Posts on Friday, March 13, 2020
Ben Rhodes slapped with reality check when
he longs for Obama leadership under
coronavirus outbreak replies
he longs for Obama leadership under
coronavirus outbreak replies
Repeatedly disgraced former Obama administration national security adviser Ben Rhodes stepped in it mightily Wednesday by daring to suggest without evidence that the coronavirus outbreak would have been handled better under his former boss.
Look: [tweet]
While the tweet doesn’t boast a ratio, in large part because of Obama sycophants who falsely view former President Barack Hussein Obama as an infallible, majestic figure outnumbering those who view him realistically, it did attract some jarring criticism.
Why? Because during the former president’s eight year veritable reign of terror, millions of Americans were infected by and at least 12,500 died from the swine flu.
Society is seemingly melting down all around us, and there’s a run on toilet paper. Seriously. Why? Has toilet paper production been cut? No. Are we running out of trees? Nope. Coronavirus is largely a respiratory ailment. But that hasn’t stopped a collective freakout over the bare necessity of having clean bottoms. This morning, a man confronted an ABC 13 news crew outside an H-E-B store in Texas. Reporter Miya Shay was in the midst of a report when the man approached and shouted, “It’s your fault that people are freaking out here.”(Tweet/Video)
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released a list of common sense ways to lower your chances of contracting COVID-19, but nobody delivers them quite like this Italian grandmother.There’s something about the way she gives the advice that makes you feel like you’re standing in the middle of a large kitchen, with sauce simmering away on the stove, while she explains in detail the precautions you should take.The video, published by Casa Surace, garnered over a quarter of a million views in just a couple of days, and it’s not hard to see why.Watch: (Video)
President Donald Trump announced Friday on Twitter a National Day of Prayer on Sunday as the country combats the spread of the coronavirus.The National Day of Prayer will take place on Sunday, March 15.“We are a country that, throughout our history, has looked to God for protection and strength in times like these,” Trump wrote on Twitter, after making the declaration.He encouraged all Americans to take time on Sunday to pray for the country.“No matter where you may be, I encourage you to turn towards prayer in an act of faith,” he wrote. “Together, we will easily PREVAIL!”
Some of the few entertainment entities that remained open and fully functioning were shutting down like much of the rest of the world on Friday, a day after institutions from Broadway to Disneyland closed their doors, TV shows including “The Price Is Right” halted production, and movie release dates strategically scheduled years in advance were pushed back indefinitely.Here’s a look at the latest closings, cancellations and postponements related to the new coronavirus, which most people recover from but can cause severe illness in the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions.THE VIEW FROM HOME-Joy Behar says she’s going to skip her co-hosting duties on “The View” next week
SAN ANTONIO – Long lines and some empty shelves are what shoppers are finding at supermarkets and big discount stores as concerns about the new coronavirus pandemic continue.And, even as images of near-empty cleaning supply, snack and even toilet paper aisles circulate across social media, H-E-B has a message for its customers: Don’t panic.“What you’re going to see is around-the-clock stocking of shelves,” said H-E-B spokeswoman Julie Bedingfield. “Yes, you may walk into an H-E-B or see online an empty shelf, but that is temporary.”She said trucks are coming in daily, replenishing high-demand products as quickly as they can.To try to ensure everyone can find what they need,
President Trump shut down horrid leftist NPR Reporter Yamiche Alcindor during the Rose Garden press garden.(Photo) President Trump announced he was declaring a National Emergency today over the coronaviris. The President made the announcement at 3 p.m. Friday in the Rose Garden. Concerns about the virus have prompted massive closures across the country and a stock market rout, even though Trump has been ahead of the curve on preparing for the virus in most regards.
Trump and his administration banned flights from Europe earlier this week for the next 30
President Trump issued a thank you to dogs who serve in the U.S. military on Friday.As a part of National K-9 Veterans Day, Trump included a special message to Conan, the dog who cornered Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi prior to his death in October."Just recently our Nation witnessed the power and might of these remarkable K-9s. Conan, a military working dog from 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, played a key role in eliminating Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — the world’s number one terrorist leader,” Trump said in a statement. “Conan chased the terrorist into a dead-end tunnel where, trapped, he met his rightful demise.”
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will “most likely” be tested for coronavirus.(Photo) Trump, answering a reporter’s question in the White House Rose Garden, said that he never claimed he would not be tested, and based on recent headlines, would probably do so in the near future. A reporter asked Trump if he was being “selfish” by not being tested for coronavirus. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be tested,” the president responded. The reporter followed up by asking if he planned to be tested. “Most likely, yes,” Trump said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday evening that she had reached a deal with the Trump administration to pass a coronavirus economic package, ending an intense weeklong series of negotiations. The House is expected to vote and pass the legislation later Friday night.The earliest a bill could be signed into law is Monday, when the Senate returns. "We are proud to have reached an agreement with the Administration to resolve outstanding challenges, and now will soon pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act," Pelosi wrote in a letter to Democratic colleagues. "This legislation is about testing, testing, testing,"
Bill Gates said he’s stepping down from the board of Microsoft Corp., the company he co-founded in 1975 and built into the world’s largest software maker, to devote more time to philanthropy. Gates, 64, has been scaling back his involvement in the Redmond, Washington-based company for more than a decade. Most recently he’d been serving as an adviser to current Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella on technology areas including productivity, health software and artificial intelligence, and he will continue to do so.”Microsoft will always be an important part of my life’s work and I will continue to be engaged
This is the hunky gay escort found naked and overdosing on crystal meth in a hotel room with a leading Democrat, DailyMail.com can reveal. Andrew Gillum, a married father-of-three who narrowly missed out on becoming Florida's first black governor, was too 'inebriated' to speak when cops arrived at the ritzy Mondrian Hotel in Miami's South Beach party district. He was inside the room early Friday with two more men, one of them a 30-year-old male escort named Travis Dyson who was being treated by paramedics for a suspected drug overdose.
U.S. Army Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in South Korea, said Friday that trends in South Korea, where there are more than 20,000 U.S. troops stationed, “are trending downward and looking good” in terms of the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.
“Currently, South Korea trends are trending downward and looking good,” he said at a Pentagon video-conference briefing on Friday.
Among the USFK community, he said only nine out of 145 tested positive for coronavirus. That includes one service member and two family members, and the rest were South Korean employees or contractors. All nine lived off-base, he said.
The Washington Post‘s fact-checker column slapped former Vice President Joe Biden’s White House campaign with four Pinocchios for its misleading attack ad about President Trump’s comments about the coronavirus, writing it presents “a false narrative that does not reflect the event as it occurred.”
The Biden ad accuses President Trump of dismissing the deadly illness as a “hoax” during a recent campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. However, Washington Post fact-checker Meg Kelly explained the video clip is a “blatant” misrepresentation of the president’s remark.
This was amazing! Walmart, Target, Walgreens CEOs commit to assist Trump administration in coronavirus pandemic! (Photo) President Trump announced he was declaring a National Emergency today over the coronaviris. The President made the announcement at 3 p.m. Friday in the Rose Garden. Concerns about the virus have prompted massive closures across the country and a stock market rout, even though Trump has been ahead of the curve on preparing for the virus in most regards.
The message from former vice president Joe Biden came at 7:39 p.m. EDT Thursday night. “This is a long email,” he wrote, “but I hope you will read it all the way through and forward this to family and friends.” What followed was the text of the speech he made earlier in the day about the coronavirus crisis.
(Snip)
The real reason for Biden asking people to “read” his speech “all the way through” and “forward…to family and friends” was revealed at the email’s end.
(Snip) “If you are ready to fight for the soul of this nation, you can start by donating to elect Joe Biden by clicking the button below.”
Judicial Watch founder and President Tom Fitton dropped a bomb last Monday morning.A federal court ordered a deposition of Hillary Clinton on her emails and Benghazi attack records.Hillary Clinton hit back on Friday and filed an appeal to stop her court-ordered email testimony. (Tweet/Video) In September Judge Royce Lamberth granted Judicial Watch SIGNIFICANT new discovery on the Hillary Clinton email and Benghazi scandals. Judicial Watch in September released transcript from their hearing on August 22
Hope Reborn: Stocks Skyrocket as President
Presents ‘All of America’ Program to
Fight Coronavirus replies
Presents ‘All of America’ Program to
Fight Coronavirus replies
President Donald Trump unleashed a huge rally in stocks on Friday as he promised to “unleash every authority, tool, and resource” to combat the coronavirus pandemic.The major stock indexes each recorded their best day since October 2008, when stocks rallied in response to the federal government’s plan to fight the financial crisis. The rally reversed much of the losses of the previous day, the worst single day for U.S. stocks since 1987. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1985 points to hit 23185, a rise of 9.36 percent. The S&P 500 ascended 9.29 percent. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 9.34 percent.
Dow tumbles, soars, closes
with a gain of 1,900 points
after Trump declares national
emergency replies
with a gain of 1,900 points
after Trump declares national
emergency replies
Hopes of a sweeping economic relief package had pushed Wall Street back into the green on Friday afternoon, but stocks sank and then rallied as President Trump declared a national emergency.The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled, soared, and then closed with a gain of 1,900 points after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday. The Dow, which had surged by around 1,200 points
The mayor of Champaign, Illinois has declared a town emergency over the Wuhan coronavirus that includes a potential ban on the sale of firearms and ammunition.
According to a local report from WAND 17, Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen has issued an executive order that would give her office "extraordinary powers." She has issued the order despite the town and surrounding area not having a single case of the disease.
"The executive order allows the city to be flexible to properly respond to the emergency needs of our community. None of the options will necessarily will be implemented but are available
The Trouble with Charlie Kirk
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Few faces have become so identifiable with support for President Trump as Charlie Kirk's. Frequently found grinning like a Cheshire cat beneath the gilded wing of this or that member of the Trump family, Kirk brags in his new book that he was "MAGA before it was cool." Trump has even given Kirk’s book the presidential seal of approval on Twitter. There is, however, a small problem with Kirk’s latest claim to fame: it's a lie.
There has never before come a time when I felt the need to ponder the fate of toilet paper. But here we are: the year is 2020 and the wealthy United States is running out of toilet paper.
As it turns out, toilet paper was invented by the Chinese in the 1st Century. By the 6th Century, it was in widespread use. The toilet paper roll with easily detachable squares was patented in 1891.
But in March of 2020, American retailers ran out of toilet paper because the Chinese coronavirus fear seized the sanity of our people. We have finally come full circle with toilet paper: the Chinese giveth
It gets very hard to ask questions when nearly all of the media and government and many of those you live near and work with are all wringing their hands in unison. COVID-19 or coronavirus has many scared and scrambling. But who’s asking questions beyond, “What do we do now!?”
The psychology around this virus and the way it's being covered is very strange. We know President Trump began taking action in January to mitigate travel between China and the United States. Media and health officials knew about coronavirus then. Maybe you heard a passing blip about a cruise ship, but certainly nothing like this.
The left's reaction to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's rude exchange with a union worker in Michigan is a case study on liberal hypocrisy and propaganda.
You'd have to be living in a cave not to recognize that something is way off with Biden. He's always been strange, but he's getting noticeably worse. His rhetorical recklessness is a feature, not a bug.
He has a history of gaffes, especially for someone so prominent. Casual ethnic slurs roll off his tongue like water off a donkey's back. Pandering to an Indian American supporter, he said:
Again, statements like these aren't helping. We already have CNN calling President Trump a racist and xenophobe for using accurate terms like "foreign virus" to describe the COVID-19 outbreak. But Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) is now accusing her constituents of more of the same.
"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen not only the spreading of the virus but also a rapid spreading of racism and xenophobia," Pressley said at a recent hearing. [Tweet]
Pressley took offense at Trump's "foreign virus" reference because her district is made up of 32 percent foreign born residents.
Of all the frustrations around the government response to the coronavirus outbreak, the lack of testing capacity and development tops the charts. This morning, however, the Trump administration plans to unleash the private sector and state governments in developing new and more rapid testing. Under an emergency authorization, the FDA has told Roche to begin producing a new COVID-19 test that will expand capacity on an exponential scale:
The Food and Drug Administration granted “emergency use authorization” to the test, which runs on Roche Holding AG’s cobas 6800/8800 systems. The 8800 system is capable of testing 4,128 patients a day,
Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell got to work and initiated a hiring freeze. President Trump last month named Ambassador Richard Grenell as Acting Head of the Office of Director of National Intelligence. This move was going to shake up the rogue intelligence agencies who are notoriously anti-Trump.Grenell made his first move this week by implementing a temporary hiring freeze. CNN reported:Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has initiated a temporary hiring freeze at the agency he was recently appointed to oversee, according to spokesperson Amanda Schoch, who emphasized that the move was “not an effort to purge”
Former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign placed a video of Biden on YouTube on Thursday in which he told Americans they must abandon “the deeply ingrained habits in our country like handshakes and hugs.”Biden was giving his advice on how the nation should deal with the coronavirus.“We must, all of us, follow the guidelines of health officials and take appropriate protections to protect ourselves and, and critically, to protect others, especially those who are most at-risk from this disease,” Biden says in the video.
Former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (D) guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night despite the absence of a regular studio audience amid fears of the novel coronavirus, but he managed to crack jokes about President Trump, Sarah Palin, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) as his husband and Kimmel staffers, who watched from the empty seats, cheered him on.“My name is Pete Buttigieg and I am running to be the next host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Buttigieg said as he opened the show on an admittedly “strange” night, given the absence of a regular studio audience.
Just days after news of the infamous Trump Tower meeting drew the attention of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the translator present told the FBI there was no talk of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, according to recently released documents.This exculpatory evidence – which backed accounts of Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign officials in attendance – was not mentioned in Special Counsel Mueller’s final report two years later. And the silence in the interim occurred as sinister theorizing on cable TV and in the press helped shape a public impression of the June 9, 2016 meeting as central to collusion.
Joe Biden made it official that he hopes to ride corona virus into the White House. Never let a crisis go to waste, as Rahm Emanuel said. Seizing on this issue is ghoulish, which is bad form, but also foolish, which is bad politics.
(Snip)"'This virus laid bare the severe shortcomings of the current administration,' Biden said. 'Public fears are being compounded by pervasive lack of trust in this president fueled by adversarial relationships with the truth. Our government’s ability to respond effectively has been undermined by the hollowing out of our agencies and disparagement of science.’"Once again, Democrats are leaping before they look.
As America faces possible shortages of antibiotics, face masks, iPhones and various other items now produced in China, it’s time to consider how we got here.
Although it looks like the blame lies with thousands of businesses in different industries, in this case, we’d do well to round up the usual suspects, a smaller number of players operating in one particular industry: big finance.
The financialization of the economy gave Wall Street primacy over the productive economy. Financiers drove the consolidation of various industries into fewer and fewer hands, harvesting billions of dollars first through the sell-off of productive assets in a mania of mergers, private equity, and leveraged buyouts, and then
Nikki Haley for Veep? No Way!
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Rumor has it President Trump is considering swapping Vice President Mike Pence with former American ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. “This is not a prediction,” said CNN political analyst Paul Begala, “it’s a certainty.” Haley would be a great choice—if Trump intends to utterly abandon the agenda that got him elected.
There is a reason the rabidly anti-Trump Bill Kristol floated Haley as primary challenger to Trump in 2020; warhawks of a feather flock together.
Now that the number of new people infected with the coronavirus in China is slowing down, the country's Communist Party is ratcheting up threats against the West, with a particularly nasty warning about access to life-saving drugs aimed at the United States.(Snip)The article also claimed that China could impose pharmaceutical export controls which would plunge America into "the mighty sea of coronavirus." The disturbing threats made during a global pandemic as well as the scary consequences if that threat becomes real highlight just how tight China's grip is on the global supply chain. Already, the Food and Drug Administration has announced the first drug shortage related to the coronavirus.
A Los Angeles man has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of art fraud after trying to sell $6m worth of forged paintings by the likes of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Philip Bennet Righter, 43, sold paintings he claimed were produced by such modern-art household names as Warhol, Keith Haring and Roy Lichtenstein, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday. According to an indictment filed for similar charges Righter faces in the southern district of Florida, he acquired the fake pieces through eBay and other online marketplaces. He then forged accompanying certificates of authenticity, or COAs, which are letters that attest to the genuineness of artwork.
Failed Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum (D) was allegedly involved in a suspected crystal meth incident on Friday morning in a Miami Beach hotel, according to a police report. Details of the incident are seen in a police report shared by national and local news media. Conservative activist Candace Owens appears to have revealed the police report first Friday morning. Miami Beach Police report says @AndrewGillum, Fmr FL Candidate for Governor, was found in a hotel room with suspected crystal meth. Adds he was unable to communicate with cops due to an “inebriated state.” Gillum was sent home from the scene.
Stock markets plummeted on Thursday at the news that former vice president Joe Biden had, for the first time ever, overtaken President Donald J. Trump as the betting-odds favorite to win the 2020 election.Biden, 77, is the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination. He's also among the most vulnerable members of the population—very old and male—when it comes to the risk of dying from the Wuhan bat plague. Few pundits thought he stood a chance in the Democratic primary, given his bumbling campaign, incoherent message, and frequently malfunctioning brain. Democratic voters had other ideas, mostly due to their diehard commitment to male superiority.
A dispute between the US Soccer Federation and the women’s national team escalated on Wednesday, leading to a player protest and a humiliating apology from the federation. Ahead of a 3-1 win over Japan in the final of the SheBelieves Cup in Frisco, Texas, the team turned their warm-up shirts inside out during the national anthems and team photo, hiding the national team logo, but not the four stars signifying their four World Cup wins.(Snip) The most recent development in the dispute arose from a court filing in which the federation argued that women had less physical ability than men and that this was “indisputable science”
By some measure, the tricking of Harry by a fake Greta Thunberg, in which he allowed his loose tongue to talk recklessly as never before, will become as humiliating for the prince as his frolics in a Las Vegas hotel back in 2012.
The secretly recorded hoax tape—gleefully plastered over the internet on Tuesday night—reveals that the line between royal dignity and foolishness is very thin indeed. Indeed, it is hard to conceive of another more embarrassing episode in which a member of the Royal Family has been so comprehensively duped as the Duke of Sussex has.
A Justice Democrats-backed candidate is trying to cash in on fears of the Wuhan virus, claiming in a fundraising email that Ohio State University's decision to cancel classes is a form of voter suppression.On Monday, the public university canceled all in-person classes and told its nearly 45,000 undergraduate students to stay home through March to contain the coronavirus. Morgan Harper, a far-left Democrat, took to Twitter to criticize the decision. "First, I want to thank everyone for all they're doing to keep Ohioans safe," Harper said on Tuesday. "But I want to point out … how decisions have already been made that could potentially disenfranchise certain populations of
Hillary Clinton criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, spelling out several policy solutions in a tweet that she thinks the White House should heed.The failed 2016 Democrat presidential nominee in a tweet pointed to actions such as quarantines and federally-mandated paid sick leave as actions the Trump administration should get behind. (Tweet) Several of Clinton’s suggestions were included in House Democrats’ version of legislation meant to stimulate the economy during the coronavirus crisis.
After rattling the country with his implausible bravura and rather embarrassing statements at his press conference last week, where he astounded the scientific community with the depth of his epidemiological knowledge, President Trump is now turning the corner on the coronavirus crisis. His original performance was a bit like President Obama’s in 2014 when — after having tacitly encouraged the rise of ISIS with his petulant withdrawal from Iraq and having announced that he would intensify targeted bombing and increase training and advisory services to the defeated Iraqis — he declared,
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus, according to local reports.
One of the major newspapers in Rio de Janeiro, Journal O Dia, reported the news. President Donald Trump dined with Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night and shook hands with his fellow world leader.
Bolsonaro was checked for the disease after his aide Fabio Wajngarten tested positive for it. The results of a second test on the Brazilian president are expected to be known on Friday.
The coronavirus could be behind a vicious gang war — between rival groups of monkeys in the streets of Thailand. Hundreds of macaques reportedly from two rival gangs were filmed swarming the streets of Lopburi then savagely battling each other for a single banana. The monkeys are usually well-fed thanks to the tourists who flood the city in central Thailand — but are going hungry because of the drastic drop in visitors to the Asian n
“It’s been crazy, crazy, crazy,” David Sanders says. “Unprecedented.”
Unprecedented, crazy events happen to be Sanders’ specialty. He runs an online disaster preparedness shop called Doomsday Prep, which sells a wide assortment of worst-case-scenario gear, from two-way radios, nunchucks, and knives to a “urban bug out bag” filled with medical supplies and food. Although the store’s mission is readying people for emergencies, it’s in a surprise dilemma right now. “Our supply chain and available inventory is in flux due to Covid-19,” a banner on its homepage reads. Some products are backordered until the summer.
Italy's in dire need of help.
Its health care system is collapsing. The coronavirus has put the whole country in quarantine. There are now 15,000 cases, along with 1,018 deaths, the last 24 hours bringing in 188 more. The casualty count is the highest outside China. And it's spreading fast. Until a few days ago, the problem as concentrated in the north. Now, it has spread throughout the whole country.
Anyone with a heart can feel pity and an urge to help them. They need help, bad.
But don't go asking the European Union.
Turns out the open-borders globalist set-up is stiffing the Italians in their hour of need:
The 2020 Masters golf tournament has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced on Friday. “Considering the latest information and expert analysis, we have decided at this time to postpone the Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals,” Ridley said in a statement. The announcement of suspending the PGA Tour’s first major event is the latest blow to the sports world that suffered massive suspensions and cancellations due to the coronavirus outbreak. U.S. pro sports leagues from the National Basketball Association to Major League
U.S. equity markets opened sharply higher Friday, rebounding from their steepest single-day selloff since the Black Monday crash of 1987, as investors focus on economic stimulus packages at home and abroad. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,246 points, or 5.9 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite jumped 5.3 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively. All three of the major averages lost at least 9.5 percent Thursday amid an avalanche of cancelations and postponement of large social gatherings and sporting events aimed at slowing the spread of the new coronavirus.
Tom Hanks might be in quarantine in Australia with his wife Rita Wilson after being diagnosed with coronavirus - but he's remaining upbeat by quoting a line from one of his famous roles. In an Instagram post, Hanks wrote: 'Hello folks. @ritawilson and I want to thank everyone here Down Under who are taking such good care of us.''We have Covid-19 and are in isolation so we do not spread it to anyone else. There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness.The two-time Academy Award winner said he and his wife, both 63, 'are taking it one-day-at-a-time' amid the global health pandemic.
President Trump’s Rasmussen approval rating increased on Thursday to 48% up a point since Wednesday. This is despite the continued media onslaught over the coronavirus panic.Barack Obama had a 47% approval at the same point in his presidency.
And, as Rasmussen reported earlier this week, Obama had a 95% positive media.
Trump has a 95% negative media.
The coronavirus outbreak presents a “moment of reckoning” for the United States in reevaluating its approach towards China, assessed Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) during an interview with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily. Marlow noted the myriad of political issues related to viral outbreak, from national immigration, industrial, and manufacturing policies. He highlighted America’s dependence on Chinese exports of generic and over-the-counter drugs.“We are now largely dependent on China having outsourced so much of our pharmaceutical manufacturing for basic pharmaceutical ingredients, like Tylenol or Advil,”
“Hot takes” in politics are a little like armpit noises. Anybody can make them and nobody wants to hear somebody else’s.
But there is one political “hot take” emerging this week that really must be considered. It is a little like taking a bite out of something that tastes terrible and then turning to someone you love and saying: “Hey, try this. It tastes terrible.”
“Joe Biden proved he is a real fighter,” said some of the most revered political experts in the land this week.After the former vice president mopped the floor with Sen. Bernie Sanders in South Carolina and then cleaned up again
What would you do if your neighbor had coronavirus – and are they even obligated to tell you? With thousands of apartments and condos, tight quarters are part of everyday life in Chicago – and so are the risks.(Snip)We checked in with the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Chicago Department of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to see what they recommend.
The health departments both said they don’t have regulations on apartments and condos. A representative of the CDC said they don’t either,
From the start, Mat Risher swore that dialysis wouldn’t upend his life. He had been working at a software company, conducting research on a car-racing simulator, when kidney damage from lupus forced him to start the blood-filtering treatments three times a week.
Five years have slipped by, and the sessions have sapped his resolve. The 33-year-old now works part-time. On good days, he enjoys trying out new recipes. On bad days, his lupus flares up and the strain of incessant dialysis leaves him drained. “The times in between [dialysis days], I have no social life, no dating life,” says Risher, who lives just outside Seattle, Washington.
The president delivered an address last night about the Wuhan flu, aka novel coronavirus, aka (if you want to sound scary/scientific ‘COVID-19’).
The speech was brief, but to the point. It outlined a number of practical steps that the administration has taken, and would be taking, to slow the spread of the disease, help those who contract it, and — just as important—rescue the market from the panic that has surrounded this malady.
The wretched Jim Acosta, court jester on CNN, complained about Trump calling the virus ‘foreign’ and his identifying the source of the virus as China. That was ‘smacking of xenophobia’ said the babbling head.
Adam Schiff's surveillance state
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Lawmakers are debating ways to prevent the Federal Bureau of Investigation from abusing its surveillance authority again. While they’re at it, they have an obligation to address their own privacy transgressor, Rep. Adam Schiff.
That’s the gist of a pointed letter from Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, which landed Thursday at the House Intelligence Committee. Chairman Schiff spent months conducting secret impeachment hearings. His ensuing report revealed that he’d also set up his own surveillance state. Mr. Schiff issued secret subpoenas to phone carriers, to obtain and publish the call records of political rivals. Targets included Rudy Giuliani and another attorney of the president, the ranking Republican
NYT Op-Ed Writer: Yeah, I Made
A 'Trivial' Math Mistake on MSNBC.
Also, You're Racist For Noticing. replies
A 'Trivial' Math Mistake on MSNBC.
Also, You're Racist For Noticing. replies
Look, folks, I have white parents. That’s what my mom, a liberal Democrat mind you, would say jokingly as to why I, for lack of a better term, sucked at math. I’m a bad Asian. I don’t like math or science. Well, I like science—I’m fascinated by stuff that explodes—but I never excelled at it. None of the Vespa kids did well in math.
The potential impact of the coronavirus might still be unknown, but the media hype is already plain as day. Particularly when you compare how they are covering this pandemic with the last one, which happened to occur when Barack Obama was in the White House.
To get a sense of the differences in how the press treated these two outbreaks of brand new viruses, let’s look at how the New York Times and CNN – the bellwethers of mainstream journalism in print and on TV – covered each at similar points in the outbreak.
The day after the World Health Organization declared
House leadership has pulled legislation from the floor that would have repealed President Trump’s prior travel bans, amid efforts to focus attention on a coronavirus response bill, Fox News has learned.
Democrats made the decision late Wednesday to delay a vote on the No Ban Act to make way for new legislation to help families affected by the virus, said Benjamin Suarato, spokesman for bill sponsor Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. That bill is in limbo amid GOP opposition. The House, meanwhile, had debated the legislation on Wednesday that was the Democrats’ response to Trump's crackdown that he pledged during the 2016 campaign
Is Purell the New Gold?
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Has the plague of coronavirus ushered in a new monetary age of the Purell-backed dollar? We first heard the wise crack from James Grant of the Interest Rate Observer. We’d called him for some wisdom after the Federal Reserve announced a plan to inject $1.5 trillion into the debt markets — only to see the Dow Jones index collapse by another 2,300 points. How else to redeem all these dollars? Is Purell the new gold?
We don’t mean to belittle the seriousness of what is now officially declared to be a pandemic.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called for authority over the coronavirus outbreak to be handed to an emergency bipartisan group of experts and to Congress rather than President Donald Trump.
Sanders called on President Trump to declare an “emergency” — something Trump already did on Jan. 31 — and then added that the president should essentially, be replaced:
Because President Trump is unwilling and unable to lead selflessly, we must immediately convene an emergency bipartisan authority of experts to support and direct a response [to coronavirus] that is comprehensive, compassionate, and based first and foremost on science and fact.
In old movies, before movies became overtly political, Hollywood writers were adept at creating utterly meaningless speeches for their political characters. These speeches sounded good but meant nothing. Think of a whole speech filled with various iterations of the line from Toy Story – “To infinity and beyond” – which seems aspirational but is actually nonsense. Much the same can be said about Joe Biden’s grand announcement that he has a plan to combat coronavirus.
Hidden behind his banal platitudes was something more disturbing: When Biden moved on from criticizing Trump’s actions for minimizing coronavirus’s impact, he offered a plan
As lawmakers and President Trump debate whether to pass a stimulus package to address the economic disruption already being caused by the coronavirus, it’s important that they consider policies that will simultaneously help slow the spread of the virus itself.
The coronavirus presents a unique global economic challenge. It isn’t the result of financial institutions collapsing under the weight of bad investments, as in 2008. It isn't due to any natural drop in demand for goods and services. Big banks have plenty of money, and consumers would be happy to spend money and go about their lives.
This time, the economic problems are the result of a biological agent,
The "gun problem" for the Democrats and the left is a thorny issue that Joe Biden is realizing cuts right across demographic lines, including even historic Democrat-supporting factory workers who happen to own a gun or two.
No one questions that the driving force to abolish the Second Amendment, or simply confiscate guns in spite of the Second Amendment, is a pet project of the coastal elites (along with a Texas elite named Beto O'Rourke) who know in their heart of hearts how we should be behaving ourselves in a de-militarized society where only the police and elites themselves enjoy the privilege having guns around.
On Tuesday night, Joe Biden's campaign was celebrating his latest primary night triumph.
By Wednesday morning, #NeverBiden, #WriteinBernie and #DemExit2020 hashtags began trending on Twitter.
There's no question it’s been a banner two weeks for Biden. But lurking in the background of his sudden ascension to all-but-presumptive nominee is evidence that at least some Bernie Sanders supporters might not migrate to him in November, weakening him in the general election.
The significance of the problem became apparent in the same string of primaries that put Biden on the cusp of the nomination.
Important: How Coronavirus is About
to Get Much Worse in the US, and
Why You Still Shouldn't Panic replies
to Get Much Worse in the US, and
Why You Still Shouldn't Panic replies
I'll begin with a word on last night's address by the president. In some respects, it was strong; it emphasized the seriousness of the crisis, repeated crucially important recommendations for best hygiene practices, and reassured anxious Americans that the federal government will act to mitigate the (negative, likely temporary) economic impact. But it also failed in several key respects.
First, it focused too heavily on foreign travel restrictions. The virus is already here and spreading rapidly. I'm not opposed to additional restrictions -- Trump's early decisions on that front vis-a-vis China and Iran were heavily criticized but were exactly the right thing to do --
It was inevitable, after the coronavirus outbreak spread to the United States, that the Democrats would call on President Trump to cancel his public campaign rallies. Putting an end to them has been a longtime goal of their party. Knowing that these events increase GOP enthusiasm, while drawing large numbers of Independents and even rank-and-file Democrats, party leaders have produced countless pretexts for demanding that Trump put a halt to them. After the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, they claimed the rallies served as breeding grounds for racism. Following the 2019 El Paso shooting they insisted that the events somehow encouraged gun violence. No one beyond the Beltway took
Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief. Joe Biden's victories on "Mini Tuesday" make his delegate lead all but insurmountable. Bernie Sanders's electoral weakness, compared with his performance four years ago, has dulled the fear of an incipient socialist takeover of the world's oldest political party. The left is said to have talked itself into believing its own propaganda and helped President Trump equate Democrats with socialism. Victory in the primary did not come from pledges to eliminate private health insurance or impose wealth taxes. It followed from the perception that Biden is the candidate best able to defeat Trump.
The Wuhan Virus is causing major disruptions in the U.S., from the stock market to the economy to social gatherings of all sorts. The virus itself is still not nearly up to the disease standards of the common flu or swine flu, even though the media hype of it has been off the charts. But that's not my point here. Rather, I see three upshots to this Wuhan epidemic in the U.S. There are probably more, but these three stand out in my mind.
1. Businesses now see that their precious supply chains and just-in-time inventory models are laden with risk.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced Wednesday that more than 600 arrests have been made as a result of an interagency operation cracking down on Mexican cartel activity.
“Project Python,” a DEA-led initiative, targeted members of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). According to the DEA, over the last six months federal law enforcement officials have been monitoring the activities of the accused.
The operation resulted in more than 600 arrests nationwide, 350 indictments and “significant seizures of money and drugs,” according to the agencies.
On Thursday, Joe Biden slammed President Trump’s response to the coronavirus outbreak while speaking in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday afternoon. "The administration's failure on testing is colossal and it's a failure of leadership, planning, and execution," Biden said. “This virus laid bare the severe shortcomings of the current administration."
Biden went on to suggest things that should have been done. And if you thought they sounded familiar, you’re right, because immediately after blaming Trump for not doing enough, Biden suggested things that have, in fact, already been done.
Joe Biden said "no efforts should be spared" to get private labs and universities working to rapidly expand testing for coronavirus.
Joe Biden’s campaign has just completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in political history.
So how has Biden responded? By reshuffling his campaign team and picking a new campaign manager.
The Washington Post reports:
Former vice president Joe Biden has named Jen O’Malley Dillon as his new campaign manager, a major shake-up that comes just as the party’s leading candidate plans a major organizational expansion to prepare for the general election, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The move is intended to quell concerns that have been raised in recent weeks by senior Democratic strategists about the leadership structure
The New York Times wants to teach your kids and grandkids to be woke. Don’t let them.
Like most professional academics, I watched the launch of the New York Times’ “1619 Project” with a mix of genuine scholarly interest, an occasional desire to critique, and mild amusement at some of the authors’ wilder claims — such as Nikole Hannah-Jones arguing that the desire to preserve slavery was a “primary” reason for the American Revolutionary War or Kevin Kruse claiming that historical oppression “caused your traffic jam.” But, that said, I frankly expected to quickly forget the whole thing. It is an open secret in the creative community
This month, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Google v. Oracle — widely dubbed “the copyright case of the century.” Let’s hope the Supremes stop Google in its tracks.
Google is offering a dangerous legal argument that, if left standing, would directly abet China’s relentless theft of American intellectual property.
The facts are wonky, so bear with me. In 2010, the tech firm Oracle sounded the alarm that Google copied its Java software application-program interfaces (API) for Google’s Android smartphone without a license. In the litigation that followed, a federal appellate court twice ruled for Oracle, rejecting Google’s main defense that it made “fair use” of Oracle’s code.
Newsom executive order allows
California to commandeer hotels,
motels to house coronavirus patients replies
California to commandeer hotels,
motels to house coronavirus patients replies
Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Democrat, released an executive order on Thursday that includes the authority for Sacramento to take over hotels and motels for medical use for coronavirus patients, in a move he said will help the state of 40 million prepare for any widespread outbreak.
Some patients in the state have already been moved to hotels. The Desert Sun reported that a 120-room hotel in San Carlos, which is near San Francisco, has been already tapped to house passengers from the Grand Princess cruise ship.
The first-term governor told reporters that besides hotels and motels, state officials are also scouting
The White House and congressional Republicans have poured cold water on the House Democrats' coronavirus legislation to provide economic relief to Americans, signaling there won’t be immediate broad bipartisan support for the pending bill unless it undergoes changes.
One senior administration official said the White House has “serious concerns” with the measure put forth by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., late Wednesday to help families deal with the economic hardships of the pandemic.
And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the legislation “comes up short.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., panned the bill as an "ideological wish list," putting the legislation in limbo.
At last comes a measure of reassurance about the effects of the global pandemic: A woman who has fully recovered from coronavirus is a living, breathing beacon of hope.
Elizabeth Schneider, 37, had a relatively mild experience with the sometimes-deadly virus, for which she treated herself at her home in Seattle, Washington. So far, the Northwestern state has suffered the highest number of deaths — at least 30 — in the US from the disease.
Schneider, who has a doctorate in bioengineering, told the Agence France-Press she was sharing her story “to give people a little bit of hope.” Her story is more common than one might think:
Senior citizens seem to be the least concerned about the coronavirus pandemic despite being the most vulnerable to contracting serious complications from the illness, a new poll found.A Harris Poll taken from March 5 to 9 found that seniors are more likely to exhibit more defiant behavior than millennials as the illness continues to spread. The survey found that 81 percent of respondents age 65 and older are still willing to attend family or social gatherings versus 71 percent of millennials.Overall, eight in 10 Americans are willing to attend social gatherings, the survey found.
As she threw the floor open to questions at her regular Thursday news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pulled out a tissue and wiped her nose.The otherwise unremarkable act came at a remarkable time: She had just finished plugging the Democrats' "Families First" legislation, intended to respond to Americans who may face hardship as the coronavirus spreads, closing some schools and workplaces. (Video) "We are here to pass a bill," Pelosi said."When we pass a bill, we will make a judgment about what comes next
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau has tested positive for coronavirus.Trudeau's office released a statement Thursday night confirming that the 44-year-old has tested positive for the virus a day after she reported feeling mild flu-like symptoms, including a low fever, on Wednesday night. 'She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild,' the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.Justin Trudeau, 48, is 'in good health' has no symptoms but will be in isolation for 14 days, according to the statement.