President Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence lead the daily briefing of the coronavirus task force from the White House briefing room. [Video Below – Transcript ADDED]

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[Transcript] –  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I would like to begin by announcing some important developments in our war against the Chinese virus.

We’ll be invoking the Defense Production Act, just in case we need it. In other words, I think you all know what it is, and it can do a lot of good things if we need it. And we will — we will have it all completed, signing it in just a little while. Right after I’m finished with this conference, I’ll be signing it. It’s prepared to go. So we will be invoking the Defense Production Act.

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A message from Vice President Mike Pence…

Mike Pence: In the fight against the coronavirus, the Trump administration is not just taking a whole of government approach, but a whole of America approach.

We’ve worked seamlessly with state and local leaders from both political parties. Since January, we’ve held 36 briefings with more than 15,000 state, local and tribal leaders from every state and territory in America. And that is in addition to thousands of individual conversations with state, local, and tribal officials.

A vaccine for the coronavirus has already begun a phase 1 clinical trial. The president has dramatically expanded access to telemedicine for seniors on Medicare. And the Health and Human Services Department is collaborating with Johnson & Johnson to develop treatments for coronavirus infections, while actively soliciting proposals for other medical products to help combat the virus.

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This is a big sector hit to the U.S. economy.  All of the major U.S. auto manufacturers have agreed to shut down all production facilities, through March 30th, in the latest thunder-shock to the economy.

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Fiat-Chrysler will close their plants due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Ford said in a statement Wednesday that its U.S., Canadian and Mexican manufacturing facilities will be halted after Thursday evening’s shifts through March 30 to “thoroughly clean and sanitize the company’s plants.”

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The entire nation is being impacted by a multitude of consequences from coronavirus; millions of Americans concerned about lost work, lost wages and possibly lost jobs; the largest economy in the world at a near standstill; trillions of wealth lost and rippling economic consequences yet to be properly quantified;…. and yet the White House press pool is worried about calling COVID-19 the “Chinese coronavirus”?

Amid all of the seemingly unending and insufferable nonsense from American journalists, this is, yet again, reaching an all time high of stupidity.  WATCH:

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Nuts !

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Stephanie Grisham Twitter @StephGrisham45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro outlines some of the ongoing supply chain initiatives to meet ongoing demands of the corovirus effort.  Navarro highlights the cooperation between US government and private enterprise.  WATCH:

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As an outcome of short-sighted coronavirus issues, the Philadelphia police department has announced they will no longer be arresting suspects for retail theft, auto theft, burglary, narcotics or other “non violent” offenses.  Instead they will write tickets, release the suspects and address the criminality later on.  Now watch what happens.

CTH saw the instructions earlier today (see below) but we did not want to immediately distribute the information.  It should be remembered the current Philadelphia police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw (pictured left), is a social justice  activist from Portland, Oregon.

Unfortunately, there is a predictive element to this.  Perhaps some are familiar with the post Hurricane Andrew experience in Homestead and Miami-Dade.

The only thing standing between law-abiding citizens and those who would take their possessions is an ability to defend your own property.  This is now the Philadelphia reality.

PHILADELPHIA – In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Philadelphia police officers have been instructed to stop making arrests for certain non-violent crimes.

The department said individuals who would normally be arrested and processed at a detective division, will be temporarily detained to confirm identification and complete necessary paperwork. The individual will then be a arrested at a later date on an arrest warrant. (read more)

Beware, the law of unintended consequences.

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Tonight Florida, Illinois and Arizona are holding their 2020 democrat presidential primary.  Ohio Governor Mike DeWine cancelled/postponed the Ohio primary due to Wuhan virus fears.

The polls began to close in Florida at 7pm ET/ panhandle polls will be closed in FL at 8pm ET.

Polls also close in in Illinois at 8pm ET, and in Arizona at 10pm ET.

Bernie Sanders is expected to get crushed in Florida as a result of his supportive politics toward Fidel Castro and Cuba, the only question will be the size of the Biden win.  However, Illinois and Arizona might fare better for Bernie depending on turnout.

New York Times Election Results Here

CNN Election Results Here

Politico Election Results Here

Earlier today President Trump met with executives from the U.S. tourism industry to discuss how their operation are impacted by the various COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

Participants included: Roger Dow, President & CEO, Travel Association; Chip Rogers, President & CEO, American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA); Jon Bortz, President and CEO, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and AHLA Chairman; Elie Maalouf, President, The Americas, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG); Christopher Nassetta, President & CEO, Hilton; Arne Sorenson, President & CEO, Marriott International; Richard Bates, EVP, Disney; Mark Hoplamazian, President & CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation; John Sprouls, Chief Administrative Officer, Universal Parks and Resorts; Patrick Pacious, President and CEO, Choice Hotels International; David Kong, CEO, Best Western Hotels and Resorts; Jim Murren, President & CEO, MGM  [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We have the tourism industry executives, the biggest anywhere in the world. These are the great ones, and they’re going to say a couple of little words pretty soon, I think. We’ll talk about their company quickly and the number of employees and what’s happened since the Chinese virus came about. And they’ll be discussing that.

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