployment. We’re going to need more than a quarter of a billion doses in a short period of time. Every day lost in that effort will wind up being costly.
It’s too soon to start assigning grades as to how well the White House handled this crisis. (And yes… at this point there’s really no other word for it.) If we come out the other side without a massive death toll and the economy rebounds relatively quickly, Trump will probably deserve a fairly good grade. If not, well… he’s the captain of the ship. And you know who gets blamed when it hits an iceberg.


hotair--2020-03-15--Sunday morning talking heads

Sunday morning talking heads

Any guesses as to what this week ’ s top story is ?
Hint : It ’ ll be the top story on the Sunday shows every week for the next two months .
Or maybe the next six months .
Who can say ?
The lead guest is the White House ’ s de facto coronavirus czar , Anthony Fauci , who ’ s set to appear on all five shows .
His task is to balance straight talk with tamping down despair .
Yes , the next few months will be bad , but yes , testing really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many older Americans will die , but yes , most people will manage to fight off infection at home .
Yes , hospitals will be overwhelmed for a time , but yes , there ’ s some hope that new antiviral drugs will help us manage this .
He ’ ll also have to manage not to bruise the president ’ s ego despite repeated invitations by this morning ’ s hosts to criticize his botched Oval Office address earlier this week and his many weeks of cavalier statements about the threat from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s time to look forward and that the ban on travel from Europe really is useful , as he ’ s done repeatedly the past few days .
There are other reassuring presences scheduled .
Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb has acted as a sort of shadow czar on social media during the outbreak , cheerleading the gradual increase in U.S. testing capacity .
He ’ ll be on “ Face the Nation.
” Count on him for straight talk too : He ’ s said recently that he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avoid a full-blown crisis a la Italy but that the window for avoiding a crisis altogether a la South Korea is probably closed due to the testing fiasco .
The U.S. is going to experience some pain , and soon .
Ohio Republican Gov .
Mike DeWine is also booked today to discuss the aggressive measures he ’ s taken to try to limit social contact in his state as the outbreak spreads .
He ’ ll be on “ Meet the Press ” to discuss the hair-raising number from Ohio health officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have already contracted the disease and how he ’ s preparing for a surge at ERs .
Trump ’ s two top economic advisors are also scheduled to discuss the financial relief bill passed by the House on Friday night and the odds of a recession this year , which are growing about as quickly as coronavirus is among the population .
Steve Mnuchin is set for “ This Week ” and “ Fox News Sunday ” while Larry Kudlow is booked on “ Face the Nation.
” Kudlow ’ s going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happy talk he offered over the past few weeks about “ containing ” the virus and “ buying the dip ” on the stock market before the Dow and S & P 500 lost more ground .
The full line-up is at the AP .

Any guesses as to what this week’s top story is? Hint: It’ll be the top story on the Sunday shows every week for the next two months.
Or maybe the next six months. Who can say?
The lead guest is the White House’s de facto coronavirus czar, Anthony Fauci, who’s set to appear on all five shows. His task is to balance straight talk with tamping down despair. Yes, the next few months will be bad, but yes, testing really is finally ramping up. Yes, many older Americans will die, but yes, most people will manage to fight off infection at home. Yes, hospitals will be overwhelmed for a time, but yes, there’s some hope that new antiviral drugs will help us manage this.
He’ll also have to manage not to bruise the president’s ego despite repeated invitations by this morning’s hosts to criticize his botched Oval Office address earlier this week and his many weeks of cavalier statements about the threat from coronavirus. Expect Fauci to insist that it’s time to look forward and that the ban on travel from Europe really is useful, as he’s done repeatedly the past few days.
There are other reassuring presences scheduled. Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb has acted as a sort of shadow czar on social media during the outbreak, cheerleading the gradual increase in U.S. testing capacity. He’ll be on “Face the Nation.” Count on him for straight talk too: He’s said recently that he’s hopeful we’ll be able to avoid a full-blown crisis a la Italy but that the window for avoiding a crisis altogether a la South Korea is probably closed due to the testing fiasco. The U.S. is going to experience some pain, and soon. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is also booked today to discuss the aggressive measures he’s taken to try to limit social contact in his state as the outbreak spreads. He’ll be on “Meet the Press” to discuss the hair-raising number from Ohio health officials that more than 100,000 people are estimated to have already contracted the disease and how he’s preparing for a surge at ERs.
Trump’s two top economic advisors are also scheduled to discuss the financial relief bill passed by the House on Friday night and the odds of a recession this year, which are growing about as quickly as coronavirus is among the population. Steve Mnuchin is set for “This Week” and “Fox News Sunday” while Larry Kudlow is booked on “Face the Nation.” Kudlow’s going to get grilled aggressively about all the happy talk he offered over the past few weeks about “containing” the virus and “buying the dip” on the stock market before the Dow and S&P 500 lost more ground. The full line-up is at the AP.