Tuesday News: “Schumer, Mnuchin near deal on $2 trillion stimulus bill”; “Trump Is Back to Waging War on Science, at the Worst Possible Moment”; “Save time: Assume Trump is inept and lying”; “Trump, as usual, is just making things worse”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political, Coronavirus-related and otherwise, for Tuesday, March 24.

• China to Lift Lockdown Over Virus Epicenter Wuhan on April 8 (“Xi Jinping has been projecting confidence that his government has stemmed the outbreak in China.”)
• Coronavirus news: France tightens lockdown rules as Indonesia reports biggest daily rise in cases – live updates
• Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be postponed within days due to coronavirus
• As Bolsonaro flouts warnings, coronavirus spreads in Brazil (The “Trump of the Tropics” strikes yet again.)
• Dip in Italy’s Cases Does Not Come Fast Enough for Swamped Hospitals (“Even as new coronavirus infections appear to slow, a backlog is forcing doctors to make increasingly tough choices about treatment.”)
• Around 20% of global population under coronavirus lockdown
• The coronavirus pandemic may mark a decline in U.S. leadership
• UK and eurozone head for deep recession as economic activity slumps – business live
• The Coronavirus Bailout Stalled. And It’s Mitch McConnell’s Fault.
• Stock Markets Surge on Hopes of U.S. Deal: Live Updates
• Schumer, Mnuchin near deal on $2 trillion stimulus bill (“Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin are optimistic about announcing an agreement as early as Tuesday morning.”)
• Pelosi’s $2.5 Trillion Virus Bill Delays Mortgage, Car Payments
• How the House Democrats’ stimulus plan compares to the Senate’s
• Fourteen Days. That’s the Most Time We Have to Defeat Coronavirus. (“These decisive measures can prevent a decade of dislocation and extraordinary levels of deaths.”)
• ‘It’s going to get bad’: As outbreak surges, nation faces tough start to a grim week (“For the first time, the United States reported more than 100 coronavirus-related deaths in a single day.”)
• Top Democrat recommends passing relief package without returning to Washington
• The GOP just smuggled another awful provision into the stimulus
• “He Can’t Make Any Big Decisions”: As the Crisis Escalates, Trump Experiments With a Pivot
• It’s too soon to relax social distancing
• Trump, as usual, is just making things worse
• Republicans Add Insult to Illness (“Greed, germs and the art of no deal.”)
• Trump Thinks He Knows Better Than the Doctors About Coronavirus (“His comments about reopening the economy sooner rather than later show us what he really values.”)
• Don’t neglect your mental health during this pandemic (“The regulatory and insurance barriers to telepsychiatry must come down immediately.”)
• Fears mount of a coronavirus-induced depression (“Economists increasingly warn that Washington’s current efforts won’t be enough to fight a downturn approaching the devastation seen eight decades ago.”)
• Donald Trump Signals He Might Sacrifice Thousands of Americans to Restart the Economy (“Is this his reelection strategy?”)
• Coronavirus Exposes the Virulence of American Conservatism
• Trump Has Given Unusual Leeway to Fauci, but Aides Say He’s Losing His Patience (“The president has become increasingly concerned as Dr. Anthony S. Fauci has grown bolder in correcting his falsehoods about the spread of the coronavirus.” Let’s repeat that: Trump is concerned that Dr. Fauci is correcting falsehoods that he, Trump, is spewing out. Again, how can *anyone* support Trump?)
• The Memo: Trump’s coronavirus briefings face criticism (Any media outlet airing this crap live is being *wildly* irresponsible.)
• Let’s hear more Cuomo and Biden, and less Trump (“This national emergency calls for a new journalistic restraint.”)
• Cable news should cancel the Trump Show
• Trump says he may soon push businesses to reopen, defying the advice of coronavirus experts
• Trump cares more about the stock market than humans (“A horrifying window into Trump’s mind.”)
• Save time: Assume Trump is inept and lying
• Sending People Back to Work Now Will Not Save the Economy. It Will Doom It.
• How Trump and Jared screwed this up (“Kushner has ‘thrown out the established government plan’ on pandemics, and has been swarmed by corporate execs”)
• Trump’s excuses for not using the Defense Production Act are wrong — and dangerous (“No, Mr. President, using the Defense Production Act doesn’t turn America into Venezuela.”)
• Republicans demand Trump set end date for fighting virus as people keep dying
• Fact check: Trump claims ‘normal life will return soon.’ Doctors and scientists caution otherwise. (“The president continued to make claims that contradict his own medical experts.”)
• Trump Is Back to Waging War on Science, at the Worst Possible Moment (We’d be far, far, far better off with Mike Pence, by the way, than with Trump, who is basically insane.)
• Health officials want Trump to ‘double down, not lighten up’ restrictions
• Rand Paul’s Positive Coronavirus Test Sets the (Still Meeting) Senate on Edge
• Before Trump called for reevaluating lockdowns, they shuttered six of his top-earning clubs and resorts
• Trump predicts ‘this is going to be bad’ but vows to reopen America (“There’s a confrontation between public health officials and political and economic officials desperate to save an economy fundamental to Trump’s reelection hopes”)
• Don’t Halt Social Distancing. Instead, Do It Right. (“First, we need a true national pause—a cessation of all nonessential activities. It has to last at least two weeks, and everyone needs to participate…But here is the second part: We need massive, coordinated testing of the population. Even today, we don’t know how many people are infected in the community and how many people without symptoms are spreading the infection to others.”)
• Trump Is Raving, Fauci Is Losing and the Virus Is Winning (“The president pushed the doctor off the stage, and dismissed the spreading medical threat as a little thing that we can’t afford to shut down business over.”)
• Trump Claims U.S. Will See More Death By Keeping Economy Shut Than By Coronavirus (“The president’s downplaying of COVID-19 reached dangerous levels as he threatened to open up the economy despite skyrocketing cases.”)
• Ex-Campaign Staff Suing Bloomberg For Broken Salary Promises
• U.S. Domestic Passenger Flights Could Virtually Shut Down, Voluntarily or by Government Order
• The Party of Life Embraces Trump’s Death Cult (“We’ve skipped over any nuanced discussion of economic considerations, straight to the part where Republicans rationalize letting a million or so people die to fix the economy.”)
• Man dies after self-medicating with chloroquine
• No Thinking Person Gives Mnuchin a Blank Check
• Can Trump be trusted not to abuse his coronavirus emergency powers? (Of course he can’t be trusted.)
• CDC says coronavirus survived in Princess Cruise ship cabins for up to 17 days after passengers left
• Maybe Don’t Give William Barr the Power to Take a Chainsaw to Habeas Corpus During a Pandemic
• Mainstream outlets are using Republican talking points to frame their coverage of the coronavirus response bill (“The New York Times and The Washington Post borrow GOP framing to dump on Senate Democrats, ignoring important context” Yep, as usual, the corporate media *sucks*)
• On the 10th Anniversary of the ACA, Trump is Fighting to Take Away Health Care From Nearly 650,000 Virginians
• Sen. Mark Warner: Bipartisan Negotiations “Must Continue Until We Have a Deal”; “This Is No Time for Political Games”
• Virginia senators in talks over COVID-19 relief measure
• Luria asks congressional leaders to eliminate TRICARE copay during COVID-19 crisis
• Rep. Jennifer Wexton Introduces Legislation to Protect Retirement Savings During COVID-19 Crisis; Rep. Abigail Spanberger Calls on Trump Administration to Use Full Force of Defense Production Act [UPDATED with Rep. Elaine Luria]
• 52,000 People in Virginia Would Lose Health Care Coverage If Denver Riggleman Has His Way
• AG Mark Herring Continues to Defend Virginians’ Healthcare, Affordable Care Act
• Editorial: Stopping the spread of coronavirus
• Northam orders sweeping new restrictions on life in Virginia, says the state is at ‘war’ with coronavirus
• D.C., Maryland And Virginia Urge Residents To Stay Home, Stop Short Of ‘Shelter-In-Place’ Orders
• Gov. Northam Monday 2 p.m. Briefing to Include “Big Announcement,” K-12 COVID-19 Plan [UPDATED: Video of Northam’s Briefing]
• Press Release: Governor Northam Orders Statewide Closure of Certain Non-Essential Businesses, K-12 Schools
• Saying ‘a period of sacrifice’ could last months, Northam cancels rest of school year and adds business restrictions
• Virginia closes dine-in restaurants, extends school closures through rest of academic year
• Nursing homes, assisted living facilities add new restrictions to curb COVID-19. Will they be enough?
• ‘We are moving into a period of sacrifice.’ What you need to know about new Virginia school, business closures
• Rashid for Congress Statement on Rep. Rob Wittman’s Pharma Stock Purchases Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
• Virginia Political Parties Mulling Convention Options Amid Pandemic
• Supplies to Diagnose and Treat COVID-19 in Short Supply: Distillers and Prisons May Help
• Can You Hold an Election If Half the Voters Are Self-Quarantined? [UPDATE: Virginia Registrars Request May, June Elections Be 100% Vote-by-Mail]
• Local election officials ask Virginia to cancel in-person voting for May and June
• The Commonwealth Institute: After 10 Years, The Affordable Care Act Is Poised For an Even Bigger Role in Virginia
• Thousands of Liberty students expected to return to campus amid coronavirus outbreak (WTF?)
• Loudoun Outlines Plans To Enforce Governor’s Coronavirus Order
• BREAKING: Athletic Fields, Dog Parks, Playgrounds Closing in Arlington
• Fredericksburg area superintendents urge patience, perseverence after governor closes schools for rest of year
• Residential Customers in the Roanoke Valley May Soon Get Broadband Access
• Sunshine returns before next round of rain Wednesday