Coronavirus task force member and FDA Commissioner, Stephen Hahn, appears on Fox News to discuss the latest U.S. effort to mitigate the threat of COVID-19.

Maria Bartiromo asks a great question about what the U.S. can do to reduce our national dependency on China for the manufacturing of critical healthcare products and medicines.  Dr Hahn explains the FDA role in that process and what intervention is possible by the U.S. government to mitigate that dependency.

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One of the positive outcomes from this larger conversation is increased public pressure on government officials to support what President Donald Trump has been saying for years about bringing back critical manufacturing to the U.S.  Long before he was a politician President Trump was very public in saying this should be our number-one priority.

Donald Trump is exactly the right president for this moment in time.

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Unfortunately, with President Trump effectively communicating the latest information on the federal efforts to mitigate COVID-19, more corporate U.S. resistance media have decided not to carry the live broadcasts from the White House task force briefings.

Today at 3:30pm ET the White House will hold a briefing for the public and media on the latest mitigation efforts against the coronavirus. [Livestream Links Below]

White House Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream

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Suffice to say 3M CEO Mike Roman will not be sending a Christmas card to the White House this year.  White House manufacturing advisor, and policy lead for the execution of the Defense Production Act, Peter Navarro, tells 3M to stop with the PC excuses and just do their damned job….  Perfect.

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I’m not a big fan of government nationalizing private industry; but sheesh, if these multinationals won’t put America First during a crisis, then it becomes needed. It didn’t take long for 3M to chase profits over patriotism, and end up in hot water:

…”The Secretary, through the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Administrator), shall use any and all authority available under the Act to acquire, from any appropriate subsidiary or affiliate of 3M Company, the number of N-95 respirators that the Administrator determines to be appropriate.”…

[White House] SUBJECT: Order Under the Defense Production Act Regarding 3M Company

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered as follows:

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Apparently it took the invocation of the Defense Production Act to stop 3M from selling masks and PPE to cash paying foreign governments; forcing them to supply the U.S. federal government and states instead.  WATCH:

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The always political Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to President Trump today saying it was “long past the time” to name a senior military officer to lead the supply-chain effort.

Senator Schumer was attempting to construct a political narrative around the administration not taking action to secure U.S. supply needs combating COVID-19.

The letter was/is ridiculous; and built upon an entirely false premise; because Admiral John Polowczyk is already in that supply-chain procurement and distribution position working closely with Peter Navarro after the invocation of the Defense Production Act.

Replying to the ridiculous Schumer letter, President Trump calls out his stupidity:

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Comrades, the administrative state will take care of all your food needs.  There is no reason to be self-sufficient in the production of food products.  As a result Vermont has designated the selling of seeds as “non-essential” and blocked from purchase:

It is more than a little alarming to see state officials now beginning to drill down into products that stores will be permitted to sell, or not sell, within businesses that are permitted to remain open during the COVID-19 mitigation effort.

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explains some of details about how the CAREs Act provides financial relief for small businesses (0 to 500 employees). Mnuchin explains how the primary part of the relief bill will support approximately 50% of those impacted.

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The Treasury Department has stood up a system inside the Small Business Administration that cuts through much of the bureaucracy. By using FDIC lenders (local banks) as the point of contact for small businesses and S-corps Treasury can backstop the process.

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White House Coordinator for the Defense Production Act, Peter Navarro, appears on Fox News to discuss how U.S. manufacturers are shifting their production lines to generate products needed to combat coronavirus.

GM CEO Mary Barra appears to have found a spark under her corporate butt after President Trump invoked his power under the DPA to support a greater sense of urgency.

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Take one heap of hypocrisy and one heap of irony and combine them; what you end up with is a New York Governor going bananas about the potential for the New York metropolitan areas being quarantined.

On March 10th New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called-in the national guard to quarantine a New York City suburb called New Rochelle. The alarming effort was called a “containment plan” by the governor to stop the spread of coronavirus.

However, Cuomo is now having fits as the potential for a “containment plan” over the New York City metropolitan area is being considered as a federal mitigation effort.

NEW YORK – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said that President Donald Trump’s proposed quarantine of New York to limit the spread of coronavirus would be tantamount to a ‘federal declaration of war.’

‘If you start walling off areas all across the country it would just be totally bizarre, counter-productive, anti-American, anti-social,’ said Cuomo in an interview with CNN on Saturday. (link)

Governor Cuomo uses national guard to create containment zone of New Rochelle, and all is good.  President Trump contemplates using national guard to create containment zone for New York city, and it’s a declaration of war… Gotcha.

Realistically, what President Trump is likely considering is a shut down of the airports in the New York metro area.  But it’s quite typical to see the apoplexy about it.

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