Brb, gotta get 18 holes in before we hit 100,000 deaths.
Brb, gotta get 18 holes in before we hit 100,000 deaths. CHIP SOMODEVILLA / STAFF

Trump golfs as nation mourns: Trump called for churches to resume in-person services immediately on Friday. But instead of popping a couple of hydroxies and sitting in a pew on Sunday, he hit the links at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, VA, reports the Washington Post. Meanwhile, the national coronavirus death toll rose to almost 100,000 over the weekend, a milestone the President said we wouldn't cross.

If you didn't read the New York Times feature on the ~100,000 dead: Read it over lunch.

The current COVID-19 numbers in Washington: On Monday evening, the number of deaths rose to 1,070 and the number of cases rose to 20,065. Infection counts have been hovering around 200 per day since mid-April.

Dr. Doom predicts a decade-long depression: In an interview with New York Magazine that makes me want to take up smoking again, Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economics professor who correctly predicted the 2008 housing crisis, said he foresees a U-shaped recovery in the near-term and a "Greater Depression" thereafter. He persuasively argues that the 16% to 25% of unemployed Americans will only be able to find part-time work as businesses begin to reopen and cut labor costs to save money while doing so. Lower wages will lead to less consumer spending, slowing recovery.

On top of that: Roubini continues, an economic "decoupling" from China will bring manufacturing but not jobs back to the U.S., since the new companies will staff their factories with robots. Super-charged natural disasters fueled by climate change, COVID-19 outbreaks across the world, and potentially other pandemics will not help. The only thing that could help ease the pain? "Give [workers] education, a social safety net — so if they lose their jobs to an economic or technological shock, they get job training, unemployment benefits, social welfare, health care for free."

Former Obama economist predicts quick recovery will boost Trump's reelection bid: In a doomsday scenario from a different angle, Harvard economist Jason Furman has reportedly been hopping on Zoom calls with "anyone who will listen" and laying out his case for a "partial" V-shaped recovery. Furman thinks the post-pandemic economy will look more like economies hit by natural disasters: huge job losses upfront, followed by a surge in positive economic activity once businesses open up again and take workers off furlough. In the months leading up to November, Furman argues, America will see the best jobs and growth numbers it has ever seen. The overall economy will be bad, but Trump will point to the rising numbers and say "Great Depression" predictions were false, and that he's the only who can save us, etc. An "informal" Joe Biden advisor told Politico that the campaign is "very much aware of this," and preparing accordingly.

Stocks soar as New York Stock Exchange reopens its floor: "Most traders will continue to work remotely, NYSE President Stacey Cunningham said in a Wall Street Journal column, while the fraction of those who do return will undergo temperature checks, wear masks and work with Plexiglas barriers to ensure social distancing," reports the Washington Post.

Woman in Central Park attempts to weaponize state against black birder: The woman in this video appears to know that police will respond quickly and with force to a white woman screaming about an "AFRICAN AMERICAN man threatening [her] life," which is why she called the cops on a black guy who apparently told her to put her dog on a leash and then screamed that very phrase over and over. On top of being a racist scold, she also can't handle her animal for shit.

Company where woman works taking this episode "very seriously:"

Incidentally: Journalist and podcaster Phoebe Judge recorded an episode of This Is Love featuring ornithologist and Clemson University professor of wildlife ecology Drew Lanham, who wrote about his avian obsessions in the memoir The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature.

A string of anti-Asian "bias incidents" in Ballard: Seattle Police suspect one guy spent the weekend harassing "people of Asian descent," according to the Seattle Times. He chased and yelled at a woman and a couple in Golden Gardens, and he yelled a bunch of racist shit at a restaurant on Northwest Market Street. If you see him, call the cops. Also, fuck that guy, and fuck this guy, forever.

5,500 workers now furloughed at UW Medicine: That's 15% of their workforce out for anywhere between one and eight weeks, according to the Seattle Times. The 4,000 union jobs put on hold include members from "SEIU1199NW, SEIU 925, the Washington Federation of State Employees and the Washington State Nurses Association" working at "Harborview Medical Center, UW Neighborhood Clinics and both University of Washington Medical Center campuses, among other divisions at the health care system."

Meanwhile, the biggest hospitals are receiving massive bailouts: As with every other industry, so with hospitals: the wealthiest organizations are taking in piles of stimulus money, according to the New York Times. Despite its $12 billion in reserves and its two in-house venture capital firms, Providence Hospital Systems, which runs Swedish Hospital and 51 others across the country, took over $500 million in CARES Act money. (I did not know that Providence ran its own venture capital firms, did you know?) While other hospitals struggle to survive, Providence is paying its CEO enough money "to finance about a month of operations at the St. Claire hospitals in Kentucky." So why did Providence make health care workers fight so hard for so long for a measly pay raise and more control over staffing when they were swimming in a room full of gold coins? That's capitalism, baby!

Upscale Bremerton apartment complex set to increase rent 20% the day after the eviction ban expires: Spyglass Hill Apartments, which is owned by Sound West Group, hit a tenant in a studio apartment with a major rent hike slated for June 5, according to the Kitsap Sun. This instance portends a flood of economic evictions—and every other kind of eviction—that will sweep the state the week after next. If any landlord is trying to pull the same kind of shit on you, file a complaint with the attorney general's office and send me an email with a photo of the rent hike letter.

NHL green-lights training to resume in "early June:" According to King 5, the league plans to allow hockey players to start practicing in "small groups" on a "strictly voluntary" basis starting early next month.

Port Orchard restaurant owner "protested" for one day by opening his restaurant to sit-down customers: "We're doing this for freedom," owner Craig Kenady told KIRO 7. But whose freedom? Certainly not the freedom of the 1,070 Washingtons now dead from COVID, or the 20,000+ who got sick with it, all of whom deserved to live in a state free from this guy's idea of freedom.

Can we rent 5 people from Staten Island to just roam around the state yelling at these idiots: A NYC Department of Parks and Recreation official tweeted: "In Staten Island they call this 'asking her politely to leave.'"

Maybe these people will stfu now that fishing is back: "Many of Washington state’s coastal waters are set to reopen for fishing on Tuesday," reports the Associated Press.

North-end stabbing: A 59-year-old male died Saturday evening on Aurora after somebody stabbed him. Suspect still on the loose, reports KOMO.

South-end shooting: Two people were shot to death in a Safeway Parking lot in Rainier Beach on Saturday, reports KIRO. The suspect or suspect(s) are still at large.

Keep your head on a swivel if you're driving on I-5: There's black bears afoot, reports KOMO, and they're not wearing masks.

What's the deal with this pile of poles? Seattle City Light is replacing some light poles "at multiple locations scattered around the vicinity" near the Hiawatha Community Center, reports the West Seattle Blog. That's the deal.