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babylonsister's JournalHow Christian Siriano Turned His Fashion House Into a Mask Factory
On and Off the Avenue
How Christian Siriano Turned His Fashion House Into a Mask Factory
By Rachel Syme
March 31, 2020
On the morning of March 20th, the thirty-four-year-old fashion designer Christian Siriano sat in the living room of his country house, in Danbury, Connecticut, watching the must-see TV of the moment: the daily press briefings of Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, about the state’s battle against the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo was asked, by one reporter, whether he wished that President Trump would invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow him to force companies in other industries to begin manufacturing desperately needed medical supplies, including ventilators and P.P.E., or personal protective equipment, like masks and goggles. “Look, if I had a New York State Defense Production Act I would use it,” Cuomo answered, adding, “If you’re making clothing, figure out if you can make masks. I’ll fund it.”
Siriano, a former “Project Runway” winner who has dressed the likes of Michelle Obama and Taylor Swift, realized that he was in a position to help. He had closed his atelier a week earlier, as the outbreak in New York City was accelerating. But his team of eight sewers had brought their machines with them. Siriano had intended to keep them busy—and on the payroll—with client orders for wedding dresses and gowns for fall galas. At noon, he tweeted at the governor: “If @NYGovCuomo says we need masks my team will help make some. I have a full sewing team still on staff working from home that can help.” Within an hour, a representative from Cuomo’s office had slid into Siriano’s direct messages and accepted his offer.
The governor’s office sent Siriano a stock pattern. The mask was not a medical-grade N-95, which requires special materials, such as non-woven polypropylene, to filter microscopic particles. It was a cloth surgical mask, with three pleats, elastic ear bands, and a small metal strip that could be molded to fit the nose. Siriano had a suitable polyblend fabric in his atelier, which he had delivered to each sewer’s home. For two days, the team worked remotely. (Siriano, who does not have a sewing machine in Connecticut, served as a kind of virtual Rosie the Riveter.) But, with each sewer working on her own, they were only able to make around fifty masks a day. So Siriano asked Cuomo’s office for permission to reopen his atelier as an “essential” business. He returned to the city and gathered the team under one roof (six feet apart, of course), where they could form an assembly line. In the first week, they produced almost two thousand masks. The first box they shipped went directly to the new field hospital at the Javits Center.
On March 25th, as the mask-making was in full swing, Siriano took me on a FaceTime tour of his atelier, which occupies a prewar Beaux-Arts town house on Fifty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue. It sits on what, during New York’s Gilded Age, was the site of St. Luke’s Hospital, and in the nineteen-forties served as an office for the Victory Clothing Collection for Overseas Relief, a service that gathered warm clothes from civilians to send to soldiers in need. “At one point, I’m sure similar things were being made here,” he said.
more...
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/how-christian-siriano-turned-his-fashion-house-into-a-mask-factory
David Corn: How Donald Trump Plans on Spinning 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths as a Win
April 1, 2020
How Donald Trump Plans on Spinning 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths as a Win
Like a virus, the president knows how to adapt.
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau ChiefBio | Follow
A virus can adapt quickly, and so can Donald Trump.
Through the course of the coronavirus crisis, Trump has demonstrated the adaptability that has so often helped his career in business and politics, as he shifted from predator developer to scammy brand-marketer to reality-TV celebrity. And one element of that flexibility is Trump’s unparalleled capacity to say whatever he needs at a given moment to gain an advantage or serve a personal interest.
This skill, if it can be called that, was on display at a recent Trump campaign rally, which these days are held daily in the White House, where Trump and members of his coronavirus task force brief reporters and the rest of the world. (Trump has been bragging about the ratings for these briefings, cheering his audience numbers, as Americans perish.) When Trump at this particular session on Sunday wasn’t bashing the media, belittling his perceived foes, or praising himself, he made a startling remark: “So you’re talking about 2.2 million deaths, 2.2 million people from this. And so if we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000. It’s a horrible number, maybe even less —but to 100,000. So we have between 100 and 200,000, and we altogether have done a very good job.”
At this briefing, Trump 16 times pointed to the 2.2 million estimate. That number comes from a new British study that Trump’s health care advisers had shown him that projects this level of death in “the (unlikely) absence of any control measures or spontaneous changes in individual behaviour.” That is, without social distancing, testing, and the like. (Trump’s experts had put this report in front of him so he would see that his idiotic idea to ease social restrictions by Easter would cause hundreds of thousands of deaths.) Trump, who on February 26, when there were 15 reported coronavirus cases in the United States, said the number would soon be “down to close to zero,” was now tossing out a horrendous number. It was quite the turnaround—and very purposeful.
It appeared Trump had finally realized that the amount of coronavirus death in this country on his watch is going to be astronomical. His weeks of denial, inaction, and dangerous happy-talk—downplaying the threat, claiming the virus would disappear in better weather, saying it was no worse than the flu, hinting social restraints could soon be lifted—had done nothing to stop the lethal threat spreading across the country. (A virus can’t be stopped by BS.) Trump, who originally worried that bad coronavirus numbers would spook the markets and undercut his the-economy-is-great! reelection argument, needed to pivot. To adapt.
Now that Trump could no longer pitch himself as the beautiful-economy president, he recast himself as the great lifesaver of America. And he initiated a cynical and loathsome expectations game. If the coronavirus might kill 2.2. million, then what a hero he would be if it only claims the lives of 200,000 Americans. Should this come to pass, Trump will claim that 2 million Americans owe him their lives.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/how-donald-trump-plans-on-spinning-200000-coronavirus-deaths-as-a-win/
Trump Blames New York for 'Late Start'
Still a POS who accepts no responsibility. 
https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/02/trump-blames-new-york-for-late-start/
Trump Blames New York for ‘Late Start’
April 2, 2020 at 9:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Said Trump: “New York has gotten far more than any other State, including hospitals & a hospital ship, but no matter what, always complaining… The complainers should have been stocked up and ready long before this crisis hit. Other states are thrilled with the job we have done.”
He continued: “It wouldn’t matter if you got ten times what was needed, it would never be good enough. Unlike other states, New York unfortunately got off to a late start. You should have pushed harder. Stop complaining and find out where all of these supplies are going.”
But he also added: “Cuomo working hard!”
Journalists skipping Trump's daily press briefings, saying they don't have enough news value
Journalists are skipping Trump's daily coronavirus press briefings, saying they don't have enough news value
Tom Porter
23 hours ago
Reporters increasingly don't believe the briefings have enough news value to merit breaking social-distancing measures to attend, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
TV networks have also cut away from the briefings, or chosen not to broadcast them altogether, as the president continues to use the sessions to spread misinformation and troll the press.
Reporters are skipping President Donald Trump's daily coronavirus news briefings, and TV networks are increasingly choosing not to broadcast them live, because they believe they don't have enough news value to risk breaking social-distancing rules.
In recent days there have been scores of empty seats in the White House press-briefing room, where Trump has delivered updates on the US battle against the novel coronavirus alongside public-health officials.
But instead of delivering key information and sober assessments of the situation to the American public, Trump has frequently resorted to tactics more familiar from his raucous campaign rallies: boasting of his accomplishments, floating misinformation, attacking the press, and taunting Democrats — with Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York a favored target.
According to The Washington Post, reporters are now "keeping their distance because they are concerned about the health risks at a time when many consider the president's evening news conferences to have become increasingly less newsworthy."
more...
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-coronavirus-briefings-reporters-broadcasters-skip-no-news-value-2020-4?fbclid=IwAR2r9_ijPpB-sF2PoGL7aa4WE0IdbVS5eUwYPMpWpQ-RNvWUrzC2rmuTQ2M
Trump Let Contract With Ventilator Firm Lapse
https://politicalwire.com/2020/04/01/trump-let-contract-with-ventilator-firm-lapse/
Trump Let Contract With Ventilator Firm Lapse
April 1, 2020 at 10:34 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
“But what federal officials have neglected to mention is that an additional 2,109 lifesaving devices are unavailable after the contract to maintain the government’s stockpile lapsed late last summer, and a contracting dispute meant that a new firm did not begin its work until late January. By then, the coronavirus crisis was already underway.”
Journalism Profs Call for an End to Fox News Coronavirus 'Misinformation' in Open Letter to Murdoch
Journalism Professors Call for an End to Fox News Coronavirus 'Misinformation' in Open Letter to Rupert Murdoch
By James Walker On 4/2/20 at 5:01 AM EDT
Journalism and communications professors have called on Fox News to stop spreading "misinformation" about the COVID-19 pandemic in an open letter to Rupert Murdoch and Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch on Wednesday.
The academics and journalists accused the network of violating "elementary canons of journalism," and argued that the channel had "contributed to the spread of a grave pandemic" with its coverage of the novel coronavirus.
Their letter also urged Fox News to protect its elderly viewers by basing its coronavirus coverage on scientific fact.
CNN's Reliable Sources reported that 74 academics and journalists had signed the open letter as of Wednesday evening.
Columbia Journalism School Professor Todd Gitlin and 73 others said: "The misinformation that reaches the Fox News audience is a danger to public health. Indeed, it is not an overstatement to say that your misreporting endangers your own viewers—and not only them, for in a pandemic, individual behavior affects significant numbers of other people as well.
"Yet by commission as well as omission—direct, uncontested misinformation as well as failure to report the true dimensions of the crisis—Fox News has been derelict in its duty to provide clear and accurate information about COVID-19."
more...
https://www.newsweek.com/journalism-professors-fox-news-end-coronavirus-misinformation-open-letter-1495688?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2tTVr6ebsCOjFUQdVjaH8-VjwFXtDq5jVGmcU7pJTeh0BLOiRrLmJT3Zw#Echobox=1585818430
Behind the scenes, Kushner takes charge of coronavirus response
I think we're fooked. Has he been successful at anything besides grifting?
Behind the scenes, Kushner takes charge of coronavirus response
Trump’s son-in-law sets up shop at FEMA as his portfolio balloons to include manufacturing, supplies and long-term planning.
By ADAM CANCRYN and DAN DIAMOND
04/01/2020 07:55 PM EDT
Dozens of Trump administration officials have trooped to the White House podium over the last two months to brief the public on their effort to combat coronavirus, but one person who hasn't -- Jared Kushner -- has emerged as perhaps the most pivotal figure in the national fight against the fast-growing pandemic.
What started two-and-a-half weeks ago as an effort to utilize the private sector to fix early testing failures has become an all-encompassing portfolio for Kushner, who, alongside a kitchen cabinet of outside experts including his former roommate and a suite of McKinsey consultants, has taken charge of the most important challenges facing the federal government: Expanding test access, ramping up industry production of needed medical supplies, and figuring out how to get those supplies to key locations.
Kushner has even obtained a new center of power at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the crisis-response organization that's taken over coronavirus strategy and planning -- and where Kushner and his deputies ride herd on the health agencies that had been criticized for their slow responses to the pandemic earlier this year.
Kushner’s group, which some have characterized as an “all-of-private-sector” operation in contrast to Vice President Mike Pence’s “all-of-government” task force, has had its successes – including airlifting emergency medical supplies to the United States, crowdsourcing mask and glove donations, and rapidly devising a last-ditch plan for hospitals to maximize ventilators.
But the behind-the-scenes working group has also duplicated existing federal teams and operations, and its focus on rapid, short-term decisions has created concern among some health-agency officials, according to interviews with 11 people involved in Kushner’s effort, including senior government officials, outside advisers and volunteers on the projects, as well as other health department and White House officials.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/jared-kushner-coronavirus-response-160553?fbclid=IwAR1WDrx3DC3q3z_qj9iXUJXN13Gb-rFzExxSWj26gGegK-OqHtDErV13rjA
White House Correspondents' Association boots OAN from briefing rotation
White House Correspondents’ Association boots OAN from briefing rotation
The rare step, against the Trump-friendly outlet, followed a reporter’s defiance of social-distancing restrictions.
By CAITLIN OPRYSKO
04/01/2020 08:25 PM EDT
Updated: 04/01/2020 08:37 PM EDT
The White House Correspondents’ Association said on Wednesday it was booting a media outlet from its rotation of news organizations that get seats in the White House briefing room after one of its reporters twice defied social-distancing policies amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement emailed out toward the end of Wednesday’s coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, the WHCA board reminded members of its temporary rules, which restrict seating in the room to a rotation of only a little over a dozen journalists a day, separated by more than one seat in the room. The rules also bar journalists from standing along the sides or back of the room, which would typically be packed during a normal briefing.
“We are writing to inform you that the WHCA Board has voted this evening to remove a news outlet from the rotation for a seat in the briefing room,” it continued. “We did this because a reporter for this outlet twice attended press briefings in contravention of this policy. We do not take this action lightly. This is a matter of public safety.”
snip//
President Donald Trump has in recent months begun to single out the network for praise over its glowing coverage of his administration and strident defenses of the president. During Trump’s impeachment, Rion traveled to Ukraine with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, where the two filmed a multipart series promoting unfounded conspiracy theories aimed at defending Trump against the allegations at the center of his impeachment.
Rion has most recently been panned for her line of questioning in daily briefings by the White House coronavirus task force. Several weeks ago, when Trump was under fire for referring to the novel coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” because of where it originated, Rion asked the president whether he believed it was racist to refer to “Chinese food” as such.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/oan-white-house-correspondents-coronavirus-160598
Pentagon Seeking 100,000 Body Bags for Civilians in Virus Crisis
Pentagon Seeking 100,000 Body Bags for Civilians in Virus Crisis
By Anthony Capaccio
April 1, 2020, 5:03 PM EDT
The Pentagon is seeking to provide as many as 100,000 military-style body bags for potential civilian use as the U.S. warns that deaths could soar in the coming weeks from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested 100,000 body bags, known as Human Remains Pouches, through an interagency group that directed it to the Defense Department. The Pentagon is looking into buying more bags and will draw some initially from a stockpile of 50,000 it maintains, according to two people familiar with the request.
The move is a somber counterpoint to the Pentagon’s highly-praised deployment of two hospital ships to New York and Los Angeles to help alleviate pressure on regional hospitals overburdened by the pandemic.
The Defense Logistics Agency’s Troop Support unit manages the Pentagon’s stockpile of the green nylon, 94-inch by 38-inch body bags that are typically distributed to war zones. The unit has been in contact with the current contractor to assess its manufacturing capabilities but hasn’t yet placed a formal order, according to one of the people.
more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/pentagon-seeking-100-000-body-bags-for-civilians-in-virus-crisis?sref=qy3lHBlv&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-facebook-business&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2OHpBZQmomrNMsfdS5wRGeNWVuwAdrweumDqK2TTY_R-Je7rPNnCXtIZU
Does Ron DeSantis' stay-at-home order allow megachurches to continue meeting? Looks like it
Does Ron DeSantis’ stay-at-home order allow megachurches to continue meeting? Looks like it
The order exempts religious services as an essential activity.
By Janelle Irwin Taylor
on April 1, 2020
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order Wednesday that will go into effect Friday, but it might have one glaring hole that would allow churches or other religious gathering places to continue to hold in-person religious services regardless of the number of people in attendance and without regard to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social distancing guidelines.
The order exempts “attending religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and houses of worship.”
That loophole could be a potentially huge deal in Hillsborough County where a Brandon megachurch pastor was arrested this week for holding church services in violation of a local ordinance prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people, though at least one county official doesn’t see it being a problem and the language appears to allow local orders to maintain stricter guidelines than the state order.
more...
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/326292-does-ron-desantis-safer-at-home-order-allow-megachurches-to-continue-meeting-looks-like-it?fbclid=IwAR3_W_6EN-HhoaxYXmsk6tz8wTtG3tA7w3gXDpTW4FlAd1WkoCdTR_gTGKw
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