03/16/2020 05:09 CDT

TRUMP SAYS HE’S STRONGLY CONSIDERING PARDONING GENERAL FLYNN; ILLINOIS AND OHIO CLOSE RESTAURANTS AND BARS BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS

TODAY’S TOP TEN

TRUMP LIKELY TO PARDON FLYNN, IF NECESSARY

PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS HE’S STRONGLY CONSIDERING full pardon of Michael Flynn. Legal Insurrection.

DID SPYGATE SOURCE STEFAN HALPER WORK for the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Federalist.

PRESIDENT TRUMP TESTS NEGATIVE for coronavirus, WH says. CNBC.

• The first 62 U.S. coronavirus deaths by state and age. Sharyl Attkisson.

WSJ/NBC POLL SHOWS TRUMP APPROVAL UNCHANGED during coronavirus outbreak. Breitbart.

U.S. SURGEON GENERAL TELLS NEWS MEDIA to stop sniping at Trump over coronavirus. Daily Caller.

LARGER CHURCHES ACROSS AMERICA CONDUCT services without parishioners. ABC 13 Houston.

GOVERNORS OF OHIO, ILLINOIS CLOSE ALL THE BARS and restaurants in their states. Daily Caller.

MAYOR OF CHAMPAIGN, IL, ADDS BAN OF FIREARMS and ammunition to coronavirus executive order. Daily Caller.

BERNIE SANDERS NEEDS A MIRACLE TO GET back in the race. Nate Silver.

FORMER FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR caught in room with drugs, gay escort. New York Post.

First Right is your conservative alternative to beltway groupthink

COMMENTARY WORTH READING

• Our massive overreaction to coronavirus. Heather Mac Donald.
• Media praised Barack Obama for much worse handling of epidemics. Rush Limbaugh.
• Why fracking will never be banned in the United States. Oilprice.

VIDEO WORTH WATCHING

• When the news media admitted the virus originated in China. Media Research Center.
• Devin Nunes: Probable that U.S. will get through this “fairly quickly.” Fox News.
• Mnuchin: Coronavirus short-term economic threat; expect a big rebound later this year. Real Clear Politics.

OFFBEAT BEAT

• Dead Sea Scroll fragments at Museum of Bible found to be forgeries. National Geographic.

TWEETS OF NOTE

• (@seanmdav) The media hate you, they hate this country and what it stands for, they hate that they failed to rig 2016, failed to make Russian collusion stick, and failed to make impeachment stick, and their last-ditch 2020 play is to destroy the economy. Tweet.
• (@RealJamesWoods) I remember the H1N1 and SARS epidemics. Everyone supported our president then. There was no hysteria and the doomsayers kept their mouths shut. Thousands of people died and yet the press supported the astonishingly tepid response by the leaders of the time. Why the hysteria now? Tweet.

MOST CLICKED ITEM FRIDAY

• NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST WHO MADE MASSIVE MATH blunder claims backlash was racist. Hot Air.

DRUDGE LEAD AT TIME OF EMAIL 

• CHAOS TO GET BACK IN USA; PANIC PANDEMIC; TRUMP: PRAY; DON'T HOARD; FED CUTS RATES TO ZERO; STOCKS 'LIMIT DOWN’;
  WORLD SHUTTING; ITALY: 368 DEAD IN DAY; SICK MAP Drudge.