| Pressure grows on Trump to invoke Defense Production Act for coronavirus response Posted: 17 Mar 2020 05:47 PM PDT  President Trump said Tuesday he was not prepared to invoke the authorities to allow the government to ensure that the private sector can ramp up production of emergency medical supplies, despite a growing chorus of voices urging him to do so.
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| Iran defends response as virus deaths surpass 1,000 Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:45 AM PDT  Iran said its novel coronavirus death toll surpassed 1,000 on Wednesday as President Hassan Rouhani defended the response of his administration, which has yet to impose a lockdown. The COVID-19 outbreak in sanctions-hit Iran is one of the deadliest for any country outside China, where the disease originated. Rouhani's government reported another 147 deaths -- a record high for a single day in the month since it announced the emergence of the disease.
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| One chart shows how South Korea got its coronavirus outbreak under control in less than a month Posted: 18 Mar 2020 11:43 AM PDT  South Korea seems to have curbed its coronavirus outbreak. The number of daily confirmed cases peaked on February 29 and has decreased ever since.
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| Coronavirus travel restrictions lead to a new record for world's longest flight in distance Posted: 18 Mar 2020 06:25 AM PDT  The coronavirus has resulted in the world's longest flight in distance: Air Tahiti Nui's one-off nonstop flight from Papeete to Paris on Sunday.
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| Hawley Calls for ‘Full, International Investigation’ into China’s Coronavirus Coverup Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:22 AM PDT  Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) on Wednesday warned the Chinese Communist Party that it would have "to pay" for its attempts to coverup the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, and called for a "full, international investigation" to get to the bottom of the situation."There needs to be a full, international investigation of China Communist Party's actions that helped turn coronavirus COVID19 into a global pandemic," Hawley tweeted Wednesday morning.> There needs to be a full, international investigation of China Communist Party's actions that helped turn coronavirus COVID19 into a global pandemic - and China needs to be prepared to pay other countries for the havoc the CCP has unleashed https://t.co/u1Uo0H0PTj> > -- Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 18, 2020The freshman senator was referencing a story that Beijing has attempted to drown out with a propaganda campaign. China on Tuesday stripped press passes from reporters at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post who were stationed in China and Hong Kong, its latest action to escape accountability and international censure over its handling the outbreak.In December, genomics laboratories in Wuhan sequenced coronavirus and discovered it closely resembled the deadly SARS virus which broke out in 2002-2003, but were subsequently gagged by authorities, who ordered them to turn over or destroy the samples.Hawley, a China hawk who slammed the regime for its crackdown on Hong Kong protestors in the fall, has been vocal in recent months as the coronavirus pandemic grew. He sent a letter in January to the heads of four government agencies to ask whether the Trump administration was considering any potential Chinese travel ban to prevent an American outbreak of the coronavirus — a move the White House made soon after.Last month, the senator introduced legislation to reorient medical supply chains and to reduce reliance on China for the manufacture of certain prescription drugs and other medical supplies.
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| Senators are worried Congress will shut down over coronavirus Posted: 17 Mar 2020 06:47 AM PDT  Senators feel like they're in a race against time, Politico reports.Lawmakers from both parties are reportedly discussing the third phase of a coronavirus stimulus package before they've wrapped up phase two. The reason is pretty simple — they don't want to leave anything on the table as the chances increase that they won't be able to reconvene in Washington, D.C., for some time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said they could make the transition as early as this week. "I don't think we can assume that we can keep reconvening the Senate every week like we did this week," Rubio said. "I don't think we can make that assumption. With what might happen to airlines or travel schedules, with individual members having to go into quarantine or being exposed — I don't think we can operate as if we can just bring the Senate and House back whenever we want." Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com The conservatives who would sacrifice the elderly to save the economy About half of France's coronavirus patients in intensive care are under 65, health official says Savannah Guthrie is hosting Today from her basement
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| Ainsley Earhardt, Days After Urging Viewers to Fly, Now Says We Need to ‘Think of Others’ Posted: 17 Mar 2020 08:24 AM PDT  What a difference a few days makes.With the White House now advising Americans to avoid bars, restaurants, or any gathering of more than 10 in order to stem the spread of coronavirus, Fox & Friends began its Tuesday broadcast by demonstrating social distancing as the three hosts were seated in different parts of the room."To be responsible, to show social distancing, all three of us are apart—same studio, plenty of distance," co-host Brian Kilmeade noted at the top of the show.Co-host Steve Doocy, meanwhile, added that they were "doing exactly the same thing people all across America are trying to do, and that is stay away from each other because you don't want to get infected and you don't want to spread infection."Ainsley Earhardt, who was replaced on Monday's broadcast by Dr. Nicole Saphier, returned and reminded viewers they must take the pandemic very seriously."We have a responsibility to slow down this virus and to think of other people during this time," Earhardt declared. "And so if you can keep your distance and prevent someone from getting close to you that might be sick, you can save your family, you can save the elderly and help our country as a nation."Earhardt's sober plea for being cautious and to think of others came just days after she encouraged viewers to book a flight in the middle of a pandemic. "It's actually the safest time to fly," the Fox & Friends co-host said on Friday, adding at the time, "Everyone that I know that's flying right now, terminals are pretty much dead. Ghost towns."Earhardt now treating the viral outbreak with a newfound level of seriousness came after Jesse Watters admitted on Monday that he didn't take coronavirus "seriously" until after the weekend. Watters and others at the network, meanwhile, have dramatically shifted their tone towards the pandemic now that President Donald Trump has suddenly begun to take the virus more seriously himself.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Jalisco New Generation drug cartel spreads nationwide across Mexico Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:31 AM PDT  A fast-rising criminal cartel in Mexico is expanding nationwide after beginning from the outskirts of Mexico City.
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| Op-Ed: Can Biden beat Trump? Michigan's swing districts offer good clues Posted: 17 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Biden won the Michigan primary with a big turnout, including in districts that went heavily for Donald Trump in 2016.
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| Is Italy peaking yet? Experts urge patience Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:47 AM PDT  The world is watching Italy to see when the number of deaths from COVID-19 and infections peak -- and whether its coronavirus lockdown works. Italian data, rising nationwide by hundreds of deaths and thousands of infections every day, vary depending on the region, and a whole range of different factors are at play. A team of infectious diseases and computer experts at the University of Genoa says it has a drawn up a model that predicts the evolution of COVID-19 "with an acceptable margin of error".
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| As the coronavirus spreads, Catholics are turning to online spiritual practices, from masses live-streamed from the Vatican to a $110 wearable 'eRosary' Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:30 AM PDT  The Vatican has also started live-streaming the pope's daily mass "to be close to all those who are suffering from the current coronavirus epidemic."
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| Coronavirus surging in Southeast Asia, with new cases traced to religious gathering Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:46 AM PDT  A weekend of prayer at a mosque complex outside Kuala Lumpur is linked to more than 400 coronavirus infections in six countries.
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| Earthquake shakes Utah, rattling frayed coronavirus nerves Posted: 18 Mar 2020 06:43 AM PDT  A moderate earthquake Wednesday near Salt Lake City temporarily shut down a major air traffic hub, damaged a spire atop a temple and frightened millions of people already on edge from the coronavirus pandemic. The 5.7-magnitude quake just after 7 a.m. damaged the spire and statue atop the iconic Salt Lake Temple. Elsewhere, bricks were showered onto sidewalks and a chemical plume was released outside the city.
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| Iran's supreme leader to pardon 10,000 prisoners, including political ones Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:40 PM PDT  Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will pardon 10,000 prisoners including political ones in honor of the Iranian new year on Friday, state TV reported. "Those who will be pardoned will not return to jail ... almost half of those security-related prisoners will be pardoned as well," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told state TV on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Esmaili said Iran had temporarily freed about 85,000 people from jail, including political prisoners, in response to the coronavirus epidemic.
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| Venice's canals are clear, and it could be because everyone is isolating themselves to avoid spreading the coronavirus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 11:05 AM PDT  Italy is currently on lockdown as residents try to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, and Venice has been quiet.
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| The Best Gifts Like a Smart Coffee Machine for Mom on Mother’s Day Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:18 PM PDT |
| New York mayor says 'shelter in place' decision coming in next 48 hours Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:34 AM PDT  Mayor Bill de Blasio in recent days has made sweeping declarations to close schools through April 20, limit restaurant service and halt other forms of entertainment.
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| Editorial: Coronavirus makes jails and prisons potential death traps. That puts us all in danger Posted: 18 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Soap is restricted and hand sanitizer is contraband at correctional facilities. We need to stop admitting people accused of low-level crimes.
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| Trump World and Senate GOPers Want to Jam Pelosi on Coronavirus Stimulus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:52 AM PDT  As Congress works to pass a coronavirus relief bill authored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Republicans are approaching the next round of response to the outbreak—a possibly trillion-dollar-plus stimulus bill—with a blunt message to Democrats: This one's ours.Both privately and publicly, Senate Republicans have groused in recent days about having been sidelined during negotiations over what has become known as the Phase 2 deal to address the coronavirus pandemic. That bill, which passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin last week in the House, focused on expanding paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, and food security for those affected by the outbreak, plus increasing testing capability for the virus. Republican leadership told members on Tuesday to swallow their gripes and pass the bill, citing the harsh demands of addressing a national crisis. Those members have found solace in the possibility of turning the tables on Pelosi and House Democrats when the next phase of coronavirus response is soon considered. That bill, known as Phase 3, is set to be a sweeping response to a cratering economy. And with the House of Representatives on recess and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) vowing to keep the Senate in session until a stimulus is approved, the GOP will almost certainly have the first shot. As a Senate GOP aide put it: "The Senate Republican conference is going to write Phase 3... This is gonna be a far bigger item, dollar-wise," and there are "a lot of people with what they think are chits owed them."Some lawmakers appear to be cashing those chits early. This week has seen a boomlet of proposals regarding what the stimulus bill should look like. In an ironic twist, an idea that didn't seem to have overwhelming buy-in among House Democrats a week ago—giving cash directly to Americans affected by the COVID-19 outbreak—is being pushed by several prominent GOP senators, most notably Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT). A party that used to recoil from sticker shock in past times of crisis is now running with abandon toward a bill that could have a price tag of up to $1.3 trillion.Trump Administration Wants to Send Every Worker a Check Amid Coronavirus Pandemic"I'm about as conservative fiscally as you can be," said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). "This is not a time to be cheap." He did admit, however, "we will have to do some clean-up later." But while Senate Republicans seem poised to craft a big, bold stimulus plan that reflects their priorities, they still face two obstacles in doing so. The first is congressional Democrats who don't appear to be spooked by McConnell's threat to pass a bill and demand that they take it or leave it. One senior House Democratic aide said that if the Senate sent them a stimulus proposal put together squarely by Republicans they'd simply make changes to the legislation. "What's McConnell going to do? Dare us to add more things to his bill and send it back to him? How hard is that?" the aide asked, sarcastically. But Democrats aren't the only hurdle Trump and McConnell will have to clear. Fiscal hawks close to the president could present issues as well. Already, some high-profile Trump allies and conservative economists are actively lobbying the president and his administration to ditch large-scale economic stimulus in the face of the coronavirus economic slowdown. On Tuesday, Stephen Moore, Art Laffer, and Steve Forbes—all luminaries in conservative economics—blasted out a joint statement urging the White House not to "expand welfare and other income redistribution benefits like paid leave and unemployment benefits that will inhibit growth and discourage work."One senior Trump administration official told The Daily Beast that this statement had been printed out and flagged for the president to read in his daily batches of press clips and reading materials. As of Tuesday evening, it is unclear if he'd read it. However, Moore, a Heritage Foundation economist who continues to informally advise Trump and administration officials, said in an interview Tuesday afternoon that "key people in the White House" were given an advance copy of the statement and that "I know they liked it. It was something that people [in the administration] paid attention to, I was told." Though Moore is close to Trump, it is not clear how open the president is to being swayed from his current instinct of endorsing a "big" stimulus, especially when the U.S. economy and his re-election are on the line. In the past two weeks, Trump has complained to confidants that if it were truly up to him, he would want billions more dollars for a dramatic economic stabilization package, but that he felt constrained by conservative spending hawks and lawmakers who he has to appeal to, according to two sources who've independently discussed this matter with Trump.Over the past few days, Republican lawmakers have moved toward Trump's thinking, with members of the party embracing proposals that would get cash directly in the hands of people affected by the coronavirus outbreak. In his lunch meeting with senators Tuesday, Mnuchin floated the idea of a one-time, means-tested payment to Americans via the Internal Revenue Service. It's more targeted than Romney's approach but appeared to have a broad degree of buy-in within the GOP conference.But the sentiment is not universally shared in the party. "I want to give a loan to the companies to float their payroll on generous terms," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close Trump ally. "I'm not going to give a check on top of a check—if I gave everybody here a thousand dollars, what would you do with it right now?"With the possibility of fissures inside the GOP ranks, Senate Democrats and their leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), do have real leverage over the scope and direction of the Phase 3 bill, since it will require 60 votes to pass. Though some Democratic lawmakers are already outbidding the GOP's cash-infusion ideas, a senior Senate Democratic aide told The Daily Beast they will demand increased unemployment insurance and real structural changes. "The real next crisis is capacity issues, hospital beds, and supplies at the hospitals," said the aide.Additionally, Democratic lawmakers mentioned another area of pressure: industry-specific bailouts. They plan to push for tight strings on any relief money that is targeted at the sectors most hard-hit by the coronavirus downturn—particularly the airline industry, which most on both sides agree is going to need some kind of help. On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who herself reviewed the implementation of the 2008 bailout, released proposed conditions for industry bailouts—including guaranteeing workers a $15 minimum wage, banning corporate stock buybacks, and prohibiting federal funds from going to executive bonuses."Why would we bail out any company that's been making record profits without a clear guarantee that they will protect workers' rights around pensions, collective-bargaining provision of sick leave, and pay?" asked Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). "If companies want to come forward and say, we've been hit hard—so, hospitality, travel, others—and we need even more tax relief… I'd want to see that what we were doing was achieving some real protection."While McConnell has talked about going it alone on Phase 3, Schumer has pushed for the top Democrat and Republican of each chamber to work directly with the White House to craft some sort of large-scale compromise. The aforementioned senior House aide conceded that there would be "utility to a four-corners negotiation" so long as it did not involve Trump himself. The president never once spoke to Pelosi during the crafting of the Phase 2 deal, her office confirmed. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Duncan Hunter, an early Trump supporter who vaped in a Congressional hearing, gets 11 months in prison Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:53 AM PDT  The former California congressman pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations after a fall from grace forcing him out of his seat.
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| Lazarus: The airlines want our cash? Give us more legroom in return Posted: 18 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT  President Trump, who fancies himself a master negotiator, is giving away the store to airlines and seeking little if anything in return.
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| Israel slaps virus closure on Palestinian-ruled areas of West Bank Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Israel closed off Palestinian-administered areas of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to limit the spread of the coronavirus, officials from both sides said. "From today, a closure has taken place in the West Bank," said Yotam Shefer, who heads the international department of COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories. Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhim said all Palestinians would be affected, though goods would still be allowed to pass.
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| Farewell to the Pro-Life Democrats Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:33 AM PDT  In Illinois last night, abortion-rights advocate Marie Newman unseated pro-life representative Dan Lipinski in the Democratic primary for the third congressional district. Based on ratings from anti-abortion groups, Lipinski was the last remaining stalwart pro-lifer among Democratic politicians in Congress.It is a symbolic end to an era that really ended a long time ago, a time when Democratic politicians could vote against taxpayer-funded abortion and in favor of abortion restrictions without being ousted from their seats, and when the party's leadership acknowledged and welcomed pro-life voters whose views on other issues aligned them with the party.With Lipinski's loss, there is no longer even the slightest bit of room for Democrats to give themselves cover on this issue, and they appear not to mind. The Democratic Party is, at the national level, filled with politicians who support abortion on demand, at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason, funded by the U.S. taxpayer.This is dramatically out of step with most Americans, only 13 percent of whom favor allowing elective abortion in the last three months of pregnancy and nearly three-quarters of whom would limit abortion to the first three months or to cases of rape or incest, or not permit it at all. It is also out of step with most Democrats, only 18 percent of whom would allow third-trimester abortion. A full 30 percent of Democrats call themselves pro-life.Instead of being accommodated or reassured, these Democrats are explicitly told by the politicians seeking to represent them that their views have no place in their own party — a curious election strategy.In 2017, Democratic leaders derided Bernie Sanders when he endorsed Heath Mello for mayor of Omaha, Neb., after abortion-advocacy groups dubbed Mello "anti-choice" for having backed a law requiring doctors to give women the option to view a fetal ultrasound prior to abortion (hardly a stringent anti-abortion law, though it is revealing that abortion supporters opposed it).A lot can change in three years. Last month, Sanders declared during a town hall that "being pro-choice is an essential part of being a Democrat." Former presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg made the same assessment in January, telling Kristen Day, director of the beleaguered Democrats for Life, that he would not budge an inch on the issue. (Day, for the record, did not ask Buttigieg to change his position on abortion but rather to "support more-moderate platform language . . . to ensure that the party of diversity, of inclusion really does include everybody." It took him several minutes to get around to saying, in essence, "Keep dreaming.")What, then, is a pro-life Democrat to do? And what happened to the party that used to feature men like Dan Lipinski and his pro-life Democratic father Bill, one or the other of whom has represented the third congressional district in Illinois since 1983?Here an anecdote might be helpful. In 1992, Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, Bob Casey Sr., was slated to speak at the party's national convention in New York City but in the end was not permitted to do so. Though Democrats have since contended that this was because he had not endorsed the presidential ticket, contemporaneous reporting shows that it was in fact because he intended to speak about his opposition to abortion, at a time when the party was beginning more uniformly to embrace abortion rights. It was Casey who went to the Supreme Court in 1992 to defend his state's regulations on abortion clinics, losing in the landmark case Planned Parenthood v. Casey that currently governs abortion jurisprudence.Today, Casey's son, Bob Casey Jr., serves as a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, and in recent years has received a 100 percent score from NARAL Pro-Choice America for his voting record on abortion rights.The Democratic Party has been on this trajectory for a long time, driven in no small part by its desire for the financial backing and public-relations acclaim of powerful actors such as NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the conglomerate of women's media groups that writer and former editor of Ladies' Home Journal Myrna Blyth christened the "Spin Sisters.""Reproductive rights is the issue that all women must care and agree about," Blyth wrote in her 2004 book Spin Sisters of these publications and their ability to drive public opinion. "To keep the support of the Spin Sisters, politicians may not stray even a hair from the Planned Parenthood position."Though the Democratic allegiance to unlimited legal abortion surely has something to do with the millions of campaign dollars that flow from abortion-advocacy groups, it has perhaps even more to do with the optics of the issue, with the fact that Planned Parenthood and its media allies could sound the death knell for a campaign by deeming a Democrat "anti-choice" for doing something as anodyne as supporting a woman's right to be offered the chance to view an ultrasound. (It was, for instance, primarily these groups that funded and championed Newman's campaign to unseat Lipinski.)State politics confirm this theory, where pro-life Democrats continue to reelect pro-life Democratic politicians who enact anti-abortion laws, out of reach of the national abortion-advocacy apparatus. In Louisiana, Democratic legislator Katrina Jackson sponsored a bill, currently facing a challenge at the Supreme Court, to extend existing safety measures to abortion clinics. That bill, along with a heartbeat bill banning abortion after six weeks' gestation, was signed into law by the state's Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards. In West Virginia earlier this month, Democratic lawmakers helped to pass a born-alive bill, requiring doctors to care for newborn infants who survive an abortion procedure.These proposals have no hope of passing Congress, where the consistent leftward shift of the Democratic Party has left pro-life liberals like Dan Lipinski, and all the voters who valued his leadership, without a home.
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| Police department urges residents who have run out of toilet paper to stop calling 911 Posted: 17 Mar 2020 07:03 AM PDT  "Do not call 9-1-1 just because you ran out of toilet paper. You will survive without our assistance," said Newport, Oregon police early Sunday.
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| What coronavirus? Mexico's president touching people, holding rallies Posted: 17 Mar 2020 06:34 PM PDT  AMLO, as he is called, has been called "irresponsible" and a "source of contagion" as he defied guidelines on social distancing.
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| Detroit man convicted in killings of 2 gay men, transgender woman Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:16 AM PDT  A 19-year-old Detroit man has been convicted of gunning down two gay men and a transgender woman who authorities believe were targeted because of their sexual orientation last year following a house party.
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| Biden says Sanders' supporters have 'shifted the fundamental conversation in this country' Posted: 17 Mar 2020 07:24 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered a message on Tuesday night to supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), following his wins in the Florida and Illinois Democratic presidential primaries.Biden spoke from his home in Delaware, with the address streamed online. He first discussed the coronavirus pandemic, and said tackling it is "a national emergency akin to fighting a war. It's going to require leadership and cooperation from every level of government and it's going to require us to move thoughtfully and decisively to quickly address both the public health crisis as well as the economic crisis. It's going to require us to pay attention to the medical and scientific and health experts. It's going to require each of us to do our part."Americans, he said, are "up to this challenge" and are "moving quickly to adapt our routines to meet this challenge." Coronavirus is forcing the country to "put politics aside and work as Americans. The coronavirus doesn't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. It will not discriminate based on national origin, race, gender, or your ZIP code."Switching his attention to Tuesday's primaries, he thanked poll workers and said his wins show he's "building a broad coalition we need to win in November." He may not agree with Sanders on "tactics, but we share a common vision: for the need to provide affordable health care for all Americans, reducing income inequality that has risen so drastically, to tackling the existential threat of our time, climate change." He praised Sanders and his supporters for their "remarkable passion and tenacity" on these issues, and said they "shifted the fundamental conversation in this country."More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders is focused on the 'f---ing global crisis' CDC investigation reveals why coronavirus likely hit Seattle-area nursing homes so hard The U.S. is temporarily blocking all refugee admissions
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| Elon Musk told Tesla employees in a leaked email that they don't have to go to work if they're sick or worried about the coronavirus Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:10 PM PDT  "I'd like to be super clear that if you feel the slightest bit ill or even uncomfortable, please do not feel obligated to come to work," Musk said.
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| U.S. prosecutors drop Mueller-era case against Russian firm Posted: 16 Mar 2020 06:18 PM PDT |
| A White Nationalist Has Rebranded Himself as Coronavirus Expert. And People Are Flocking to Him. Posted: 18 Mar 2020 01:47 AM PDT  At first glance, Maine resident Tom Kawcyznski seems like just another person talking about the coronavirus pandemic. His daily "Coronavirus Central" podcast has consistently been in the top 20 podcasts on the Apple charts for "Health & Fitness," and at one point earlier this month it hit the fifth spot in the category. But anxious listeners flocking to Kawcyznski's podcast for more information about the disease's spread may not be aware of his background. Before he rebranded himself as a coronavirus expert, Kawcyznski was a notorious white nationalist advocating for a nearly all-white monarchy in New England—with himself as its king. Kawcyznski's surprising reinvention and his success on podcast apps demonstrate the degrees to which concerned Americans are turning to anyone on the internet for coronavirus information, without much consideration of the source. As rumors about coronavirus and the government's response circulate via text message and hoax cures proliferate online, extremist figures like Kawcyznski have seen an opening of their own. "I think the coronavirus is creating a brand new world," Kawcyznski told The Daily Beast, when asked about his new role as a would-be coronavirus expert. Fox Host Trish Regan Goes on Batsh*t Rant Against 'Coronavirus Impeachment Scam'Kawcyznski advocates for the creation of the "Arboreal Kingdom of New Albion," a currently fictional, 95-percent white monarchy he imagines cobbling out of parts of Canada and New England after social collapse. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists his New Albion group as a white nationalist hate group. In 2018, Kawcyznski was fired from his job as the town manager of Jackman, Maine, after the discovery of his posts on fringe social network Gab. In the posts on his now-private account, Kawcyznski wrote that "the average black in America has less intellectual aptitude" and advised white supremacists on how to recast their message in more appealing terms. "I'm putting a happy face on AltRight thinking that brings normies in," Kawcyznski wrote in 2017.Now Kawcyznski has brought the same apocalyptic thinking that turned him into a figure on the racist right to worried coronavirus podcast listeners. He's built an entire coronavirus media empire in the space of two months, including a coronavirus prep book he's selling on Amazon that promises to help people prepare for the disease "on any budget." By publishing a hastily written book on Amazon about the coronavirus, Kawcyznski joined a flood of dubious experts self-publishing coronavirus books on the internet retail giant. In Kawcyznski's book, which he initially published under a pseudonym, he doesn't discuss his background in the white nationalist movement. He also promotes conspiracy theorists like frequent InfoWars guest Mike Adams as reliable sources of information on the disease and envisions a world of societal collapse brought on by the coronavirus, writing that "toilet paper will be more valuable than dollars."Kawcyznski's podcast has drawn more people to him since he started it in February, as cases started to appear in the United States. A Vulture review of coronavirus-related podcasts called the show a "spitting image of caricatures about crackpots and charlatans who vie for attention during crises." But it also noted that his podcast ranks highly in searches on podcast apps for "coronavirus."Kawcyznski claims his daily podcasts, which range from between an hour to two-and-a-half hours, each receive roughly 20,000 listens. It's impossible to independently verify podcast listenership. In his episodes, Kawcyznski positions himself as a sort of guru of the coronavirus era, urging in a Tuesday episode to "refocus your life around the virus." "Stop worrying about what comes after the virus so much, and worry about how you're going to survive it," Kawcyznski said in one. Kawcyznski has also used the coronavirus to gather a community of adherents around himself online. In a chat group on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app popular with extremist right-wing personalities, Coronavirus Central has amassed more than 1,400 members. Kawcyznski claims it's not fair to describe him as a white nationalist, even as he advocates for the creation of a majority-white splinter nation. But as recently as January, Kawcyznski went on a podcast hosted by Chris Cantwell, the neo-Nazi who became infamous in the 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" white supremacist rally as the "crying Nazi." Kawcyznski presented Cantwell with a fictional flag for New Albion, describing it as a "blood flag"—a reference to a swastika flag used by Adolf Hitler."It's a sign of my respect to you," Kawcyznski said, as he handed Cantwell the flag.Later that month, Cantwell was arrested on federal interstate threat charges.Kawcyznski, who says he maxed out his credit cards in an attempt to prepare for the coronavirus, has positioned himself for a rebranding in the coronavirus era. In an apparent attempt to distance himself from his white nationalist comments, Kawcyznski said he doesn't "really get into politics" when discussing the coronavirus."I hope people take their opportunities to approach this world with open minds and open hearts," he said. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| ‘Gag and Vote For It Anyway’: McConnell Urges Republican Hold Outs to Back House Coronavirus Bill Posted: 17 Mar 2020 12:52 PM PDT  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he would push ahead with passing the $100-billion stimulus package negotiated between the White House and House Democrats last week, adding that Senate Republicans with reservations about the bill should "gag" them."We're going to go on and vote as soon as the Senate can get permission to vote on the bill that came over from the House, send it down to the President . . . and reassure the people around the country," McConnell said. He added that "a number of my members think there are considerable shortcomings in the House bill. My counsel to them is to gag and vote for it anyway."The Senate will also move ahead with drafting a phase-three package that would add additional measures to help the economy, following a closed-door lunch with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who negotiated extensively with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on the phase-two bill which McConnell will now bring to the floor.Mnuchin announced on Tuesday that President Trump is considering sending checks to Americans as an alternative to a payroll tax cut in order to provide Americans with immediate assistance in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.The package could be worth approximately $250 billion, and could be part of a larger package "that would inject $1 trillion into the economy," Mnuchin revealed to reporters. Both the White House and Senate Democrats have proposed additional measures to supplement the House bill, which could range from $750 to $850 billion.Senators Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Mitt Romney (R., Utah) have all pushed for direct payments to Americans to offset economic losses.On Monday, Cotton critiqued emergency spending legislation passed by the House as being too complicated, relying on paid sick leave and refundable tax credits when it would be faster to give cash payments directly to Americans. McConnell is now signaling that those criticisms will be considered in new bill set to be drafted by the Senate.> The House bill sets up a complicated relief system that relies on paid sick leave & refundable tax credits. > > That won't move quickly enough & puts undue pressure on businesses to lay off workers. > > We don't want to see layoffs—we need cash in the hands of affected families. pic.twitter.com/64hNtYhfJO> > -- Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 16, 2020
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| Commandant directs Marines on how to prepare for coronavirus Posted: 17 Mar 2020 10:59 PM PDT  The letter instructs commanders on the ground to make force preservation and risk mitigation decisions based on new information.
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| Police Are Using Drones to Yell at People for Being Outside Posted: 17 Mar 2020 02:48 PM PDT  It's a harsh—but necessary—way to enforce social distancing.
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| Mom accused of killing 9-month-old when she fell asleep with her kids Posted: 17 Mar 2020 09:28 AM PDT  Authorities found that Heather Hall had four types of drugs in her system after she fell asleep with her legs pinning her 9-month-old child face down on the bed.
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| Coronavirus: Rand Paul holds up Senate vote on rescue package with doomed amendment Posted: 18 Mar 2020 03:32 AM PDT  As the US Senate prepares to pass a bill to help fund and speed up the response to coronavirus epidemic, Kentucky senator Rand Paul has introduced an amendment that will slow down the bill's passage – even though the amendment has no chance of passing.The bill being debated, which would provide free coronavirus testing and provisions for unemployment insurance and paid sick leave, has already been passed by the House of Representatives. While some Senators have voiced misgivings about it, with some saying it does not go far enough, the bill looks very likely to pass without dramatic alterations.
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| The US Army is rethinking how to do its largest European exercise in 25 years amid a coronavirus lockdown Posted: 17 Mar 2020 02:09 PM PDT  The Army wants to continue with Defender-Europe 20 in some form, but what it will look like amid the spread of the coronavirus isn't yet clear.
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| Samoan chief guilty of slavery in New Zealand Posted: 17 Mar 2020 11:53 AM PDT  Joseph Auga Matamata lured victims with promises of a better life but beat them and kept their money.
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| At least 7 members of the same New Jersey family contracted COVID-19 at a family gathering. 2 of them died and 4 are in critical condition. Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:27 AM PDT  "To imagine a week ago to get a phone call like this — if someone told me this story, I wouldn't believe it," a family member said.
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| U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Iran amid Coronavirus Damage, Seeks Release of Americans Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:51 AM PDT  The U.S. imposed fresh sanctions on Iran on Wednesday and called on the state terror sponsor to release detained Americans after new rocket attacks were launched at U.S. forces in Iraq by what are believed to be Iran-backed forces.The State Department sanctioned nine entities based in South Africa, Hong Kong, and China as well as three Iranian individuals "who have engaged in activity that could enable the Iranian regime's violent behavior," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. The sanctioned entities and individuals were involved in "significant transactions" to trade in Islamic Republic's petrochemical industry, which the sanctions will target."The actions of these individuals and entities provide revenue to the regime that it may use to fund terror and other destabilizing activities, such as the recent rocket attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces located at Camp Taji in Iraq," Pompeo said.Two U.S. troops and one coalition service member were killed last week in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq. At least a dozen more people were injured at Camp Taji, about 17 miles north of Baghdad, after about 18 of up to 30 Russian Katyusha rockets were launched from northeast Baghdad and hit the base.Over the past year, the U.S. has accused Iran-backed forces such as Kataib Hezbollah of 13 similar attacks on military bases in Iraq that house U.S. and coalition troops. The Defense Department said it launched strikes against the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah.Pompeo also said Iran is considering releasing several detained American citizens and urged the country to do so amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit Iran particularly hard.The U.S. will continue its campaign to squeeze the Iranian economy and limit Iran's ability to export oil, which Tehran claims has impaired its ability to contain the spread of the deadly respiratory illness.The coronavirus has hobbled Iran, infecting over 17,300 and killing more than 1,100, including high-ranking government officials.Earlier this month, Pompeo warned that Iranian government was attempting to cover up the scope of the toll the virus is taking on the population. Iran has so far refused U.S. offers of help to combat the virus, expressing suspicion that the U.S. is trying to break the spirits of Iranians over the epidemic.
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| Putin Worries Coronavirus Could Screw Up His Constitutional ‘Coronation’ Posted: 17 Mar 2020 09:22 AM PDT  MOSCOW—Around the world, more than 5,000 people have died from COVID-19 and European countries are closing their borders one after another, but authorities in Russia—adjacent to both Europe and China—continue acting as if people here in the motherland have some kind of magical immunity.State officials shake hands at public meetings, go around without masks, and organize big public events, while the number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases in Russia has jumped from 63 to 93 overnight. The plague's trolls, styling themselves coronavirus dissidents, spread fake news claiming the epidemic is "a project of the pharmaceutical companies."For three decades, even before the advent of social media, this same kind of conspiratorial misinformation helped HIV/AIDS spread across the country virtually unchecked, at a cost of more than 200,000 lives. Fake News Helped Spread HIV/AIDS in Russia. Has It Stopped?But in this case there's a particular edge to it—an unmistakable political context. Russia's parliament has just paved the way for Vladimir Putin to run in rubber-stamp elections and serve in office until he's in his 80s. And then? Maybe longer. In effect, he'll be president for life. In Russian terms, he'll be the 21st century version of a czar. But there's a hitch.Although the Russian parliament passed the necessary amendments to the constitution on March 11 with a vote of 383 to 0, they are supposed to receive popular approval in a plebiscite scheduled for April 22. And if the coronavirus pandemic takes off in Russia before then—or, rather, can be seen to have taken off—the new czar might have to wait for his quasi-constitutional quasi-coronation. The Kremlin insists that in spite of the growing fear of an outbreak, the plebiscite will take place as scheduled.So what we're hearing from Putin is that there is "nothing critical" happening on the coronavirus front, the main sources of news about sick people in Russia are both fake and foreign: "Their goal is clear, to spread panic among our population," Putin told a governmental conference on March 4. Putin's Now Positioned to Be President for LifeThis does not inspire confidence, especially among those who lived through Soviet times and remember such explanations about the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl in 1986, when Soviet leaders delayed telling citizens the truth at the cost of thousands of lives. On Monday, Moscow's city hall confirmed 53 diagnoses of coronavirus. The first one was registered on March 3. With the growing number of cases, there is increasing public suspicion that there are many more carriers than state television will acknowledge, either because they are asymptomatic, or misdiagnosed. There is also a rapidly growing public sentiment that officials will hide the facts deliberately, at least through April 22. Meanwhile, after China carried out the biggest quarantine in recorded history, and as European countries are shutting down cinemas, bars, restaurants, factories, and eventually, as in Italy, emptying the streets, with the United States belatedly preparing to follow suit, Moscow opened a St. Patrick's Day Irish Film Festival at one of its major movie theaters—one of more than 600 here in the capital. More than 160 drama and musical theaters also continue to work. Though the situation is rapidly changing: on Sunday, the Bolshoi Theater, with 1600 seats, presented Swan Lake, but on Monday Russia's major theater made a decision to cancel all its shows. The Vatican may have canceled public services at Easter, but in Saint Petersburg crowds have been lining up all week to kiss the holy relics of Saint John the Baptist at Kazan Cathedral. "The infection cannot be spread in church," priest Aleksander Pashkov told journalists. The coronavirus pandemic is "an anti-church campaign." In the most recent developments, Russian authorities closed the border with Belarus and recommended that all universities switch to distance education online. All sorts of pseudo experts speak their mind on YouTube. Igor Gundarov, presenting himself as a doctor and a medical authority, says he doubts that the pandemic outbreak is taking place at all. "Evil people with capital, they go crazy," he proclaims. "As Karl Marx said, they can kill even their own mother—to sell an idea, they manipulate people's minds." Gundarov racked up more than 800,000 Russian YouTube viewers in January, and his words inspired dozens of conspiracy theorists to push out their dissident messages about an ostensible COVID-19 hoax even as 100,000 people got infected around the globe.Medical workers find refuge in cynicism and in some cases wishful thinking. They know they will be on the front lines and highly vulnerable if the pandemic explodes here as it has elsewhere. Right now, for instance, Moscow has banned mass demonstrations of more than 5,000, and they wonder why that would be the case if there is "nothing critical" happening. Three doctors at First City Hospital were laughing at the new rule on Friday night: So, if there is a gathering of 4,999 people, they wondered, can they cough all over each other and it's okay? "We sign a non-disclosure agreement, so we cannot give journalists' information," one physician told The Daily Beast. Asked about rumors that there are some 6,000 Russians known to have coronavirus symptoms, the doctor did not say that was wrong.Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, however, vehemently denied such stories. "All these rumors we come across, irresponsible declarations about a huge number of infected patients in Moscow, are not true," he said Sunday on the television show A Week in Town. "Some politicians obviously want to inflame this topic, as often happens in difficult times. On the contrary, we are interested in immediately telling our citizens about novel coronavirus cases." Even so, when news broke last week of a teenage girl diagnosed with coronavirus, Moscow started a volunteer quarantine for school children. Unlike most of the rules dictated in Russia's life, this time it is not up to the Kremlin but up to the parents to decide if they want to put their children at risk.All state institutions, including kindergartens, schools, and universities, work without interruption in Nizhny Novgorod, a Russian city on the Volga with a population of more than 1.2 million. A crowd of parents with children filled up the circus on Friday night and fans gathered at Jupiter concert hall to listen to a concert. The first case of coronavirus reported in this city last week did not inspire the local authorities to take serious action, although one municipal deputy, Yevgeny Lazarev, showed up wearing a thin face mask at the city council meeting on Tuesday. "More than 63,000 people live below the poverty line and cannot afford simple things, including gauze masks," Lazarev declared. He called on his fellow deputies to raise the city administration's awareness of the new virus and its danger. But a majority of his colleagues did not support Lazarev. They thought there were other more important things on the city's agenda. After all, the czar-to-be has told them there's no real problem.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Venice canals clear as city tourist-free under coronavirus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 12:21 PM PDT  The city of Venice is enjoying crystal clear waters in its world-famous canals due to a lack of debris from tourists and near-zero boat traffic under Italy's ongoing coronavirus lockdown. The clear waters are a tiny bright spot in the beleaguered but beautiful city, whose economy has been virtually wiped out since tourists fled the area beginning last month, spooked by the spread of coronavirus in the country's north. Images of the welcome change were first posted on a Facebook group "Venezia Pulita (Clean Venice)," with residents sharing photos of tiny fish swimming in usually opaque waters, or cormorant, egrets and other birds enjoying the lack of boat traffic in the city's canals.
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| NKorea's Kim admits troubled medical system amid virus fears Posted: 17 Mar 2020 09:14 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un acknowledged that his country lacks modern medical facilities and called for urgent improvements, state media said Wednesday, in a rare assessment of the North's health care system that comes amid worries about the coronavirus in the impoverished country. Outside experts say a coronavirus epidemic in the North could be devastating due its chronic lack of medical supplies and outdated health care infrastructure. North Korea has engaged in an intense campaign to guard against the new virus, though it has steadfastly maintained that no one has been sickened, a claim many foreign experts doubt.
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| Bernie Sanders to ‘assess’ his campaign after suffering yet another bruising defeat to Joe Biden Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:24 AM PDT  Bernie Sanders has announced he will "assess his campaign" for the Democratic presidential nomination after suffering bruising losses in Tuesday's primaries against former vice-president Joe Biden, who won all three states that cast ballots.The Vermont senator's campaign said in a statement on Wednesday morning that he was "going to be having conversations with supporters" about his bid for the Democratic nomination as Mr Biden appeared to gain a formidable lead in delegates over Mr Sanders.
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| Trump defends comments on China amid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:30 AM PDT  During a White House press conference on Wednesday President Trump defended his comments on China amid the growing coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
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| Italy reports 475 coronavirus deaths, the highest single-day death toll for any country since the outbreak began Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:42 AM PDT  At the peak of its outbreak, China's highest single-day death toll was 150. Iran and Spain, both hit badly, have not recorded more than 200 in a day.
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| Thousands of Muslim pilgrims brave coronavirus to gather in Indonesia Posted: 18 Mar 2020 04:25 AM PDT  JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of Muslim pilgrims from across Asia gathered in Indonesia on Wednesday, despite fears that their meeting could fuel the spread of a coronavirus, just two weeks after a similar event in Malaysia caused more than 500 infections. Organisers and regional officials said the event in the world's fourth most populous nation had begun, although the regional police chief said he was making a last ditch-effort to persuade organisers to call it off. "We are more afraid of God," one of the organisers, Mustari Bahranuddin, told Reuters, when asked about the risk of participants spreading the virus at the event in Gowa in Indonesia's province of South Sulawesi.
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