SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED:  Kennedy Center Lays Off Staff, Will Stop Paying Musicians Despite Receiving $25 Million in Stimulus Bill.

LOOK AT HOW SHOCKED MY FACE IS!  DOJ IG Report: “We do not have confidence that the FBI” acted “in compliance with FBI policy” on FISA applications.

OF COURSE THE LEFT HATES HIM:  My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell Steps Up for America.

INTERESTING:  COVID19 update, March 31, 2020: a brief look at Belgium.

NO, JUDGING BY THIS COLUMN IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE AN IDIOT: Why I watch Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings (and no, it’s not because I’m a masochist).

THAT’S A HOLLOW THREAT, GIVEN THEIR STAFFING PROBLEMS: Hospitals Tell Doctors They’ll Be Fired If They Speak Out About Lack of Gear. “Ming Lin, an emergency room physician in Washington state, said he was told Friday he was out of a job because he’d given an interview to a newspaper about a Facebook post detailing what he believed to be inadequate protective equipment and testing. In Chicago, a nurse was fired after emailing colleagues that she wanted to wear a more protective mask while on duty. In New York, the NYU Langone Health system has warned employees they could be terminated if they talk to the media without authorization.”

And the claim that this is about protecting “patient privacy” is bullshit.

ALL MODELS ARE WRONG. SOME MODELS ARE USEFUL. But to be really useful, models must be based on accurate data, and a clear understanding of the processes being modeled, two things nobody has for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. ARE COVID-19 MODELS A SOUND BASIS FOR PUBLIC POLICY?.

That said, all policymaking, even in unforeseen emergencies, is based on some sort of model, even if it’s just decision makers’ rough impressions of what’s likely to happen. And I’ll be very happy if things are no worse than the IHME model predicts.

And why has no one modeled the effect of quarantining New York? Good question.

AT AMAZON, save in Beauty and Grooming.

Plus, deals in Health and Household.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN: We must end China’s drug control, bring production back home. “Americans deserve better than this from their pharmaceutical supply chain.” True.

PROGRESS: Sheriffs: Companies ‘enthusiastically’ filling first responders’ needs, more aid sought.

BUREAUCRACY KILLS: How the FDA is Thwarting Distilleries Trying to Make Hand Sanitizer During the Epidemic.

DATA: Possible Good News: Fewer Fevers Reported Nationwide, Says Smart Thermometer Company.

OPEN THREAD: Be here now.

ENCOUNTER IS RUNNING A PROMOTION ON MY THE SOCIAL MEDIA UPHEAVAL, which is now $1.99 on Kindle.

You can also get it for $1.99 on Nook.

CHINA SYNDROME: Coronavirus: Countries reject Chinese-made equipment. “Thousands of testing kits and medical masks are below standard or defective, according to authorities in Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands. . . . On Saturday, the Dutch health ministry announced it had recalled 600,000 face masks. The equipment had arrived from a Chinese manufacturer on 21 March, and had already been distributed to front-line medical teams. Dutch officials said that the masks did not fit and that their filters did not work as intended, even though they had a quality certificate.”

China must be made a pariah.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Stratolaunch to launch hypersonic vehicles from world’s biggest airplane.

#JOURNALISM: A friend on Facebook comments: “Listening to a WH press conference, I’m repeatedly struck by a phenomenon that I’ve noticed on the street: Too many young men sound like they haven’t an ounce of testosterone when they speak. What the hell is going on?”

Related: Buzzfeed Crew Shocked To Learn They Have Low Testosterone Levels.

SOME MUCH-NEEDED CORONAVIRUS CONTEXT: I meant to post this earlier today but just realized I didn’t. It’s a big dose of context about where America is in the coronavirus pandemic, courtesy of the crew at Issues & Insights. These guys know their stuff.

WELL, GOOD: A Coronavirus Vaccine Is Coming. And It Will Work.

REST IN PEACE: Hillary Teachout. I’ve been following Hillary and Terry’s story for years, and I’m so sad to see it end this way.

WATCHING A SHOW WE DVR’D A WHILE BACK AND IT STILL HAS MIKE BLOOMBERG ADS. And I’m finding them especially hilarious now.

But for all the “I can get things done” talk during the campaign, Bloomberg has been conspicuously absent during the pandemic.

Related: Mike Bloomberg goes from presidential big spender to deadbeat loser, for some staffers.

PROGRESS: FDA authorizes two-minute antibody testing kit to detect coronavirus.

DO TELL: It’s Time to Face Facts, America: Masks Work: Official advice has been confusing, but the science isn’t hard to grok. Everyone should cover up. It’s as if the traditional wisdom about pandemics has something to it.

OUR PRESS IS A BUNCH OF MIDDLE-SCHOOL MEAN GIRLS:

Lindell, who just announced his company will produce 50,000 masks a day by the end of the week, was mocked for sharing his faith from behind the lectern, and encouraging Americans to turn to God in this time of crisis.

“God gave us grace on November 8, 2016 to change the course we were on,” Lindell said. “God had been taken out of our schools and lives, a nation had turned its back on God. I encourage you to use this time at home to get back in the Word. Read our Bibles and spend time with our families.”

An executive editor at CNN retweeted a video of Lindell’s appearance with the sarcastic caption, “In case you were wondering what My Pillow is doing in a time of coronavirus.” That’s odd, because Lindell just said he spent three days converting a 200,000-square-foot factory into a facility to produce millions of masks for American health-care workers, so we know exactly what he’s been doing during the public health crisis.

More than CNN has done. And even if he’d done nothing at all he’d be ahead of CNN, which as usual is mostly making things worse.

UPDATE:

And:

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Coronavirus Pandemic: California May Have Developed Greater Herd Immunity.