House Dems Introduce $3 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill; McConnell Slams As “Another Big Laundry List”

House Dems Introduce $3 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill; McConnell Slams As “Another Big Laundry List”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will unveil the Democrats’ latest attempt to ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ on Tuesday.

According to CNBC, party leaders are set to vote on the more than 1,800 page package on Friday, as well as a plan to allow for proxy voting during the pandemic.

A summary via CNBC:

  • Nearly $1 trillion in relief or state and local governments 
  • A second round of direct payments of $1,200 per person, and up to $6,000 for a household
  • About $200 billion for hazard pay for essential workers who face heightened health risks during the crisis
  • $75 billion for coronavirus testing and contact tracing — a key effort to restart businesses
  • An extension of the $600 per week federal unemployment insurance benefit through January (the provision approved in March is set to expire after July)
  • $175 billion in rent, mortgage and utility assistance 
  • Subsidies and a special Affordable Care Act enrollment period to people who lose their employer-sponsored health coverage
  • More money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including a 15% increase in the maximum benefit
  • Measures designed to buoy small businesses and help them keep employees on payroll, such as $10 billion in emergency disaster assistance grants and a strengthened employee retention tax credit
  • Money for election safety during the pandemic and provisions to make voting by mail easier
  • Relief for the U.S. Postal Service

The new stimulus package will eclipse the $2.2 trillion legislation passed in late March – which was the largest emergency spending measure in US history. It comes amid an unemployment rate not seen since the Great Depression.

That said, there’s virtually no chance of it gaining traction in the Senate.

It is unclear when both Democrats and Republicans would sign off on a proposal for more relief, as the GOP downplays the need to spend more federal money on a rescue bill now.

“I’m in constant communication with the White House. If we decide to go forward, we will go forward together,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Monday.

The Kentucky Republican added that he does not believe “we have yet felt the urgency of acting immediately.” He said “that time could develop, but I don’t think it has yet.” –CNBC

McConnell called the Democrats’ Tuesday package “another big laundry list of priorities.“


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 14:14

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Federal Judge Calls Plea Bargain Deals That Limit Compassionate Release ‘Appallingly Cruel’

A federal judge in San Francisco criticized federal prosecutors on Monday for including language in a plea bargain that sharply narrowed the defendant’s rights to request compassionate release under recent criminal justice reforms passed by Congress, calling the proposed deal “appallingly cruel,” “unconscionable,” and “inhumane.”

Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected a proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern California and defendant Allan Josue Funez Osorto, who is facing federal drug charges. Breyer found that the plea agreement’s language subverted the provisions of the FIRST STEP Act, which was passed by Congress in late 2018.

“Although Congressional intent alone would be sufficient reason to reject the Plea Agreement, there is another reason that the compassionate release waiver renders it unacceptable,” Breyer wrote. “Plainly put, its effects are appallingly cruel.”

Compassionate release is a policy within the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that allows inmates who are terminally ill, disabled, or who have unforeseen family tragedies to petition for early release. However, the BOP’s petition process was arbitrary, inscrutable, and interminable. Between 2014 and 2018, at least 81 federal inmates died while waiting for the government to review their applications. To fix this problem, Congress expanded compassionate release under the FIRST STEP Act, giving inmates the ability to petition judges for release if the BOP ignored their request for more than 30 days.

This judicial escape hatch has become even more important in recent months. In an effort to alleviate potentially deadly outbreaks of COVID-19, Attorney General William Barr directed the BOP to use compassionate release and other methods to get elderly and at-risk inmates out of federal prisons.

Osorto’s plea agreement would have required him to waive his right to petition a judge for compassionate release after 30 days of BOP inaction. Instead, he would have to exhaust his administrative remedies through the BOP (“no mean task,” Judge Breyer noted) or wait 180 days.

“What’s worse—that this is a disgusting use of prosecutorial power? Or that it’s completely unsurprising?” says Kevin Ring, president of the criminal justice group FAMM, which has advocated for expanded compassionate release for many years. “These types of abuses will not end until more judges do what Judge Breyer did here and call them out.”

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David Anderson told Law.com that his office changed the waiver language last week after hearing from local defense attorneys:

“We are working hard to protect the community one case at a time. Nothing in the record suggests this defendant Funez Osorto is particularly at any unusual health risk,” Anderson said. Anderson said that in older cases, where the office had negotiated a full waiver of compassionate release, the office has allowed prisoners to bring compassionate release motions “where we thought such a waiver would be fair to the defendant.” 

Breyer noted in his order that federal prosecutors had recently used similar waivers to oppose compassionate release petitions filed in his court.

“That result is unacceptable for two reasons,” Breyer wrote. “First, it undermines Congress’s intent in passing the First Step Act. Second, it is inhumane.”

Noting the BOP’s “dismal record” on compassionate release, the judge concluded that “because this waiver provision undermines Congressional intent and is an unconscionable application of a federal prosecutor’s enormous power to set the terms of a plea agreement, the Court cannot approve of the proposed Plea Agreement in this case.”

So far, 49 federal inmates have died of complications from COVID-19. More than 3,300 inmates and 250 BOP staff are infected, according to the latest numbers from the BOP. Those deaths include a woman who was sent to federal prison for a nonviolent drug crime while in her third trimester of pregnancy.

Although Attorney General Barr ordered the BOP to identify and release at-risk inmates, advocacy groups and family members of inmates say confusing rule changes, resistance from prison wardens, and a generally slow process have hamstrung the federal government’s efforts. In many cases, inmates were told they had been approved to go home, put in pre-release quarantine, and then abruptly told they were no longer eligible and sent back.

In a letter to Congress yesterday, a group of federal public defenders warned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the BOP “have made little use of these authorities to reduce prison populations and enable social distancing.”

“Despite repeated Congressional directives that DOJ use compassionate release expansively during this crisis,” the federal defenders wrote, “BOP facilities have refused to accept or review compassionate release requests and prosecutors have adopted a nearly default opposition to release.”

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Federal Judge Calls Plea Bargain Deals That Limit Compassionate Release ‘Appallingly Cruel’

A federal judge in San Francisco criticized federal prosecutors on Monday for including language in a plea bargain that sharply narrowed the defendant’s rights to request compassionate release under recent criminal justice reforms passed by Congress, calling the proposed deal “appallingly cruel,” “unconscionable,” and “inhumane.”

Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected a proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern California and defendant Allan Josue Funez Osorto, who is facing federal drug charges. Breyer found that the plea agreement’s language subverted the provisions of the FIRST STEP Act, which was passed by Congress in late 2018.

“Although Congressional intent alone would be sufficient reason to reject the Plea Agreement, there is another reason that the compassionate release waiver renders it unacceptable,” Breyer wrote. “Plainly put, its effects are appallingly cruel.”

Compassionate release is a policy within the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that allows inmates who are terminally ill, disabled, or who have unforeseen family tragedies to petition for early release. However, the BOP’s petition process was arbitrary, inscrutable, and interminable. Between 2014 and 2018, at least 81 federal inmates died while waiting for the government to review their applications. To fix this problem, Congress expanded compassionate release under the FIRST STEP Act, giving inmates the ability to petition judges for release if the BOP ignored their request for more than 30 days.

This judicial escape hatch has become even more important in recent months. In an effort to alleviate potentially deadly outbreaks of COVID-19, Attorney General William Barr directed the BOP to use compassionate release and other methods to get elderly and at-risk inmates out of federal prisons.

Osorto’s plea agreement would have required him to waive his right to petition a judge for compassionate release after 30 days of BOP inaction. Instead, he would have to exhaust his administrative remedies through the BOP (“no mean task,” Judge Breyer noted) or wait 180 days.

“What’s worse—that this is a disgusting use of prosecutorial power? Or that it’s completely unsurprising?” says Kevin Ring, president of the criminal justice group FAMM, which has advocated for expanded compassionate release for many years. “These types of abuses will not end until more judges do what Judge Breyer did here and call them out.”

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David Anderson told Law.com that his office changed the waiver language last week after hearing from local defense attorneys:

“We are working hard to protect the community one case at a time. Nothing in the record suggests this defendant Funez Osorto is particularly at any unusual health risk,” Anderson said. Anderson said that in older cases, where the office had negotiated a full waiver of compassionate release, the office has allowed prisoners to bring compassionate release motions “where we thought such a waiver would be fair to the defendant.” 

Breyer noted in his order that federal prosecutors had recently used similar waivers to oppose compassionate release petitions filed in his court.

“That result is unacceptable for two reasons,” Breyer wrote. “First, it undermines Congress’s intent in passing the First Step Act. Second, it is inhumane.”

Noting the BOP’s “dismal record” on compassionate release, the judge concluded that “because this waiver provision undermines Congressional intent and is an unconscionable application of a federal prosecutor’s enormous power to set the terms of a plea agreement, the Court cannot approve of the proposed Plea Agreement in this case.”

So far, 49 federal inmates have died of complications from COVID-19. More than 3,300 inmates and 250 BOP staff are infected, according to the latest numbers from the BOP. Those deaths include a woman who was sent to federal prison for a nonviolent drug crime while in her third trimester of pregnancy.

Although Attorney General Barr ordered the BOP to identify and release at-risk inmates, advocacy groups and family members of inmates say confusing rule changes, resistance from prison wardens, and a generally slow process have hamstrung the federal government’s efforts. In many cases, inmates were told they had been approved to go home, put in pre-release quarantine, and then abruptly told they were no longer eligible and sent back.

In a letter to Congress yesterday, a group of federal public defenders warned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the BOP “have made little use of these authorities to reduce prison populations and enable social distancing.”

“Despite repeated Congressional directives that DOJ use compassionate release expansively during this crisis,” the federal defenders wrote, “BOP facilities have refused to accept or review compassionate release requests and prosecutors have adopted a nearly default opposition to release.”

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Deleted Tweet Drives Allegations That Detained Saudi Rival Quietly Disposed Of By MbS

Deleted Tweet Drives Allegations That Detained Saudi Rival Quietly Disposed Of By MbS

In March we noticed that “conveniently” at a moment the world’s attention was focused on surviving and defeating the spread of coronavirus, it appeared that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) took the ‘opportunity’ to initiate a Riyadh Ritz-Carlton 2.0 round-up of rivals within the royal family — hearkening back to the first headline-grabbing ‘house arrest’ of scores of princes and top officials in 2017. 

Only this time it barely made a dent in global media coverage, given it’s hard to compete with a world-altering pandemic. The Wall Street Journal did report on a March 6th incident which has received little attention since: black-clad commandos had raided the homes of two prominent royals close to the throne — namely, the ageing King Salman’s brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al Saud, and more importantly the 60-year old Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (often referred to as MBN). The move against him was described at the time (as usual) as conspiracy to mount a coup against the king and de facto ruler MbS. 

Since then the powerful MBN, who had been briefly named crown prince prior to the role being controversially bestowed on MbS hasn’t been heard from. He had previously spent time as minister of the interior, a very high-level post with direct oversight over troops and Saudi intelligence. He had also long been considered a close ally to the United States and US intelligence. But now a bizarre episode involving a statement posted by Saudi Arabia’s Prison Authority, but quickly deleted, gives clues into bin Nayef’s fate.

Mohammed bin Nayef was one-time successor to the Saudi throne. Image: Saudi Royal Palace/AFP

The now-deleted statement posted on Twitter said the senior prince was transferred to intensive care after suffering a heart attack. Al-Jazeera describes the strange attempt to quickly retract the eye-opening statement via the official account:

The tweet, which was published in the early hours of Sunday morning, denied the death of the senior royal, adding that a specialized medical team was working around the clock to attend to him.

After the tweet was removed, the Prison Authority posted another tweet saying that the security of its account had been breached, suggesting that the first post about the former crown prince has been published by hackers.

Saudi state-funded media further tried to assure the public the Prison Authority’s Twitter account had be hacked. 

Importantly, this all comes amid widespread rumors that Nayef is either dead or so sick as to be nearly so. And now the deleted tweet incident and subsequent PR damage control is driving speculation that MbS actually wanted MBN to expire quietly. Al Jazeera continues:

Sunday’s series of tweets sparked controversy among Saudi activists, some of whom raised questions about the wellbeing the crown prince. Some said the posts may have been aimed to pave the way for the senior royal family member’s death.

Meanwhile, an account called Prince Mohammed bin Nayef’s adviser posted a series of tweets saying that the de-facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) “wanted to see Mohammed bin Nayef dead as a result of medical negligence, but after news leaked to the family that the prince’s health was deteriorating, MBS was forced to allow the medical team to treat him.”

It added that bin Nayef’s health has been deteriorating for more than a week.

Critics of Riyadh’s response have noted that if the Prison Authority’s official Twitter account had really been hacked or compromised, it wouldn’t have been able to regain control of it so fast. 

Saudi activists and observers questioned the response from the Prison Authority, saying that if its account had been hacked, it would have been impossible to recover it so quickly.

Crackdown in the kingdom, image via Middle East Eye

“I wonder if a security breach or a prelude [to announcing the death of the former crown prince],” one activist and critic cited in the report said. Another questioned: “Is this to pave the way for getting rid of bin Nayef while in custody?”

Indeed it would appear all too convenient if Nayef – long considered the most direct threat to MbS’ rule – were to suffer a “heart attack” and quietly perish in an intensive care unit a mere two months after being arrested. 


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 14:05

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Nearly 400 Russian Cadets Catch Coronavirus After Red Square Rehearsals

Nearly 400 Russian Cadets Catch Coronavirus After Red Square Rehearsals

On April 16, one day before Vladimir Putin nixed a parade from a celebration marking the 75th anniversary of WWII (which was held on Saturday with a limited display), some 15,000 Russian cadets were rehearsing for their yet-to-be canceled demonstration in Red Square.

Nearly one month later, Russian website Proekt reported on Monday that at least 376 of the cadets contracted coronavirus. The report comes as Russia has the second-fastest rate of infections in the world after the US – with 11,000 new infections registered on Monday.

Via the Moscow Times:

The virus broke out among officers and cadets in at least five elite Russian military academies and one regiment — out of the more than 40 involved — following the parade rehearsals, Proekt cited participants and their relatives as saying.

“That YouTube video filmed by bus drivers was true, my son told me,” an unnamed mother of a naval infantry brigade soldier was quoted as saying, referring to unconfirmed footage of rehearsals outside Moscow which showed crowds of troops gathered in an apparent violation of social distancing guidelines.

The mother of a Defense Ministry Military University cadet said she believes that the officers played a bigger role in spreading Covid-19 than the rehearsals themselves. “Regular cadets have been [quarantined] since mid-March, but officers, cooks and teachers” could go in and out, she was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, an order from Vladimir Putin barring soldiers from speaking with the media prevented Proekt from investigating further according to the publication. 

According to the Times, Russia’s military promised to quarantine everyone who attended the April rehearsals following. As of Sunday, the military reported that 1,132 cadets and 1,723 troops have tested positive for the virus.

Russia commemorates the Soviet victory over the Nazis each year on May 9 with a massive military display that sees thousands of troops and tanks parade through Red Square and military jets fly in formation over the capital. Some 15,000 members of the military were expected to take part in this year’s parade on Red Square.

This year’s parade was meant to be a major showcase for Putin, with world leaders and veterans from all over Russia invited to watch and take part in events over four days. –Moscow Times

According to Putin, speaking from his residence outside Moscow on Monday: “We have a long and difficult process ahead of us with no room for mistakes.”


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 13:50

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Is This A Bear Market Rally Or A New Bull? BofA Has The Answer… And What Happens Next

Is This A Bear Market Rally Or A New Bull? BofA Has The Answer… And What Happens Next

With the S&P trading nearly 800 points – or a whopping 30% – above its March 23 lows, the divergence in opinions whether this is a new bull market or merely a massive – and the fastest ever – bear market rally ever, propped up by trillions in central bank liquidity and fiscal stimulus, has never been greater.

We won’t go into details covering the key arguments of either camp (we have done that on numerous occasions in the past, and urge readers to read the latest reports by the chief equity strategists of Goldman, David Kostin, and Morgan Stanley, Michael Wilson  to compare just how stark the variance in outlooks is among the two most widely followed Wall Street strategists) and instead we will go straight to what may be a remarkably accurate answer to this dilemma that is keeping Wall Street up at night.

In determining whether March marked the beginning of a real bull market (like March of 2009, March of 2003 and Jan of 1991) or a bear market rally (Nov 1989, June 2000 and Dec 2008), BofA’s quant team conveniently notes that factors can help. Consider that during the early stages of each of the prior real bull markets, the bank’s Low Price factor –  read “dollar stocks”, or “distressed equities” – was the best performing factor, but did not lead in bear market rallies.

Alternatively, prior bear market rallies saw mixed leadership, and “Low Price” traditionally was outperformed by such factors as Value, Momentum and Growth.

How about the current rally?

Since 23 March lows, Value (Price/Book and Fwd P/E) and Risk (Estimate Dispersion and Beta) have led. But it is the mediocre performance of Low Price stocks, i.e. distressed equities from the bottom, which to BofA suggests that this is, indeed, just another bear market rally.

BofA’s conclusion is validated by a recent report from SocGen’s own quants, led by Andrew Lapthorne, who notes that “after a record low in March, the market has surged in a short order, registering a stunning 31% gain in a matter of a month. Given the overall negative undertone from the economic challenges ahead, the dramatic reversal of global markets after the pandemic lows is more puzzling, as it also implies an all clear victory against the silent enemy and a return back to the pre-pandemic normality.”

And while moves of such magnitude have been observed in the past, furious overshoots such as the current one tend to be – almost entirely – bear market rallies, because as Lapthonre notes, a look through the annals of market history and a study of bear markets in the last 150 years…

… reveals that “a return to recovery from a bear market bottom, both cyclical downturns and sudden market crashes, has often been gradual, with frequent adjustments along the way, reflecting the weight of uncertainty surrounding economic recovery out of the ashes of crises.“

In that respect, the ongoing surge in global markets strikes as an oddity (chart below) even after factoring in the massive bridges of support from monetary and fiscal stimulus.

As Lapthorne concludes, “based on an exhaustive analysis of bear markets of the last century and half, under the most conservative scenario – that the market has indeed reached cyclical bottom in the March sell-off – the S&P 500 would finish at about 2715 by year-end, a 7-8% cumulative correction from the current level of 2,939.”


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 13:37

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Futures, Yields, Yuan Tumble As GOP Senate Intros China Sanctions Bill

Futures, Yields, Yuan Tumble As GOP Senate Intros China Sanctions Bill

Following an extremely strong 10Y bond auction, and news that Senator Graham and GOP Senators have introduced a bill sanctioning China, US futures and Treasury yields are tumbling.

Yields extending their decline…

Yuan is selling off…

And Stocks are down hard…

The bill is related to China’s treatment of Uighurs but comes on the heels of last night’s details on the Trump admin pulling pension fund investment plans in China (and after China’s apparent retaliatory ban on Aussie beef).


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 13:26

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“Spectacular Demand”: Record Big 10Y Auction Prices At Record Low Yield

“Spectacular Demand”: Record Big 10Y Auction Prices At Record Low Yield

Heading into today’s supersized 10Y auction, BMO’s rates strategist lamented the stubborn range which has confined US rates since mid-March – at +/-10bps of 61bps – which however indicates that even the hefty dose of larger than anticipated long-end auctions is insufficient to redefine the trading parameters. This, they said, bodes well for today’s supply and the combination of attractive hedged returns for Japanese investors in US Treasuries, together with the record poor April consumer price update should support the underwriting process.

BMO was right, because one day after a stellar supersized 3Y auction, refunding week continued with today’s sale of a record large 10Y Treasury, which at $32 billion was the largest offering on record.

Appropriately, the yield on this record big auction was the lowest on record, and at 0.70%, it stopped through 1.2bps the 0.712% When Issued, and well below April’s prior record low yield of 0.775%.

The other metrics were remarkable as well, with the Bid to Cover jumping to 2.68, the highest since June 2016, while the internals were tremendous, with the Indirects taking down 66.1%, the highest since April 2019, and with Directs taking 13.3%, in line with last month, Dealers were left with 20.5%.

Overall, this was a spectacular auction which saw demand off the charts, and the result has been a kneejerk drop in yields across the board to session lows.


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 13:13

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SocGen Reportedly Ends Commodity-Financing Biz After $240 Million Loss In Asian Oil-Trading Giant Bankruptcy

SocGen Reportedly Ends Commodity-Financing Biz After $240 Million Loss In Asian Oil-Trading Giant Bankruptcy

After pointing out the perplexing lack of high-profile blow-ups in the current commodity crush (as a reminder back in 2016 when oil dropped less than it has now, the Glencores and Trafiguras of the world were this close to collapse), we reported less than a month ago that one of Singapore’s biggest and most iconic – and extremely secretive – oil traders, Hin Leong Trading, whose website reports revenue surpassed $14 billion all the way back in 2012, filed for bankruptcy protection after, according to a Bloomberg report, the son of the “legendary” founder of Hin Leong said the Singapore oil trader hid about $800 million in losses racked up in futures trading.

At the time we warned that potentially means huge losses for the banks which provided the merchant with billions in loans as the collateral they thought they have as a guarantee isn’t there. Altogether, Hin Leong is said to owe almost $4 billion to more than 20 banks including HSBC (which said it booked a substantial loan loss provisions from an exposure to oil traders), who will now scramble to figure out just how massive their loan losses are.

And now, as Bloomberg reports, we see the first real victim as Societe Generale is halting fresh funding to oil trading firms in the Asia Pacific region and reviewing its activities globally after taking a large hit because of the collapse of the Singapore giant.

According to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg notes that the Singaporean company filed for creditor protection while owing the French bank about $240 million leading it to reconsider its future business in commodities financing both in the APAC region and more broadly.

“Societe Generale doesn’t comment on market rumors but the bank reminds that Natural Resources financing is one of its core expertise,” the lender said in a statement.

“Societe Generale will remain committed to the Trade Commodity Finance sector, including in Asia.”

As we detailed previously, one unexpected consequence of the company’s sudden bankruptcy, is that with a record 160MM barrels of oil loaded up on tankers to ease the global commodity glut, Singapore may suddenly lose its place as the world’s tanker “parking lot.” While traditionally Singapore has had massive spare oil storage capacity which explains photos such as shits one…

… it is Hin Leong’s Universal Terminal that has storage capacity of 2.33 million cubic meters and is the largest independent petroleum storage terminal in Singapore and one of the biggest independent storage facilities worldwide. But now that the company is bankrupt, the ability of tankers to store their holdings in the terminal is suddenly in limbo, which means that storing oil on sea may suddenly become far more complicated.

Hin Leong’s Universal Terminal with storage capacity of 2.33 million cubic meters is the largest independent petroleum storage terminal in Singapore and one of the biggest independent storage facilities worldwide. Source: Hin Leong

Last month, before we know the extent of the company’s financial debacle – and fraud – we concludes that “it is unclear what will happen to the Singapore commodity trading giant if it is unable to find banks that will backstop its operations.” Well, we now know – game over – which makes the second part of our forecast especially applicable: “should the firm become insolvent, the downstream cascade for companies in the Pacific Rim could be devastating.”

And it seems we are correct as we are sure SocGen will not be the last to reconsider its credit-financing of these over-levered Asian trading entities.


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 13:06

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‘You’re Not The End All’: Rand Paul Slams Fauci In Heated Exchange Over Lockdowns

‘You’re Not The End All’: Rand Paul Slams Fauci In Heated Exchange Over Lockdowns

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) gave quite the earful to a home-bound Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday over the COVID-19 lockdown that has crippled the US economy.

Paul, a medical doctor, noted that the mortality rate among children ‘approaches zero’, and that for those aged 18-45 “the mortality in New York was 10 out of 100,000.”

“The history of this when we look back will be wrong prediction after wrong prediction after wrong prediction… As much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don’t think you’re the end all, I don’t think you’re the one person that gets to make a decision,” said Paul – who added that we need to “observe with an open eye what happened in Sweden, where the kids kept going to school.”

“The mortality per capita in Sweden is actually less than France, less than Italy, less than Spain, less than Belgium, less than the Netherlands, about the same as Switzerland. But basically I don’t think there’s anybody arguing that what happened in Sweden is an unacceptable result. I think people are intrigued by it, and we should be.”

“I don’t think any of us are certain when we do all these modelings – there have been more people wrong with modeling than right. We’re opening up a lot of economies around the US, and I hope that people who are predicting doom and gloom and saying ‘oh, we can’t do this, there’s going to be a surge’ – will admit when there isn’t a surge.”

Watch:

Fauci responded, (25 seconds in below), saying “Sen. Paul, I have never made myself out to be the end-all & only voice of this. I’m a scientist, a physician, and a public health official.”

He then offered a ‘but, the children!’ argument – latching onto Paul’s comment that we don’t know everything about the virus, and that “we really better be very careful, particularly when it comes to children.“

“Because the more and more we learn – we’re seeing things about what this virus can do that we didn’t see from the studies in China. Or in Europe. For example, right now children presenting with COVID-19 who actually have a very strange inflammatory symdrome, very similar to Kawasaki syndrome. I think we better be careful that we are not cavalier in thinking that children are not immune to the deleterious effects.


Tyler Durden

Tue, 05/12/2020 – 13:00

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