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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Californians are ordered to shelter in place to combat the coronavirus. US citizens are advised against all international travel.

Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard ends her Democratic presidential campaign and endorses Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders calls on Amazon to step up for its workers during the pandemic.

And lastly, at least two Republican Senators have been caught profiteering from the pandemic while lying to constituents. Will the disclosures increase scrutiny of how government officials have botched and exploited the pandemic response for personal gain?

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

The US State Department issued an unprecedented global travel warning yesterday. American citizens are being told not to travel overseas. If they are already abroad, the State Department says citizens should either come back to the US now or prepare to hunker down wherever they are indefinitely. The level four travel advisory, the most severe type of warning the department issues, says Americans abroad may be on their own. Specifically, QUOTE have a travel plan that does not rely on the US government for assistance ENDQUOTE. The department ignored at least some press queries after making the announcememt.

California governor Gavin Newsom last night told nonessential businesses to close their doors and the forty million residents of America’s largest state to stay home.

Earlier in the day he said the state expected more than half of residents to fall ill with COVID- 19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus now pandemic to the globe. That would mean the state would need nearly twenty thousand more hospital beds than it currently has. The curfew measures are intended to slow the spread of the virus and keep hospitals from getting overwhelmed. Essential activities include buying groceries and taking neighborhood walks but close contact with others is discouraged and most stores will be closed.

A homeless shelter resident in California told the Guardian newspaper he expects to die if he catches the coronavirus. A man who died after a visit to Disney World in Florida before it

closed was only thirty four years old, so please do take this seriously. Even Wyoming, where police cannot stop drivers failing to wear seat belts, has ordered bars and restaurants closed.

Senate Republicans pushed forward a pandemic stimulus plan that includes one-time cash payments to many Americans, including $1,200 per adult in many families, but only $600 for poorer families. An analysis cited by the Washington Post said twenty two million Americans who make less than $40,000 per year would see no benefit under the Republican plan.

President Donald Trump spouted more lies at a pandemic response briefing. He claimed that an old malaria drug could be used to treat coronavirus, but medical experts said otherwise, and the Food and Drug Administration clarified that the drug was not approved for such treatment. White House press briefings are getting truly ridiculous as Trump seeks to pin all the blame on China and relies on Republican operatives in the press pool to bail him out.

The number of confirmed cases in the US doubled between Tuesday and Thursday, with more than 11,500 as of yesterday. Doctors say they still urgently need ventilators and masks. Some are being asked to reuse masks against the manufacturer’s advise.

More governments overseas are closing borders, including Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. Chile is postponing a constitutional referendum. The G7 meeting of world leaders in June will be held via teleconference. In The Netherlands, a minister in charge of coronavirus response resigned after collapsing in parliament from exhaustion. We feel you.

Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary race yesterday. To the suprise of many, including her supporters, she endorsed the front-runner and establishment favorite, former Vice President Joe Biden. Gabbard said she was confided Biden would be QUOTE guided by the spirit of aloha respect and compassion ENDQUOTE. Biden said he was grateful for Gabbard’s support and said he looked forward to QUOTE working with her to restore honor and decency to the White House ENDQUOTE. Gabbard’s brother posted then deleted a claim that Sanders had refused her support.

Press speculation turned to who Biden might name as a running mate, though the campaign made no announcements. Sanders, for his part, yesterday demanded Amazon do more to take care of its workers, as the company hires up to expand its delivery business with more of

the world going on lockdown. Sanders said QUOTE The majority of Amazon's 800,000 workers are working in warehouses and are worried about their safety. We should ask Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, if he can afford to guarantee paid sick leave, hazard pay and safe conditions to all of his workers ENDQUOTE.

More than one million Americans may lose their jobs by the end of the month. Many are already having trouble claiming unemployment benefits. Gig workers are finding they aren’t eligible and have no choice but to keep working. Trump has asked states to stop releasing new unemployment numbers. Gee, he really became president this week, didn’t he?

A new scandal is brewing related to the US government’s coronavirus response. Some members of Congress have been saying one thing to the public about the crisis while doing quite another behind the scenes, and finding ways to profit from the pandemic.

As of last night at least two Republican Senators, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, were caught making big stock market trades based on information they received in an official briefing on the crisis. The trades took place after the Senators heard non-public information about the coronavirus, but before news got out -- and before the markets tanked.

Burr chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. NPR reported he shared inside info on the coronavirus with a select group of wealthy donors, who in turn sought to profit from the bad news. Ethics watchdogs called the trades uncoscionable, especially at a time when Republicans from Trump on down were denying coronavirus would be a problem. Now even Fox News’s Tucker Carlson is calling for Burr’s head. Burr, who worked as a corporate salesman for seventeen years before seeking office, voted against a bill to ban insider trading by members of Congress in 2012. Go figure!

Last night, scrutiny was growing on other members of Congress who recieved the coronavirus briefing. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein was among those reported to have made suspicious trades. Expect to hear more about this in the days to come. Hopefully we’ll also learn more about whatever angles Trump’s son-in-law and designated messenger Jared Kushner has been working with his shadow task force on the coronavirus.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

One-third of the US faces risk of flooding this spring, the National Weather Service said yesterday. The areas affected by the forecast cover twenty-three states and are home to 128 million people. It’s not supposed to be quite so bad as last year, but farmland soils are saturated and this means problems for harvests, which means higher food prices. So more of a Mud Bowl than a Dust Bowl with Great Depression Two.

Residents of a West Virginia tourist town at odds with a white nationalist non-profit group, V-DARE, which recently took the unusual step of buying a large castle overlooking their homes. A report by the Southern Poverty Law Center says the residents of Berkeley Springs are asking how and why the group, a favorite of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, paid $1.4 million cash for the nineteenth-century landmark castle. No word on whether any local maidens have been found drained of blood.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and alleged accomplice of the late sex trafficker to the elite, Jeffrey Epstein, is apparently alive. Maxwell has been hard to find since Epstein’s death last year. But she has reportedly filed a court complaint in the US Virgin Islands aginst Epstein’s estate, demanding payment for security and legal costs, and disclaiming knowledge of his crimes. One Epstein victims, Virginia Giuffre, responded QUOTE how dare you... I hope the judge ruling over this laughs you out of court and into jail. ENDQUOTE. Fair!

That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report, home edition.

#AMQuickie: March 20, 2020

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn