You knew it would happen.  Trump’s incompetent response to the COVID-19 outbreak is one of the few crises in the last three years that is not of his own making, and his sycophants have come to realize that he can’t lie or tweet his way out of this one.  The response?  Gen up the Noise Machine, WhatAbout Version.  One of the loudest blowhards in the Machine is PJ Media formerly called Pajamas Media, one of the biggest manure shovelers on the web.

The WhatAbout target this time?  Barack Obama, of course, and this time it was his response to the H1N1 flu outbreak in 2009, days after he had taken office.  H1N1 became apparent in January 2009 and being researched by the WHO then.  The first case of H1N1 was discovered on April 15, 2009, the WHO declared a medical emergency on April 25, and the CDC began releasing anti-viral drugs to fight the disease. Obama declared a US medical emergency on April 30.  He requested $1.9 billion then and as the pandemic grew, requested another $9 billion for response and vaccines.  In October of 2009 Obama did declare a national emergency, but only after multiple efforts to control the virus.  Today, H1N1 continues as a recurring flu virus and has killed an estimated 75,000 Americans since 2009.  It’s part of the annual flu vaccine today that many Americans still refuse to receive.

Let’s talk about how Republicans responded to the virus back in 2009 versus what they are saying now.  During the funding debates of 2009, Republicans opposed Obama’s request because, well, they’re Republicans.  Also, the noise machine cranked up led by Gleen Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh.  Glenn Beck, who at that time had a big show on Fox Noise said, “…you don’t know if this is going to cause neurological damage like it did in the 1970s,” adding that he would do “the exact opposite” of what the federal government recommended and might even attend a swine flu party to deliberately infect himself before the virus could mutate.  Rush Limbaugh said, “I am not going to take it [the H1N1 vaccine], precisely because you are now telling me I must. . . . I don’t want to take your vaccine. I don’t get flu shots.” He added that if “you have some idiot government official demanding, telling me I must take this vaccine, I’ll never take it.”  In Congress Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) commented, “We can’t let all of our spending and our reaction be media-driven in responding to a panic so that we don’t get Katrina-ed. . . . It’s important because what we are talking about as we discuss the appropriateness of spending $2 billion to produce a vaccine that may never be used—that is a very important decision that our country has to make.”  Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) added, “I don’t think we need to spend $1.5 billion on flu vaccine when . . . the research shows that it’s not going to be very virulent. . . . We are stealing our grandchildren’s future by borrowing and spending. . . . This hysteria over the flu is driving the media, and it’s driving the administration, driving the leadership here. We’ve got to stop that.”

The funding was passed, but after intense anti-vaxxer misinformation and loud Republican opposition, the distribution of the vaccine was greatly suppressed and even THAT was affected by party.  Democrats outnumbered Republicans by almost 50% in saying they would take the vaccine.

The Repubs are singing the same song this time, too, calling the outbreak of COVID-19 a hoax and supporting Trump’s idiotic and incoherent blabbering and tweeting about it.  Even as they try to cover for Trump, they’re attacking Obama for doing exactly the opposite of what he actually did.

Same song, different pandemic.

Trump FINALLY declares national emergency over CV.

Great read from the Atlantic, The Trump Presidency is Over.

Italians sing together from their windows during the CV lockdown.

CDC estimates that Americans who could die from CV is 200,000 to 1.7 million.

No one will win the Saudi-Russian oil price war.

Coronavirus effects based on government response.  An interactive chart.

Trump lied today (and other times) that Obama bungled the H1N1 flu contagion in 2009.  He forgot that Republicans mocked Obama’s warnings and called THAT outbreak “a hoax”.  Sound familiar?

And finally, Katie Porter (D-CA) beat Dr. Redfield, Director of the CDC, about the face and neck with questions until he finally committed to guaranteeing free testing to all Americans.  It’s sweet…

Trading has been halted on the NYSE with the market down another 1,700 points.  It’s clear that investors are not happy with Trump’s response.  Trump offered no specifics last night short of pulling up the drawbridge from Europe after the virus already got in.  He hinted at economic relief with no specifics.  His payroll tax cut, which is only a thinly disguised effort to kill Social Security and Medicare, was DOA on the Hill.  There was no discussion of increasing availability of test kits, no information on how local jurisdictions should respond, no words of wisdom on how individuals should prepare.

I’m convinced that Trump is intentionally slowing the distribution of kits because that would “make my numbers go up”.  He doesn’t want to know how many people have it, because he’s playing a global television gameshow and he’s determined to declare victory over whoever his fellow contestants are.

The Coronavirus doesn’t give a shit who Donald Trump is or that he’s president and a famous gameshow host.  It’s doing to do what it’s going to do.  All Trump’s happy talk is doing nothing but more damage.

25th Amendment anyone?

Latest I’ve got, but it’s coming hard and fast:

Tom Hanks and his wife test positive for COVID-19

NBA has suspended the NBA season.

Trump bans travel to the US from Europe, except the UK.

Trump’s effort to play down the pandemic has worked…on Republicans.

Brazilian official (accused of corruption, of course) has tested positive for COVID-19 after spending the weekend at Mara Lago.

Trump loyalists test positive for COVID-19, including Matt Gaetz, who stupidly wore a gas mask in Congress last week to mock the threat.  He wins Dumbass of the Week award.

Italy shuts down ALL stores except for pharmacies and grocery stores.

WHO declares the Coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic while calling out “alarming levels of inaction.”

Stocks fall into bear territory for the first time in 11 years in the face of Trump’s incoherent response to COVID-19 and Saudi-Russian oil price war.

Other than that, not a goddam thing happening right now.

Senate Republicans are whipping up yet another investigation over a fake issue, this time of Hunter Biden.  Risking stating the blatantly obvious, this investigation, like many others, is complete bullshit, and being timed to inflict maximum damage on Joe Biden, who is close to taking the nomination for president.  Elected officials’ kids used to be off limits, but Trump and and National Trump Party have shattered that norm, bringing to bear the full force of the federal government to persecute political rivals and their families.

Enter Mike Bloomberg (again).  Over the weekend on MSNBC, former Bloomberg campaign manager Tim O’Brien announced that if Republicans go after Hunter Biden, Bloomberg will use cash he had set aside for his campaign to go “scorched earth” against the Trump kids, exposing their legion of conflicts, nepotism, and illegal use of federal office to make profits.  The ads will go after profits being made by Trump’s hotels that are charging the Secret Service and foreign officials for stays and hospitality, Ivanka’s Chinese patents, and government paying for all the kids travel for private business.  The entertainment value should be huge, and will drive Trump crazy (er).

Finally someone has the resources to stand up to the Noise Machine in a flame war.  It should be epic.

Another Snopes report has confirmed another effort by Trump to erase the Obama administration, documenting how he undid regulations and uses of stiff fines to force senior care facilities to protect patients under their care.