Posts on Tuesday, March 17, 2020
A possible COVID-19 treatment
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Gilead Sciences, a biotech company, developed Remdesivir to treat Ebolae and the Marburg virus infection. It had some success against MERS and SARS. The company hopes this can work against COVID-19.
Josh Bloom at the American Council on Science and Health reviewed it and said keep your fingers crossed.
He wrote, "Remdesivir is a fairly potent inhibitor of corona virus replication with no obvious toxicity. It may or may not work as a pill but this is irrelevant at this time since it will probably be given IV. In another study in rhesus monkeys, data indicated that a significant concentration of the drug will be found in the blood and that an
All sorts of businesses are being negatively impacted by emergency orders shutting down various social activities. This is particularly true of bars and restaurants, and operations ranging from veterinary offices to theaters are feeling the pinch. But what about sex workers? It turns out that brothels are seeing a massive drop street traffic (if you’ll pardon the pun) as people hunker down in their homes to wait out the COVID-19 storm. And that’s particularly true in Germany, where brothels are both legal and numerous in the larger cities. (Associated Press)
It’s 7 p.m. on a Friday night, a time when Aurel Johannes Marx’s three-room brothel on the edge of Berlin
In order to keep up with increased demands for food and household supplies grocery store chains are ramping up hiring. This is a bit of a silver lining for many who are temporarily unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Radical steps are being taken across the country in response to the coronavirus, especially during the next fifteen days, a period of time the public health professionals view as critical. If you saw the Trump administration’s press briefing with the COVID-19 task force, you know that the next 15 days will likely determine the severity of the spread of the virus across the United States.
European Union nations agreed Tuesday to immediately seal the bloc’s external borders to most foreign visitors for 30 days in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said leaders from the 27 nations agreed in a conference call to the proposal for an entry ban that has “very, very limited exceptions.”
Merkel said the group, however, will also make an exception to visitors from non-members Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the UK.
Long-term residents, family members of EU nationals and diplomats will also be exempt. The ban won’t be enforced on transportation or healthcare workers, either.
The MTA is asking for $4 billion in federal funds to weather the coronavirus outbreak, which has severely reduced its ridership. Writing to New York’s congressional reps, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said the agency needs the cash injection to keep public transit open while many New Yorkers stay home to slow the spread of the disease. “The stark reality is that as more people stay home following the advice of medical experts, the M.T.A. is now facing financial calamity,” Foye said in the letter, dated Tuesday.(Snip) Fares and tolls make up a huge chunk of the agency’s operating budget, and Foye said the MTA could be $3.7 billion
The peace and prosperity of President Trump’s first term in office was his biggest reelection asset, but also the greatest roadblock to his agenda. A strong economy and a lack of major domestic threats lulled much of the country into a false sense of security. These golden years, in sharp contrast to the economic malaise and regular terror attacks of the Obama era, made it hard for many to feel a sense of urgency.
The border crisis was remote for most people. As were the continuing deaths in Afghanistan.
The media’s torrent of smears and hit jobs, the sabotage of the administration by the bureaucracy, and a Democrat House bent on impeachment,
A 19-year-old Detroit man was convicted Tuesday in the slayings of two gay men and a transgender woman in Detroit last year. Devon Kareem Robinson was found guilty by a jury of first-degree premeditated murder, assault with intent to murder, and felony firearm following a trial that began March 9 in Wayne County Circuit Court. Robinson could face life behind bars without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced April 13 for the shooting deaths of 21-year-old Alunte Davis, 20-year-old Timothy Blancher and 20-year-old Paris Cameron, a transgender woman. All three were shot to death
A trade group representing shopping-center owners is urging the Trump administration to provide relief to retailers, restaurants and landlords as the coronavirus pandemic shuts down commerce around the U.S. The government should guarantee or pay for business-interruption coverage, the International Council of Shopping Centers said Tuesday in a letter to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Store closures “are placing an insurmountable strain on our members, and we believe federal government action is urgently needed,” the group said in its letter.
The administration is discussing a plan that could amount to as much as $1.2 trillion in spending
Joe Scarborough, co-host of the MSNBC show “Morning Joe,” has spent the past few years slamming pretty much all things Trump, but on Tuesday, in the face of the growing pandemic, he had this change of heart:
‘We only have one president at a time. We have to do everything we can do to make sure this president succeeds.’
Scarborough explained that, despite his public (and possibly private) animus toward Trump, he believes that Monday could mark a “new beginning” for the president following his administration’s “bungled” early actions in the battle to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re all joined together as a country, fighting an epidemic that could
Pennsylvania’s 600 state-owned liquor stores are heading for a 9 p.m., systemwide closure tonight as part of Gov. Tom Wolf’s broadening efforts to impose “social distancing” across the state to interrupt the spread of coronavirus. But the decision appeared to have the reverse effect in the short term this week as buyers of all shapes, sizes and interests rushed to the state stores to make sure they had enough of whatever they like to ride out the storm. “Is it essential? No,” said Ro Gallegos, a 43-year-old insurance company employee from Fairview Township as he left the Fine Wine and
The US “perpetrators will be arrested and held accountable” for the attacks on Iranian-backed Iraqi militias last week, says Iraq’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammed Hussein Bahr Al-Uloom in a draft letter seen by Al Arabiya English.
Last week saw an increase in rockets hitting Iraqi bases hosting foreign forces, with three coalition troops killed on March 11 in a similar attack on the Taji air base, which was hit again on March 14.
The Iraqi military said the US airstrikes last Friday had killed six people and described them as a violation of sovereignty.
U.S. hotel companies are seeking $150 billion in direct aid for their workers for what they say is an unprecedented fall-off in demand because of the new coronavirus. CEOs of Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and other chains met Tuesday with President Donald Trump to describe the impact and seek help. Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta told the president that Hilton has never closed a hotel that wasn't slated for remodeling or demolition in its 100-year history. Now, several Hilton hotels in big U.S. cities are closed and worldwide, its hotels are only 10% to 15% occupied. Last year, the average U.S. occupancy rate was 67%.
Sen. Bernard Sanders said Tuesday the federal government should consider giving every household $2,000 per month to help them deal with the financial fallout from the coronavirus. Mr. Sanders outlined a broad bailout package for Americans, saying unemployment compensation should be expanded to cover everyone who loses a job and to cover 100% of an individual’s salary up to $75,000. He said he will be presenting his package of proposals to Senate leaders this week. The plan calls for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, and for the suspension of mortgage loan payments for primary residences. It calls for rental assistance to be provided
Most Americans can get a three-month reprieve to pay their income taxes for 2019, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday in a press conference. The IRS will postpone the April 15 tax deadline by 90 days for millions of individuals who owe $1 million or less and corporations that owe $10 million or less, he said. To be sure, Americans still have to meet the April 15 deadline if they are expecting a refund or are requesting a six-month extension, but they can defer payment for up to 90 days beyond that. "We encourage those Americans who can file their
China on Tuesday escalated its tit-for-tat propaganda war with the United States over who's to blame for the spread of the coronavirus by placing restrictive measures on several top media companies including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, prompting strong opposition from the Trump administration.
It's just the latest move by Beijing to punish the U.S. for its reporting on the global pandemic,
(Snip) In a statement, China claimed the new restrictions on U.S. reporters were a retaliation against the Trump administration for putting caps on the number of journalists from five Chinese state-run media outlets working in the United States last month.
As the coronavirus begins to take its toll on the economy, the federal government on Tuesday said it was working to put cash directly in the hands of Americans. “We are looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters. “Americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now. And I mean now, in the next two weeks.” The cash infusion would be part of an $850 billion stimulus package that Mnuchin is discussing with Senate Republicans — $50 billion of that which go to the embattled airline industry.
The analysis of engineering or business problems often includes a list of positive and negative aspects of implementing changes. So too should the analysis of the effects of the coronavirus. What has been seen so far has been a panoply of negatives, many exaggerated for political fodder or as clickbait in the press's cry for attention. A sober look at this, however, can lead to a different conclusion. Will America be stronger, and will other nations take a cue from our success? The answer is a surprising yes.
CNN’s Dana Bash on Tuesday praised President Trump’s leadership on the Coronavirus. President Trump gave a press briefing from the White House on Tuesday to address his administration’s ongoing efforts to calm the Coronavirus panic and bring financial relief to Americans.The Trump admin is looking at sending Americans emergency Coronavirus checks within the next two weeks. Dana Bash was impressed with President Trump’s leadership…hell must have frozen over! “He is being the kind of leader…that people need and want and yearn for in times of crisis
Ten years ago, Congress enacted Obamacare into law. Americans disagree on the law and its impact, but in constructing the final legislation, lawmakers agreed that government officials should not ration access to health care. Unfortunately, however, a purportedly independent body has taken it upon itself to do just that. As parents of children with cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder, we worry about the impact that this unaccountable body will have on our families—and the entire American health care system.
The top Texas criminal appeals court decided on Monday to stay the execution of a man condemned for killing his family because of coronavirus risks. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected all grounds of John William Hummel's appeal but decided to stay the execution for 60 days because of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.(Snip) Hummel, 44, was convicted in 2011 of capital murder in the December 2009 fatal stabbing of his pregnant wife, Joy Hummel, 34, and fatal bludgeoning of his father-in-law, Clyde Bedford, 57, with a baseball bat. Evidence showed he also used the bat to beat to death Jodi Hummel
A Democratic Party-aligned super PAC plans to spend $5 million on digital advertising to attack President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak — even as the nation struggles with the growing public health threat. The Washington Post reported Tuesday: A Democratic super PAC said Tuesday it would spend $5 million on digital advertising flaying President Trump for his response to the novel coronavirus, one of several groups that planned to devote resources to this type of messaging. McGowan said it was critical for outside groups like hers to exact a political price on Trump as his possible Democratic opponents,
A nasty respiratory illness had been spreading through the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., for at least nine days when a sick resident was taken to a hospital on Feb. 19.
The resident, and another hospitalized Feb. 24, were later diagnosed with covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, according to the facility. They were two of the earliest cases in the country’s deadliest cluster to date in the pandemic.
But the home’s managers had believed since early February that they were facing a surge of influenza, which was common for the facility, said a spokesman for the Life Care Center.
WASHINGTON - Ahead of an expected surge in coronavirus cases, President Donald Trump on Tuesday moved to blunt the impact of the pandemic on the U.S. economy, fundamentally altered by a push for a nation to stay home. (Snip) Dr. Deborah Birx, who is coordinating the federal response to the virus, on Tuesday called for the “army of millennials” to lead the charge in fighting back against the coronavirus. Birx told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the nation needs millennials out doing everything they can, including staying home from bars, to protect themselves from getting infected but also safeguarding their parents and grandparents.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says
he may issue a 'shelter in place'
order in the next 48 hours replies
he may issue a 'shelter in place'
order in the next 48 hours replies
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that he may issue a "shelter in place" order for the city within the next two days.
"We are all deeply concerned," he said at a news conference, adding that it "is quite clear this is a fast-growing crisis."
"Even though a decision has not been made by the city or the state, I think that all New Yorkers should be prepared right now for the possibility of a shelter-in-place order," he said.
As turnout tanks in Tuesday's Illinois primary, election officials in Chicago say they tried to get in-person voting called off by state officials and were turned down.
Predicting fear among voters and pollworkers, the chief spokesman for Chicago's Board of Election Commissioners Tuesday morning unleashed a critical attack on Illinois governor JB Pritzker and the state's decision to plow ahead with presidential primary voting in the face of a coronavirus pandemic.
Chicago elections spokesman Jim Allen said the city was placed in a "Catch 22" by Gov. Pritzker and that city officials were "not allowed to say anything" concerning their opposition to the election proceeding for fear it would be considered suppression.
Washington—U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and other federal lawmakers want to send out cold, hard cash to help you cope with the coronavirus crisis. Booker joined several of his Democratic colleagues Tuesday in urging Senate leaders to pass legislation providing every American with an immediate $2,000 cash payment, and it could grow to $4,500 by the end of the year if the crisis doesn’t abate.(Snip) The money would be paid to every U.S. adult and dependent, as well as every Social Security, Veterans Affairs, or Supplemental Security Income recipient. The funds automatically would go to those who file tax returns for 2019. Those who do not file a return
US movie theaters have closed nationwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, turning dark nearly all of the country’s 40,000-plus screens in an unprecedented shutdown. With most of Hollywood’s March and April releases already postponed, the Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday also cleared out its May releases as well, including Marvel’s “Black Widow.” The largest chains had tried to remain open even as Hollywood postponed its upcoming release plans and guidelines for social distancing steadily diminished the recommended size of crowds. But after President Trump on Monday urged against gatherings of more than 10 people, AMC Theaters, the nation’s largest chain, said Tuesday its theaters would close altogether.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are self-isolating in Canada, as Meghan confides in friends that Harry feels 'helpless' and is 'concerned' about the Queen and his father Prince Charles catching coronavirus, a close friend exclusively told DailyMail.com.
'Meghan said they are grateful, especially Harry, that they could spend time with his family before all this insanity began,' the insider explained. 'Meghan said [Harry] has been in contact with the both his father and grandmother. He urged them to stay safe and to take extra precautions.'
The brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has been found guilty of the murder of 22 people and helping to plan one of the deadliest terror attacks the UK has ever seen. Hashem Abedi was not in court to hear the unanimous verdict after deciding earlier in the week to withdraw himself from the proceedings, sacking his entire defence team. As each victim’s name was read out the jury returned a guilty verdict, with family members becoming emotional and heard crying in the courtroom. Following the verdict, a counter-terrorism chief said the 22-year-old was driven by a “sick ideology”
South Florida voters went to the polls Tuesday with accessories they now go almost nowhere without: Hand sanitizer, gloves, wipes, even their own pens. Their commitment to vote was too strong for most to stay home. And they saw firsthand how polling sites were nearly empty. Roy Pollard Jr., of Delray Beach, rubbed sanitizer on his hands before entering the precinct at Carver Middle School in Delray Beach. “I always vote on the day of the election, since I was 18,” said Pollard, 64. “I’m not a bit worried about the virus.” Betsy Silverfine also came prepared. She brought gloves
China says it will revoke the credentials of Americans at three U.S. newspapers in response to new U.S. restrictions on Chinese media.
In a news release posted online, the Foreign Ministry said early Wednesday that China demands American journalists working for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020 to hand back their press cards within 10 days.
The Chinese government says they won’t be allowed to keep working as journalists in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao.
A few weeks ago, Hindu friends and colleagues in India turned to me in desperation about the way in which the Western media has been covering the latest chapter in the forever ongoing Hindu-Muslim wars. Every single article in the mass media has blamed Hindus only and has presented the Muslims as the most innocent and non-violent of beings. Missing entirely is the history of eight hundred years of Muslim persecution of Hindus in India; what happened in 1948 that led to partitioning India into a Hindu state and into two Muslim states: Pakistan and thereafter, Bangladesh, both states where Hindus and Christians are persecuted.
President Donald Trump said at the White House Tuesday he wanted the federal government to send direct payments to Americans suffering economically from the coronavirus as part of a larger rescue package. “We’re going big,” Trump said, adding, “We want to go big, go solid.”
The proposal was detailed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday during a press briefing at the White House.“We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” Mnuchin said, adding,
Cool barn finds can be one-in-a-million, so how does it feel to unearth dozens of collectible cars parked away for decades and ripe for the picking? To find out, just ask Matt Murray, a YouTuber who's helping to auction off 50 desirable slabs comprised of cold hard American steel in various states of condition and rarity. In 2018, avid car collector Larry Schroll passed away, leaving behind a treasure trove of keepsake automobiles that he had stashed away in a Pennsylvania barn. Schroll's family was overwhelmed by the sheer number of vehicles he had collected during his lifetime, the majority of which would now be eligible
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is expected to request an $850 billion stimulus package to curb the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
Mnuchin met with Republican leaders via conference call Monday and headed to the Capitol to meet with Republican Senate leaders Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. Reports suggest the Republicans are considering combining the bill into the existing coronavirus spending bill passed by the House last week. The stimulus push comes as the coronavirus has put the stock market in freefall, entirely eliminating the gains made since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.
It has become an accepted historical fact that the South could not have won the American Civil War. The North’s advantages in finance, population, railroads, manufacturing, technology, and naval assets, among others, are often cited as prohibitively decisive.
Yes, the South had the advantage of fighting on the defensive, this with interior lines, but those two meager pluses appear dwarfed by the North’s overwhelming strategic advantages, hence defeat virtually a foregone conclusion. But if strategic advantage alone was always decisive in warfare, then names like Marathon, Cowpens, Rorke’s Drift, and Cannae would today be meaningless, and they are not.
Indeed, there are times when the decided underdog wins in war,
Can’t get to the opera? The opera will come to you! The Met, which has been forced to cancel its performances in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, has given music lovers a gift: the chance to livestream its acclaimed “Live in HD” performances, starting Monday night with Bizet’s “Carmen.”Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who was supposed to perform in Massenet’s “Werther” at the Met this week with Piotr Beczała, took to Facebook with him to livestream a few excerpts, including a love duet.
The head of U.S. nuclear forces said Tuesday the coronavirus outbreak has had “no impact” on his ability to launch nuclear weapons.
Navy Adm. Charles A. Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, tasked with safeguarding America’s nuclear arsenal, told reporters via conference call there are no cases of coronavirus in the nuclear forces. The impact of the virus has been “minimal,” Adm. Richard said. He added that a “small, single-digit” number of personnel at his command are in quarantine.
As a precaution, all tours of U.S. Strategic Command located at Offutt Air Force Base outside Omaha, Nebraska, have been canceled.
President Trump gets his share of criticism — some warranted, much not. But recently the president’s critics have chosen curious ground to question his response to the coronavirus outbreak since it began spreading from Wuhan, China, in December.
It has been alleged by multiple officials of the Obama administration, including in The Post, that the president and his then-national security adviser, John Bolton, “dissolved the office” at the White House in charge of pandemic preparedness. Because I led the very directorate assigned that mission, the counterproliferation and biodefense office, for a year and then handed it off to another official who still holds the post, I know the charge is specious.
The White House Correspondents Association has rearranged the seating in the White House briefing room to increase social distancing and prevent the spread of coronavirus. There will now be one seat left empty between each reporter who attends.(Tweet/Photo) The WHCA announced the revised seating chart on Sunday evening and told reporters that they should work remotely if at all possible. “We understand these restrictions are deeply disruptive to our members and their ability to do their jobs,” WHCA President Jon Karl said in a statement. “But we are forced to take these steps to do our part to ensure that the
Just a few days ago, the word "caremongering" did not exist. Yet just three days later what started as a way to help vulnerable people in Toronto has turned into a movement spreading fast across Canada.
More than 35 Facebook groups have been set up in 72 hours to serve communities in places including Ottawa, Halifax and Annapolis County in Nova Scotia, with more than 30,000 members between them.
People are joining the groups to offer help to others within their communities, particularly those who are more at risk of health complications related to coronavirus.
It's an indisputable fact that the Democratic Party has moved left in recent years. Now, the party is about to choose a standard-bearer, in the person of former Vice President Joe Biden, and what has become clear is that Biden has not only shifted left with his party over the years, he has taken significant leftward steps in recent weeks.
Three examples.
First, for years, Biden has defended the Obama administration's record on deportations against those on the left who criticized President Barack Obama as the "deporter in chief." Then came last month's Nevada caucuses.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sparked a backlash for his grandstanding criticism of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus crisis. The Democrat governor called out the “chaos” of Washington’s handling of the pandemic, essentially calling for the country to turn from its founding principles by urging coordinated action on a national level.(Video) “You look at the countries who have handled this, I don’t care if it’s China or South Korea, if it’s Italy. They were all handled by national leadership,” Cuomo said in a press conference on Monday. “This is a national problem. It can not be done in a piecemeal method. You need federal parameters
Many political analysts may have assumed that the sun was setting fast on Joe Biden’s presidential aspirations following a series of well-publicized gaffes and doddering speeches. But with large victories on Super Tuesday, subsequent endorsements from a raft of his former adversaries and more wins last week, including in Michigan, suddenly Biden appears poised to soon become the anointed Democratic candidate to challenge President Trump.
It is interesting to note that House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) campaigned hard for Biden and mustered the support that seemingly has set him up to clinch the nomination.
Along with Bill Kristol, Jennifer Rubin, Max Boot, and other once-respected intellectuals, we now see the same anti-Trump lunacy infecting Atlantic Monthly writer Anne Applebaum, whose self-important loathing for Trump has descended into outright anti-Americanism.
In her case, the transmission vehicle is the coronavirus.
First, she wrote a badly reasoned Atlantic Monthly piece claiming American had finally gotten its comeuppance in the coronavirus pandemic just as the Japanese got theirs before the Meiji Restoration, realizing how far behind they really were (really?). "Calls America's bluff," as she put it, implying our entire nation was some kind of con ... Then, she put out this ridiculous tweet:
PITTSBURGH -- On Friday, James Coen is folding and unfolding, arranging and rearranging the piles of colorful St. Patrick's Day T-shirts he has displayed on folding tables outside one of the three sports retail stores he owns. The stores are all large historic buildings with big, shiny, planked hardwood floors, all snuggled in a three-block radius between assorted assemblages of late-19th-century buildings along what is affectionately called "The Strip" or "Strip District."
No one calls him by his given name. He is "Jimmy Yinzer," the unofficial mayor of the city and purveyor of all things Pittsburgh. He's mostly known for having the largest inventory of Steelers,
Voters in three states will head to the polls on Tuesday amid a coronavirus health crisis that has led other states to postpone their elections.
The primaries in Arizona, Florida and Illinois will continue as planned, as state officials say they’ve taken the necessary precautions to ensure that voters can safely cast ballots.
The fate of Ohio's primary was settled late Monday when Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced his administration would order all polling locations to be closed due to a health emergency, capping a day of mixed messages and confusion.
Iran has issued its most dire warning about coronavirus, suggesting 'millions' could die in the Islamic Republic if the public keeps ignoring health guidance.
A state television journalist who is also a medical doctor gave the warning after Shiite faithful pushed their way into the courtyards of two major shrines that had just been closed over fears of the virus.
The country said today it has temporarily freed around 85,000 prisoners including political detainees in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.
It comes as deaths in the Islamic Republic spike by 135 – a 13% rise.
The coronavirus has killed 135 more people in Iran,
With some experts predicting, at a minimum, anywhere from 480,000 to 1.6 million American deaths from the coronavirus over the next three to 18 months, how smart does urban living, mass transit, open borders, reusable straws, reusable grocery bags, reusable water bottles, gun restrictions, over-regulated housing, using the Centers for Disease Control to fight gun violence, and outsourcing to China look now?
Hey, we don’t know what’s going to happen with the coronavirus. What we do know, though, is that between last Sunday and this Sunday, things went from Zero to Crazy in one week: We shut down our economy, store shelves are empty or emptying,
What’s the COVID-19 end game?
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So, here we are.
Pretty much nobody’s going to school on Monday, thousands are working from home, stores are struggling to stock their shelves and health officials are scrambling to respond to an unknown number of patients who will be taken ill with COVID-19.
Unprecedented actions taken since Wednesday to halt the spread of the coronavirus, from the total shutdown of K-12 school districts to significant curtailment of public gatherings, will surely have significant social and economic costs.
Here in Georgia, the mass hysteria about the coronavirus has caused the governor to declare a “public health state of emergency.” He has advised public schools and daycare centers to close for two weeks in order to curb the opportunities for the virus to spread. It’s unclear which is causing more panic in the hearts of Georgia citizens — the coronavirus, the toilet paper shortage, or the fact that parents will have to be home with their children nonstop for two weeks straight. Many other states are also closing schools, so millions of our nation’s families are suddenly experiencing a little of what it’s like to homeschool.
The day the U.S. beat the virus
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The “experts” and the “media” are eternally and loudly predicting doom and gloom, so I took Sunday to look at the bright side.
Here is a view from ground level.
Everybody went shopping last Thursday. Normally our local big chain crowds up on Sunday afternoon in the winter, but Thursday probably set an all-time attendance record. The atmosphere was all business; shoppers on a mission. There wasn’t a particular run on things, just those you would expect; rice, spaghetti noodles, mac and cheese. There was plenty of meat, and lots of beautiful produce. I love roasted red peppers.
The mainstream American media have abandoned journalism’s formerly-prized ethos of “who, what, where, why, when.” There is no pretense anymore that they serve a purpose other than maligning Donald Trump in the hope of destroying his presidency. The latest example comes from The New York Times, a once-respected institution that now would offend the birds whose cages it might line.
President Trump has recommended new, very stringent, social distancing guidelines as part of slowing coronavirus’s spread in the United States. Speaking of slowing the virus, keep in mind that, thanks in part to President Trump’s decision to close America’s borders to China in January, the spread here has already been slow.
I am coronaed out
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After watching “Family Feud,” Mary and I usually flip to Tucker Carlson on Fox News, followed by Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. For the past few days, we have not tuned into Fox. Folks, I have had my fill of corona-mania. Also, I am sick of people accusing me of being irresponsible and insensitive for not surrendering to the absurd Democrat and fake news media narrative that says Trump is handling the virus wrong and we're all going to die. Mary is a member of a keto diet Facebook group. Someone posted, “Does anyone have a recipe how to make toilet paper with cauliflower?” We both laughed out loud.
With the suffocating blanket news coverage of the Democratic primary contest and now the coronavirus, the alleged end of the longest war in America’s history has drawn surprisingly little attention. Perhaps Americans have grown so tired and maybe cynical over the nearly 1,000 weeks of the Afghan conflict [Snip] But now, here we are, signing documents with that same Taliban crowd that once executed women for lack of head covers, promising
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and other senior Obama-era Justice Department officials told the Russia special prosecutor in private interviews they had concerns about the FBI’s conduct in investigating former Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, according to memos that paint a dark portrait of the bureau’s behavior.
The documents, which include a letter from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team transmitting exculpatory evidence to Flynn’s defense lawyers in 2018, offer the most detailed montage to date about why Attorney General Bill Barr recently appointed a special prosecutor to review the government’s actions in the Flynn case.
We’ve shut down major parts of our economy, ranging from stores and restaurants to concert venues and bars. Schools have closed. Transportation is at a near standstill. Now, some even want to close the stock market. The question is, why?
Of course, the answer to that is the threat of COVID-19, also known as the Wuhan Flu. It’s a nasty bug. But in truth, we don’t know how nasty it will be here.
So far, there’s little in the way of macro-data for our outbreak. Problems in Iran and Italy, where the coronavirus has wreaked havoc, have been repeatedly highlighted by the media, but they aren’t parallels for the U.S.
While the mainstream media have been running around yelling thtat the sky is falling and the left is criticizing Trump for not acting fast enough in curtailing the spread of the coronavirus, here's how it will end up helping Trump during his re-election campaign. It will validate the need to continue with his two biggest campaign issues from 2016: building a wall on the Mexican border and getting the United States off its dependency with China by re-balancing trade. He's already succeeded more than anyone would have thought possible with both of these issues.When the presidential campaign begins in earnest this coming fall,
Once upon a time, Jennifer Rubin was an intelligent woman. Things started to go downhill when she went to work for the Washington Post, but what really flipped the switch in her brain was seeing Donald Trump become president. Not only did she lose perspective, but she also lost intelligence, self-restraint, and decency. Her latest flight of NeverTrump nastiness has her speculate about possible Republican deaths during a time of coronavirus. Her speculation not only reveals an even further degradation of mind and soul, but she's got things entirely bass-ackwards wrong – and a couple of maps prove it.
Andrew Cuomo, a Man Alone
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ALBANY, N.Y.—The Dunkin‘ Donuts on Madison Avenue and Lark Street here is a neighborhood hub for hungover college students, grizzled upstaters and those with nowhere else to escape bitter Albany winters. So when a man walked in on Christmas Eve wearing a sweatshirt and introduced himself as the governor of New York, the shift leader working that day didn’t believe him. “I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, he’s cuckoo,’” she told me. “We get people all the time who say, ‘I’m the president of the United States.’”
Her co-worker whispered to her that it was, in fact, New York’s three-term governor, Andrew Cuomo.
Fifteen years ago, the United States was importing most of its oil — 12.5 million barrels per day, or nearly twice total domestic oil production at the time. Also 15 years ago, the U.S. was emitting about 20% more in greenhouse gases than it does today. Most Americans are glad that the U.S. has reduced emissions so much while simultaneously achieving energy independence — and it's all due to fracking.
Unfortunately, both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders want to turn the clock back to the days of higher emissions and greater dependency on foreign oil. That is the certain practical result of the policies
A friend tweeted from Ireland (in time for St. Patrick’s Day), blaming President Trump for the major decline in the value of stocks. This same friend credited Barack Obama’s economic policies when the Dow Jones Industrial Averages approached 30,000.
This — and more — is part of our political, economic and medical divide with mixed messages coming from supposed professionals, amateurs and people who don’t know what they are talking about.
According to Dictionary.com, “panic” is “a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.”
As a country, we’ve got our hands full right now. But while we’re sitting in various forms of self-quarantine, we — and a lot of other people around the world — will have a lot of time to read about the Chinese government destroying samples and suppressing information about the coronavirus in December:
Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.
A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak,
Who can forget the wonderful moment on MSNBC when Brian Williams and a guest from the New York Times Editorial Board assured us that Michael Bloomberg’s $500 million campaign spending worked out to $1 million for each one of the 327 million people in the United States?
That was mind-numbingly stupid, but Bernie Sanders’ press secretary has equaled it, curiously with another 500 million mistake:(Snip for tweet) There are not 500 million Americans, let alone 500 million who go bankrupt each year, let alone 500 million who go bankrupt on account of medical expenses. It is hard to understand where Ms. Gray got her 500 million figure. The actual number
During Sunday night's debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden promised to wreck the American energy industry. That would wreck the American economy. The Houston Chronicle reports:
After Sanders pressed ahead on his pledge to ban hydraulic fracturing across the United States in a bid to address climate change, Biden uttered the words, "no new fracking."
But it was unclear if he was joining with Sanders or simply restating his own plan to ban new oil and gas drilling on federal lands, something that he and other Democratic candidates like former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg
A paper by four Chinese professors concludes that high temperature and high relative humidity significantly reduce the transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus. This conclusion is based on a study of all 100 Chinese cities with more than 40 cases of the virus.
The professors found that a one degree Celsius increase in temperature and a one percent increase in relative humidity lower “R” by 0.0383 and 0.0224, respectively. “R” is the effective reproductive number of the virus. As I understand it, if that number drops below 1.0, it means the virus is dying off faster than it is reproducing.
Until watching The Hunt last weekend, I hadn’t gone to an exploitation film since I stopped writing them in the early 2000s. They used to be fun, male-driven, action-filled rather than violent, and sexy. My first credit, Electra (1996), starred ex-Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed, who once drew scores of young men to the local video store. It was one of the last sci-fi thrillers released by legendary producer Roger Corman, who practically patented the “B” picture and knew just where to draw the line.
An Ohio county jail is evaluating the release of hundreds of inmates amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus within the facility.
Judges in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, held special hearings Saturday morning to settle pending cases with plea deals, release inmates into the public, place them on house arrest or send them back to prison, Fox 8 Cleveland reported. “It’s not a matter of if this virus hits us, it’s a matter of when," administrative judge Brendan Sheehan told Cleveland’s WOIO. "If it hits us and the jail, it will cripple our criminal justice system.”
On Monday, several counties in the California Bay Area announced shelter in place order that will begin to be enforced at midnight Tuesday and affect about seven million residents.
Officials in the area hope that the order helps prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the area, which the Los Angeles Times pointed out is the state’s hardest-hit area with 290 cases. It is the first of its kind in the U.S., according to reports and lasts until April 7. The shelter in place order announced Monday includes seven counties in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Besides San Francisco, the order includes Santa Clara, San Mateo,
Dr. Ronny Jackson says Trump
prevented American coronavirus
pandemic on level of Italy, Iran replies
prevented American coronavirus
pandemic on level of Italy, Iran replies
Former White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson praised President Trump Monday night after he announced a list of guidelines that he and the White House coronavirus task force hoped will slow the spread of the pandemic within 15 days. "The president has done everything he needed to do in this case," Jackson told "Hannity". "He’s acted quickly and decisively. He did what he always has done...he went with his instincts."
Democratic debates in times of coronavirus make for even less interesting television than during normal times, whatever that means in the Trump era. In Sunday night’s debate, Bernie Sanders had a double task. For the believers, to make a last pitch that he is the better candidate (which, in terms of the presidency, he clearly is). For the realists, his task was to push the inevitable nominee, Joe Biden, more to the left. He probably achieved neither, as Biden stole the show, by announcing (cleverly) that he will pick a female vice-presidential candidate, a progressive weak point of Sanders (who