Gov. Newsom extends Bay Area rules statewide as Illinois, Florida and New York increase restrictions on people and businesses….--our Covid 19 daily report, edited by Linda Lewis
--Twitter tightens policy on virus info, but allows billionaire bad boy Elon Musk to falsely claim “children are essentially immune”
--listener Colleen McGuire shares reports that 99% of deaths in Italy are related to pre-existing medical problems
--5 Senators are accused of insider trading after selling stocks before the market crash, based on briefings they had; Sen. Burr asks for ethics investigation
--the millionaires in the Senate are arguing over how much they will give to bail out corporations, and how little they will give to the most vulnerable people
--WashPost opinionist Jennifer Rubin asks if Trump is implicated in the insider profiteering, taking a break from Bernie bashing
--Trump uses the crisis to justify closing the borders and further eviscerating asylum laws
--last fall, a long-planned simulation of a virus crisis was staged, revealed major vulnerabilities, and nothing happened because of Trump’s staff turnover
--with Washington shoveling out money, lobbyists crowd the trough, seeking unrelated legislation and financial breaks
--authors of “never Trump” book say many old school Republicans feared that Trump couldn’t handle a crisis
--Trump campaign feeds the base the usual attacks on Dems, but little about the pandemic
--TrumpCo includes extremists opposed to “big government”, and they are telling the Don not to use Defense Protection Act
--Dr. Larry Brilliant, who led the campaign to end smallpox, is brilliant in this interview at Wired
--at WhoWhatWhy, Jeff Schectman has a podcast interview with Matt Richtel, who wrote a book about the human immune system
--NY Times reports on Putin’s use of facial recognition to enforce quarantines
--in Israel, protests erupt over Netanyahu’s use of phone data to track infections
--at The Grayzone, Gareth Porter details the collusion between Netanyahu and Mike Pompeo to trigger a war with Iran
--also at Grayzone, Ben Norton reports on Pompeo’s threats to the ICC staff and their families
--at The Intercept, Robert Mackey adds to yesterday’s Trump news conference and friendly questions from Chanel Rion of One America News
--Mike Bloomberg sharply reduces his promised funding of the Democratic nominee
--NY Times gives lovely obituary to my pal Mal Sharpe
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