Today's News (2020/2/28) - the Ministry has Fallen
I really hate saying, "you need to check anything the CDC says" but you kind of do now.
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CDC's First Press Briefing Since Pence Took Charge Of Coronavirus Was Full Of Praise For Trump's Response
By Elizabeth Kim
Feb. 28, 2020
https://gothamist.com/news/cdc-pence-coronavirus-pence-press-control
Employing a distinct shift in tone from a prior press briefing on Tuesday, a director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention praised President Donald Trump's containment strategy and avoided using any language that would trigger concern over what some health experts are calling a global pandemic.
“We need to remember that the case count is really low and that is a reflection of the aggressive containment measures of the U.S. government," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, during a telephone press briefing on COVID-19, the World Health Organization's official name for the current coronavirus disease.
The briefing capped off a whirlwind week for the federal health agency and Messonnier, who found herself the target of right-wing attacks after she delivered the most sobering warning to date about the coronavirus epidemic.
On Tuesday, Messonnier, a 25-year veteran of the agency, described the coronavirus as a "pandemic," and said the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. would be inevitable, a potential that Trump has sought to downplay.
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Justice Dept. Establishes Office to Denaturalize Immigrants
The department called the decision a move “to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters,” but some lawyers there feared a broader crackdown.
Published Feb. 26, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/us/politics/denaturalization-immigrants-justice-department.html
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department said Wednesday that it had created an official section in its immigration office to strip citizenship rights from naturalized immigrants, a move that gives more heft to the Trump administration’s broad efforts to remove from the country immigrants who have committed crimes.
The Denaturalization Section “underscores the department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization,” Joseph H. Hunt, the head of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement.
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Media covering coronavirus to 'bring down the president,' Mulvaney claims
Annie Karni, New York Times
Friday, February 28, 2020
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Media-Covering-Coronavirus-to-Bring-Down-the-15092463.php
OXON HILL, Md. - Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president; that’s what this is all about.”
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists, Mulvaney played down concerns about the virus that is spreading around the globe and panicking investors.
Mulvaney said the administration took “extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago,” to prevent the spread of the virus when it declared a rare public health emergency and barred entry by most foreign citizens who had recently visited China.
“Why didn’t you hear about it?” Mulvaney said of travel restrictions that were widely covered in the news media. “What was still going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment, that’s all the press wanted to talk about.”
The news media has been covering the global spread of coronavirus for months.
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The Hill
twitter.com/thehill
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1233479972007927809
Rep. Lieu (twitter.com/tedlieu): "Do you believe the coronavirus is a hoax?"
Pompeo: "We're working to keep people safe from coronavirus..."
Lieu: "You can't even answer that question."
Pompeo: "Yeah, I'm..."
Lieu: "It's not even a gotcha question." http://hill.cm/gOfSov0
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Rep. Garamendi: NIH official canceled on five Sunday talk shows after Pence's office 'took over'
By Joe Concha - 02/28/20 11:51 AM EST - The Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/485147-rep-garamendi-nih-director-fauci-cancelled-on-five-sunday-talk-shows-after
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to "stand down" and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus.
Garamendi told MSNBC's Hallie Jackson that Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci canceled the appearances after Vice President Pence took over the administration's response to the disease.
Trump on Wednesday named Pence as the official overseeing the government's response.
"I can repeat what he said, he said, 'I was not muzzled. However, I was to go on the Sunday talk shows five of them. The vice president’s office then took over the control of this situation, and told me to stand down, not to do those shows,'" Garamendi said, quoting Fauci.
"Now, you can draw your own conclusions whether he was muzzled or not, but clearly he was scheduled to do Sunday talk shows and he was not to proceed with that," the congressman added.
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Alice Miranda Ollstein
twitter.com/AliceOllstein
https://twitter.com/AliceOllstein/status/1233519342710611968
Pence told Rush Limbaugh today that his handling of the HIV outbreak in Indiana was "the main reason" Trump appointed him to lead on coronavirus
[LINKS TO: 2016 article on how he mishandled it
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/under-pences-leadership-response-to-heroin-epidemic-criticized-as-ineffective-226759
]
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Republicans storm out of coronavirus briefing after Democrat rips Trump's response
Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s comments were indicative of the growing political tensions around the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus response.
By ADAM CANCRYN and DAVID LIM
02/28/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/28/house-coronavirus-trump-response-118121
Several House Republicans walked out of a closed-door coronavirus briefing Friday with Trump health officials in protest after a senior Democrat blasted the Trump administration’s handling of the response effort.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) kicked off the briefing sharply criticizing the administration as disorganized and lacking urgency in combating the coronavirus, lawmakers said. Her speech frustrated Republicans and some Democrats assembled to hear from the slate of officials from the CDC, NIH and State Department.
"If I wanted to hear the politics of it, I'd read POLITICO or something, let's be serious," said Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.), who was among the walkouts. A handful of Republicans began booing almost immediately after DeLauro raised concerns with the administration’s efforts, according to two people in the room.
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Trump wins appeal to block McGahn testimony
The ruling is a blow to House Democrats’ attempts to talk to former White House counsel Don McGahn, a key witness in the Russia probe.
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN and JOSH GERSTEIN
02/28/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/28/trump-wins-appeal-to-block-mcgahn-testimony-118219
President Donald Trump scored a major legal victory on Friday when a federal appeals court panel ruled former White House counsel Don McGahn can defy a congressional subpoena for his testimony.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s opinion overturned a lower court decision requiring McGahn’s testimony and told the judge presiding over the case to dismiss it outright. The ruling is a blow to House Democrats’ attempts to break the Trump administration’s intransigent stance that it can block Congress from talking to witnesses. McGahn was a key source of information for Robert Mueller and Democrats have been angling to secure an interview to find out what he told the special counsel.
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Lawmakers react after coronavirus briefing: 'I do not think we're prepared'
By Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Ali Zaslav and Lauren Fox, CNN
Fri February 28, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/28/politics/coronavirus-capitol-hill-briefing-concern/index.html
Washington (CNN) - House lawmakers emerged from a briefing on coronavirus on Friday with Democrats saying that the country is not prepared to deal with the public health threat, while Republicans were less critical but still said that more needs to be done to combat the spread of the disease.
"This is potentially an enormous issue for the country and I do not think we're prepared," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic Judiciary Committee member, said as she left the full House member coronavirus briefing.
The Washington congresswoman said they're unprepared "on multiple levels," including on the local level as well as when it comes to resources like masks, testing kits and the possibility of quarantines.
"If this were to really become a serious epidemic in the country, you know, how do we deal with quarantine and isolation?" she asked.
Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan, said he thinks "everyone is scrambling for information," and members are frustrated about not getting a lot of their questions answered.
He added, "it needs to be all hands on deck. ... There's a lot of work that has to be done."
Also posted to ソ-ラ-バ-ド-のおん;
comments at Dreamwidth. Please comment there.
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CDC's First Press Briefing Since Pence Took Charge Of Coronavirus Was Full Of Praise For Trump's Response
By Elizabeth Kim
Feb. 28, 2020
https://gothamist.com/news/cdc-pence-coronavirus-pence-press-control
Employing a distinct shift in tone from a prior press briefing on Tuesday, a director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention praised President Donald Trump's containment strategy and avoided using any language that would trigger concern over what some health experts are calling a global pandemic.
“We need to remember that the case count is really low and that is a reflection of the aggressive containment measures of the U.S. government," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, during a telephone press briefing on COVID-19, the World Health Organization's official name for the current coronavirus disease.
The briefing capped off a whirlwind week for the federal health agency and Messonnier, who found herself the target of right-wing attacks after she delivered the most sobering warning to date about the coronavirus epidemic.
On Tuesday, Messonnier, a 25-year veteran of the agency, described the coronavirus as a "pandemic," and said the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. would be inevitable, a potential that Trump has sought to downplay.
-----
Justice Dept. Establishes Office to Denaturalize Immigrants
The department called the decision a move “to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters,” but some lawyers there feared a broader crackdown.
Published Feb. 26, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/us/politics/denaturalization-immigrants-justice-department.html
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department said Wednesday that it had created an official section in its immigration office to strip citizenship rights from naturalized immigrants, a move that gives more heft to the Trump administration’s broad efforts to remove from the country immigrants who have committed crimes.
The Denaturalization Section “underscores the department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization,” Joseph H. Hunt, the head of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement.
-----
Media covering coronavirus to 'bring down the president,' Mulvaney claims
Annie Karni, New York Times
Friday, February 28, 2020
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Media-Covering-Coronavirus-to-Bring-Down-the-15092463.php
OXON HILL, Md. - Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president; that’s what this is all about.”
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists, Mulvaney played down concerns about the virus that is spreading around the globe and panicking investors.
Mulvaney said the administration took “extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago,” to prevent the spread of the virus when it declared a rare public health emergency and barred entry by most foreign citizens who had recently visited China.
“Why didn’t you hear about it?” Mulvaney said of travel restrictions that were widely covered in the news media. “What was still going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment, that’s all the press wanted to talk about.”
The news media has been covering the global spread of coronavirus for months.
-----
The Hill
twitter.com/thehill
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1233479972007927809
Rep. Lieu (twitter.com/tedlieu): "Do you believe the coronavirus is a hoax?"
Pompeo: "We're working to keep people safe from coronavirus..."
Lieu: "You can't even answer that question."
Pompeo: "Yeah, I'm..."
Lieu: "It's not even a gotcha question." http://hill.cm/gOfSov0
-----
Rep. Garamendi: NIH official canceled on five Sunday talk shows after Pence's office 'took over'
By Joe Concha - 02/28/20 11:51 AM EST - The Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/485147-rep-garamendi-nih-director-fauci-cancelled-on-five-sunday-talk-shows-after
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to "stand down" and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus.
Garamendi told MSNBC's Hallie Jackson that Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci canceled the appearances after Vice President Pence took over the administration's response to the disease.
Trump on Wednesday named Pence as the official overseeing the government's response.
"I can repeat what he said, he said, 'I was not muzzled. However, I was to go on the Sunday talk shows five of them. The vice president’s office then took over the control of this situation, and told me to stand down, not to do those shows,'" Garamendi said, quoting Fauci.
"Now, you can draw your own conclusions whether he was muzzled or not, but clearly he was scheduled to do Sunday talk shows and he was not to proceed with that," the congressman added.
-----
Alice Miranda Ollstein
twitter.com/AliceOllstein
https://twitter.com/AliceOllstein/status/1233519342710611968
Pence told Rush Limbaugh today that his handling of the HIV outbreak in Indiana was "the main reason" Trump appointed him to lead on coronavirus
[LINKS TO: 2016 article on how he mishandled it
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/under-pences-leadership-response-to-heroin-epidemic-criticized-as-ineffective-226759
]
-----
Republicans storm out of coronavirus briefing after Democrat rips Trump's response
Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s comments were indicative of the growing political tensions around the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus response.
By ADAM CANCRYN and DAVID LIM
02/28/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/28/house-coronavirus-trump-response-118121
Several House Republicans walked out of a closed-door coronavirus briefing Friday with Trump health officials in protest after a senior Democrat blasted the Trump administration’s handling of the response effort.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) kicked off the briefing sharply criticizing the administration as disorganized and lacking urgency in combating the coronavirus, lawmakers said. Her speech frustrated Republicans and some Democrats assembled to hear from the slate of officials from the CDC, NIH and State Department.
"If I wanted to hear the politics of it, I'd read POLITICO or something, let's be serious," said Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.), who was among the walkouts. A handful of Republicans began booing almost immediately after DeLauro raised concerns with the administration’s efforts, according to two people in the room.
-----
Trump wins appeal to block McGahn testimony
The ruling is a blow to House Democrats’ attempts to talk to former White House counsel Don McGahn, a key witness in the Russia probe.
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN and JOSH GERSTEIN
02/28/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/28/trump-wins-appeal-to-block-mcgahn-testimony-118219
President Donald Trump scored a major legal victory on Friday when a federal appeals court panel ruled former White House counsel Don McGahn can defy a congressional subpoena for his testimony.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s opinion overturned a lower court decision requiring McGahn’s testimony and told the judge presiding over the case to dismiss it outright. The ruling is a blow to House Democrats’ attempts to break the Trump administration’s intransigent stance that it can block Congress from talking to witnesses. McGahn was a key source of information for Robert Mueller and Democrats have been angling to secure an interview to find out what he told the special counsel.
-----
Lawmakers react after coronavirus briefing: 'I do not think we're prepared'
By Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Ali Zaslav and Lauren Fox, CNN
Fri February 28, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/28/politics/coronavirus-capitol-hill-briefing-concern/index.html
Washington (CNN) - House lawmakers emerged from a briefing on coronavirus on Friday with Democrats saying that the country is not prepared to deal with the public health threat, while Republicans were less critical but still said that more needs to be done to combat the spread of the disease.
"This is potentially an enormous issue for the country and I do not think we're prepared," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic Judiciary Committee member, said as she left the full House member coronavirus briefing.
The Washington congresswoman said they're unprepared "on multiple levels," including on the local level as well as when it comes to resources like masks, testing kits and the possibility of quarantines.
"If this were to really become a serious epidemic in the country, you know, how do we deal with quarantine and isolation?" she asked.
Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan, said he thinks "everyone is scrambling for information," and members are frustrated about not getting a lot of their questions answered.
He added, "it needs to be all hands on deck. ... There's a lot of work that has to be done."
Also posted to ソ-ラ-バ-ド-のおん;
comments at Dreamwidth. Please comment there.