Posts on Friday, March 20, 2020
Media outlets bashed President Donald Trump back in January after he implemented a travel ban from China because of the novel coronavirus – a move that many other countries have now followed. The Trump administration first made the announcement Jan. 31, 2020, announcing they would restrict foreign nationals recently in China from entering the U.S. They also announced that some Americans who recently traveled to the country would be put into quarantine for a time upon their arrival back to the U.S. The novel coronavirus first originated in Wuhan, China.Trump’s announcement sparked severe backlash from media outlets who rushed to find experts willing to bash the decision,
Apache Corp. plans Texas layoffs
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Houston-based Apache Corp. is planning a round of layoffs in Midland, Texas.
The oil and gas exploration and production company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter with the state saying that Apache plans to conduct a “mass layoff” at its 303 Veterans Airpark Lane facility in Midland. About 85 employees are affected, with the separation process beginning March 18, according to the WARN letter, which the Texas Workforce Commission released March 20.
"We are lowering our Permian rig count to zero and focusing capital elsewhere in our portfolio...
Eleven Democratic senators called on the Trump administration Thursday to recognize the particular needs of people living with HIV as it responds to the global coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday, the senators warned that the coronavirus “poses a serious health risk” to the estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. who are HIV positive. The letter, which was shared with NBC News, says that “this risk is heightened by barriers to health care access” exacerbated by the White House’s own policies. “Your agency's actions to reduce health care discrimination protections
Yesterday I blogged that Wuhan coronavirus has hampered former Vice President Joe Biden’s fundraising and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). It’s hard for both to compete against President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee since both are swimming are cash. The DNC received a decent boost from billionaire former candidate Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg can transfer $18 million to the DNC since it will come from his campaign. As a citizen, Bloomberg could only donate hundreds of thousands of dollars. Quite a difference!
Weeks, possibly months, of enforced home-dwelling stretch ahead of us. For some, this may seem a wonderful opportunity to enjoy cosy family time — heart-to-heart chats, cupcake-making, board games...But for many, especially those who live alone, it’s a terrifying prospect to have no contact with the outside world. My mother is 87 and lives 100 miles away in sheltered accommodation. My brother is nearby and visits weekly, but still I worry that she might become isolated. Yet I don’t feel I can take my kids up to see her for fear of putting her in danger.
When Mayor de Blasio dragged a half dozen aides and members of his NYPD security detail to his Brooklyn YMCA Monday morning amidst the coronavirus outbreak, fellow fitness enthusiasts were coughing and sneezing—and a mentally ill person was walking around touching the equipment, a gym source said. “It’s crazy that he made his staff and detail come with him to the gym and expose them like that,” the source said.(Snip) There’s also growing frustration from senior aides, who fault the mayor for dithering instead of making decisions, micromanaging instead of leading, and insisting he knows best instead of listening to others,
The largest county in Texas settled a lawsuit with a watchdog group after refusing to release records dealing with noncitizens on its voter rolls.A federal district court in Houston entered a settlement agreement this week between the Harris County voter registrar and the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF). The settlement calls for the county to turn over records on its cancellations of ineligible voters, copies of registration applications that have blank or negative responses to citizenship questions, and all registrar communications with law enforcement regarding ineligible registrants, among other records. Officials from Harris County, the most populous county in Texas, previously testified that "thousands" of noncitizens were discovered
Hospitals in Mass. told to limit ‘nonessential
surgeries’ due to COVID-19, but abortions
still a go replies
surgeries’ due to COVID-19, but abortions
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Hospitals in Massachusetts are being forced to cancel many nonessential surgeries as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.Yet, while colonoscopies and hip replacement surgeries are not happening, abortions are still taking place in the state, Mass Live reported. In a memo mandating that doctors cancel certain procedures to preserve resources and equipment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Elizabeth Kelley, director of the state’s Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, stated that “terminating a pregnancy is not considered a nonessential, elective invasive procedure for the purpose of this guidance.” Kelley added that “the ultimate decision is based on clinical judgment by the caring physician.”
Covid-19 and the Democratic presidential primaries, the two biggest stories of the year so far, reflect a common theme: the death of the progressive left. Looking back, historians may well see late 2019 and very early 2020 as a kind of high-water mark for American progressivism. (Snip) The notion of very open international borders will seem strange and indeed intolerable, as most of the world’s wealthy nations have been looking for ways to keep foreigners out. The new restrictions on movement will not be repealed so quickly or so thoroughly, and for a while the U.S. may restrict movement across
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom estimates 60,000 homeless people will be infected with COVID-19 in the coming months and those people will need a place to recover in isolation. On Wednesday Newsom allocated $150 million in emergency funding to deal with the crisis and announced a plan to house the homeless in hotels and motels across the state. The state would lease the property and local counties would control the operations. According to the governor's office, 950 sites have been identified across 53 counties. "In the protocols of isolating people that may be COVID-positive and may be showing symptoms
A former associate director of a US biotechnology company is facing up to seven years in prison in China after allegedly hiding her coronavirus symptoms and flying from Los Angeles to Beijing in hopes of receiving treatment. The Chinese national, 37, gobbled down anti-fever medicine at LAX to suppress her high temperatures before boarding the 13-hour flight back to her homeland with her husband and son, Chinese authorities said. The mother-of-one, named as Jie Li, worked for Biogen, a multinational firm at the center of an outbreak of the coronavirus in Massachusetts. Around 30 per cent of the confirmed
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker today issued a “stay at home” order for the entire state starting Saturday at 5 p.m. through April 7. (Snip) Residents can still go to the grocery stores, put gas in their cars, take walks outside and make pharmacy runs, the governor said at a Friday afternoon news conference. All local roads, including the interstate highways and tollways, will remain open to traffic, as well. “For the vast majority of you already taking precautions, your lives will not change very much,” Pritzker said of the shelter-in-place directive.
Coronavirus: The Price of Luxury
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As the United States prepares for a second week of lockdown to slow the spread of the Chinese coronavirus (COVID-19), hundreds of people in Italy are dying every day from this disease. And the reason why Italy now has more coronavirus deaths than any other country can be summarized in a single word — luxury.
In the world of fashion, the “Made in Italy” tag has a distinct value associated with luxury and status. Merchants can charge higher prices for clothing, shoes, handbags, and other fashion goods manufactured in Italy, and that value was coveted by certain Chinese entrepreneurs. During the past three decades, more and more Chinese
CNN anchor John King snapped on air Friday over a testy exchange President Donald Trump had with NBC White House Correspondent Peter Alexander during a White House press briefing. The president told Alexander that he was a “terrible reporter” after Alexander asked what Trump would tell Americans who are scared about the coronavirus pandemic. “It was a perfectly valid question and what the president did to Peter Alexander is reprehensible,” King said. The CNN anchor went on to
The Whole of America On March 13, President Trump declared a “whole of America approach” to fighting the coronavirus. And on March 17, he reinforced that point, tweeting, “The world is at war with a hidden enemy. WE WILL WIN!” And at his press conference on March 18, the self-described “wartime president” emphasized, “We’re going to win, we’re going to come back.” Thus we can see, the president is determined to set a tone of militant activist optimism; he pledged a stronger healthcare system in the future, but before we get there, he added, “We have to win the war first.”
A millennial single mom I know happened to be in a supermarket located in a North Shore suburb of Chicago Sunday when Governor J.B. Pritzker announced he had decided to close all of the restaurants and bars in Illinois.
As shoppers began getting news updates on their smartphones, she said there was a dramatic increase in the “intensity” of their shopping. People were moving quickly and scooping large quantities of anything they could get their hands on into their shopping carts. Within minutes, the shelves were nearly bare.
Welcome to scarcity. Welcome to panic. Welcome to everyday socialism.
Before the current panic over the Chinese Virus,
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG announced Thursday that it donated 3 million tablets of the malaria drug Resochin to the United States amid testimonies that it could potentially treat individuals with the deadly Chinese coronavirus.
Resochin, which is made of chloroquine phosphate, is presently not approved for consumption in the U.S., though the company is working with federal public health agencies to secure authorization for its use nationwide.
“Resochin, a product discovered by Bayer in 1934 and indicated for prevention and treatment of malaria, also appears to have broad spectrum antiviral properties and effects on the body’s immune response. New data from initial preclinical and evolving clinical research conducted in China,
“I’d Say You’re a Terrible Reporter!”–
Trump UNLOADS on Fearmongering
NBC Hack Peter Alexander (Video) replies
Trump UNLOADS on Fearmongering
NBC Hack Peter Alexander (Video) replies
President Trump UNLOADED on another far left reporter Friday morning during his daily coronavirus press briefing.NBC’s Peter Alexander was the latest hack reporter determined to use the daily briefing to attack President Trump.Alexander grilled President Trump on the effectiveness of chloroquine on coronavirus. The latest international studies show 100% effectiveness with chloroquine and a Z-Pac mix.Peter Alexander pressed Trump on the chloroquine drug: “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?”
Most Americans who rent their home, many of whom have lost their jobs in the sudden economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak, will not be eligible for eviction protections, despite what President Donald Trump said this week. (SNIP) "That's the problem with (HUD's proposal). It only impacts a very small amount of people. We need big-scale solutions," said Andrea Shapiro of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, a New York-based housing advocacy organization.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that he will sign an executive order mandating 100 percent of New York's workforce must stay home, excluding essential services, as the number of coronavirus cases in the state has spiked.
In a tweet Friday, he said the order would exclude pharmacies, grocery stores, and others.
The announcement came after new figures showed New York state now accounts for 40 percent of coronavirus cases in the U.S, with New York City itself responsible for approximately 30 percent.(Snip) if they have visitors, those individuals will have to be re-screened by taking their temperature. Visitors should wear masks and adhere to social distancing.
On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” former National Security Adviser Susan Rice stated that China does deserve some blame for how it handled the coronavirus outbreak, and “China is not behaving well in trying to blame this on the United States. But the flip side of it is, we are not behaving well when we talk about, as the president does every day, the Chinese virus, the Wuhan flu, and all of these racist descriptions.”
Rice said, “So, there’s a lot of blame to be placed on China in terms of how it handled its processes internally, how they treated their people, how they suppressed information.
Senate Democrats and Republicans say they are eager to pass a third coronavirus economic stimulus bill in a rushed fashion, despite some substantive policy disagreements."I tasked a bipartisan team to reach an agreement by the end of the day today," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday morning.Senate Republicans on Thursday announced a $1 trillion stimulus plan to combat the economic damage caused by the effort to control the coronavirus.The measure includes a plan to help individuals and families below a certain income by sending them direct cash payments of $600-$2400, $300 billion worth of loans
Dianne Feinstein, 3 more senators accused
of dumping major holdings before stock
market plunge replies
of dumping major holdings before stock
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein is reportedly part of a small group of senators who sold off millions of dollars worth of personal stock days before the market crashed due to the coronavirus crisis. The California Democrat and three of her Senate colleagues sold major holdings in February just before the stock market plunge, according to U.S. Senate disclosure records.(Photo) Feinstein, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, all sold off stock around the same time,
A poll released Friday shows President Donald Trump’s approval for his handling of the Chinese coronavirus outbreak is on the rise.
In the figures reported by ABC, a full 55 percent of Americans approve of the president’s management of the crisis, against 43 percent who disapprove.
Trump’s approval on this issue is up from last week, when the numbers were nearly reversed. Only 43 percent approved of Trump’s handling of the pandemic and 54 percent disapproved in last week’s poll.
The poll conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News, using Ipsos’ Knowledge Panel, asked Americans about the disruption to their daily lives
Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is chiding President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak while giving a day-to-day running commentary on his job performance.Her advice includes directing the president to fully implement the Defense Production Act, a measure that increases executive power to direct the private sector to produce needed supplies in a national emergency.(Tweet) “Let’s try this again, @realdonaldtrump:,” Clinton tweeted.
The only US company that manufactures a drug being fast-tracked as a potential treatment for coronavirus suddenly doubled the price earlier this year, data shows. Rising Pharmaceuticals, in New Jersey, increased the price of anti-malarial drug chloroquine from around $3.87 per 250mg pill to $7.66, according to data seen by the Financial Times. Meanwhile the price of a 500mg pill rose from around $10.05 to $19.88. A Rising spokesman told the FT that the price rise was 'coincidental' and that it was reversed when the company realized it could prove useful in defeating coronavirus.
As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country, large urban cities and academic institutions — which typically vote Democratic — have been among the hardest hit. (Snip) And while low-wage workers of all stripes will likely bear the brunt of the economic hardships caused by the spread of the virus, it is black and Hispanic workers — and black women especially — that stand to be negatively impacted the most. According to Pew Research, black and Hispanic voters overwhelmingly lean Democrat. Over 60% of black voters are registered Democrats compared to just 3% that are registered Republicans. The gap among Hispanics is smaller
A face mask supplier began charging $7 for the medical gear that typically costs just 58-cents, according to one hospital CEO, as hospitals throughout the US began seeing an influx of Covid-19 patients this week. Scott Steiner, CEO of Phoebe Putney Health System, said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that his staff has been forced to create additional masks made of cloth to place over their N95 masks—which are typically discarded after each use—to extend their usability amid a severe shortage in medical supplies. The CEO said at least one supplier for the N95 masks “want $7
Three soldiers guarding the Sino-North Korean border in Chagang Province recently died after suffering from fevers and breathing problems, Daily NK has learned.
All of the soldiers were in their late teens and early twenties and were stationed at a sentry post near the Wiwon Dam in Chagang Province,
(Snip) Their death sparked panic among the military’s leadership, which initially believed that the men had died of COVID-19 infections.
Hospital and military authorities, however, ultimately ruled that the deaths were caused by acute pneumonia, not the novel coronavirus, and even claimed that the deaths were the result of “pre-existing conditions,” not COVID-19.
A bill mandating paid sick leave and expanding federal unemployment benefits that won resounding bipartisan approval in the House and Senate received no support from Wisconsin’s Republicans, who say it was rushed and would put further strain on small businesses.
The legislation, signed into law by President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening, expands federal unemployment benefits and mandates employers provide paid sick leave to employees along with a host of other measures to ease the economic hardships the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has wrought upon many Americans.
Kitty O'Meara, Author of "And the People
Stayed Home," Opens Up About Writing
That Viral Poem replies
Stayed Home," Opens Up About Writing
That Viral Poem replies
Kitty O'Meara is the poet laureate of the pandemic. Her untitled prose poem, which begins with the line, "And the people stayed home," has been shared countless times, on countless backgrounds, with countless fonts, since its first posting. It was most widely popularized by Deepak Chopra, and has since been shared by everyone from Bella Hadid to radio stations in Australia. The poem has become shorthand for a silver-linings perspective during the coronavirus outbreak—the hope that something good can come out of this collective state of "together, apart.”(Snip)And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games,
Over the past week, President Donald Trump has been uniting the country behind the fight against the coronavirus.That was not apparent at first, with former Vice President Joe Biden plugging his own plan, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) saying Trump should be replaced, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) ignoring him entirely. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) compared Trump to Hitler last Sunday, an astonishingly tone-deaf attack in a time of crisis. But the tide had already begun to turn last Friday, when Trump appeared with business leaders in the Rose Garden as he declared a national emergency.
The surge in layoffs prompted by the coronavirus is leading to urgent calls in Washington to end a program that encourages big corporations to hire immigrant STEM graduates, often Chinese, who frequently get paid less than U.S. workers.Several immigration reform groups said that jobs during the crisis should go to U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates, not guest workers.
“Government leaders should seize the opportunity to hit the ‘reset button’ and ensure that American workers get the first crack at jobs across the economic spectrum,” said Matt O’Brien, research director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
With all the time many of us are having to spend away from work and school, at least we can now squeeze in a few minutes to fill out the 2020 U.S. Census. We did ours the other day. On the plus side, the government website is user-friendly and fast. (Snip) But now under “white” you are asked to be more specific. Says Uncle Sam: “The category ‘White’ includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. French, Iranian, Slavic, Cajun, and Chaldean.”
The Bernie Sanders revolution is about to wind down and be sold for spare parts. This is happening in part because Sanders suffers from an unwillingness to fight for it.
Many of Sanders’s supporters are going to be bitter that Joe Biden is defeating him while constantly lying and dissembling about his own record as a senator and about his own positions since then. As the race narrowed to two men, Sanders has hammered Biden for his votes related to the Iraq War, for his endorsement of cutting America’s main entitlement programs like Social Security, and on a number of other issues such as gay marriage.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that the deadline for filing federal taxes will move from April 15 to July 15 -- a move to ease the burden the coronavirus outbreak has put on individuals and the economy.
"At @realDonaldTrump’s direction, we are moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties," he tweeted. (Tweet) He clarified that taxpayers could still file for refunds now, tweeting: "I encourage all taxpayers who may have tax refunds to file now to get your money."
The move had been expected in some form since earlier this month.
On Wednesday, President Trump held another grim press conference to inform the public he was deploying wartime powers to fight the impending coronavirus threat. Several members of the White House press corps responded by squandering what little time available to them by lecturing the president about what they deem to be appropriate names for the virus.
“If we must have an absurd debate on whether it’s racist to refer to the ‘Chinese virus,’ fine, but is it too much to ask that purportedly objective reporters not take a side in that debate?” asked National Review editor Rich Lowry. “Judging from today’s press conference the answer is, ‘Yes, of course
Republicans are eager to hear from Senate colleagues who sold stock shares before the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that sent the economy spiraling south. Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, said Friday lawmakers are expected to live by the law. His comments come after a report emerged that Sen. Richard Burr, North Carolina Republican, and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Georgia Republican, sold off stock interests in February ahead of the Dow taking a plunge due to the economic upheaval caused by quarantines and fear of the virus spread.(Snip) Mr. Burr’s sales came just prior to a speech he gave in February
Two more senators made hefty stock sales before the coronavirus pandemic tanked global markets, records revealed as two other lawmakers who dumped millions in shares faced mounting calls to resign. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Jim Inhofe sold as much as $6.4 million worth of stock in the weeks before panic about the coronavirus sparked a worldwide selloff, according to disclosure filings first reported by the New York Times. The additional revelations came amid widespread outrage toward GOP senators Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler, who reportedly traded shares after getting briefings on the coronavirus threat. Feinstein, a California Democrat, sold $500,001 to $1 million worth of stock
No. No. No. No. No. The answer from the American people across the political spectrum to the airline industry's plea for a $50 billion taxpayer-subsidized bailout in the Age of WuFlu must be "Hell, no!" times 50 billion. Why should working-class American citizens being laid off from restaurants, bars, grocery stores, ports, gyms, entry-level service jobs and gig economy contracts rescue one of the beltway swamp's most powerful corporate lobbies
After he swept the Arizona, Florida and Illinois primaries on Tuesday night, presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden delivered a victory speech to a camera. For obvious reasons, there was no audience. Speaking in a quiet, somber tone, he ended his speech saying, “Thank you all. Thank you all for listening.” He stood there, motionless, staring ahead as if in a trance. Was he waiting for applause?
Entering from stage right came Jill Biden to break this strange silence. Somewhat startled by her sudden appearance, he smiles, says “Thanks. Thanks.”
Jeff Sessions, President Trump's former Attorney General, who went out with rancor from Trump for opening the gates to the Mueller investigation and impeachment, is now running for his old Senate seat in Alabama.
President Trump has endorsed his GOP rival.
Sessions, with admirable restraint, has stated over and over that he nevertheless supports Trump and his agenda -- which is perfectly credible, given that he was Trump's earliest high-profile supporter. All the same, it's pretty impressive, given Trump's refusal to forgive.
Political tectonic plates are shifting as progs like Ilhan Omar start praising Trump’s crisis management (and as his polls rise)
At first, the growing wave of praise for President Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus catastrophe seemed like pigs flying, an unexpected and rare event. But now that the governors of deep blue California and New York have been joined by Ilhan Omar in admiring his handling of the crisis, we can see that forces far larger than individuals going rogue from Trump Derangement Syndrome are at work. TDS is being swamped by the reality of an existential crisis.
In long-ago days before the novel coronavirus swept Europe — last week, last month — the contagion many leaders in the region most feared was a virulent strain of nationalist populism. In recent years, authoritarian-style leaders like Hungary's Viktor Orban have entrenched themselves in the heart of Europe, seeking to stifle institutions like free media and an independent judiciary, at the same time blaming migrants for a host of social ills. Already, the European Union had been tested by Brexit and internal discord. Now, as grand boulevards and great cathedrals stand empty and scarce hospital beds inexorably fill, those same leaders wonder
The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted significant damage and panic worldwide. Overseas, thousands have already died. Domestically, massive school and business closures, flight restrictions, as well as our gyrating stock market speak to the economic disruption and dislocation affecting millions across the country.
Yet, there’s been a positive development amidst the COVID-19 frenzy: The outbreak has emphasized the vital importance of good hygiene and commonsense health practices as an essential way to save lives.
For decades and decades, politicians who propose and promote big government have done all they could to wean Americans off the convenience and freedom of cars and pack them like sardines into subways and buses, so they may travel to and from work in communal harmony. As George Will has written, “the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.”
Will added, “Automobiles encourage people to think they – unsupervised, untutored, and unscripted – are masters of their fates. The automobile encourages people in delusions of adequacy,
When Vice-President Pence named Dr.Deborah Birx as response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force on February 27, 2020, she was hardly a household name, but the Trump Administration found a reassuring leader in this fight.
Dr. Birx has impressive background and steady demeanor that brings a calming influence to the fight against coronavirus. She was a colonel in the US Army and has an impressive career in clinical immunology, including over a decade of work on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. In 2014 she was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate as
Home sweet home? More like home fresh hell. New York City parents are losing their minds trying to balance working from home and playing teacher to their cooped-up kids amid the coronavirus outbreak. Schools shut down Monday, leaving mom and dad to their own devices.“It’s definitely chaos,” says a 37-year-old Brooklyn lawyer and mom of two, who asked to withhold her name for work reasons. “Everything is out. Toys are everywhere. It’s complete mayhem in here. Do you know how hard it is to research and write while I have
Jeepers Veepers!
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Prior to gaining national notoriety as California’s junior U.S. senator, Kamala Harris was widely considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. She spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 as her state’s attorney general, entering to the tune of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
Just as Barack Obama had been eight years earlier, Harris was being groomed for bigger things beyond her state’s borders. She was featured by McClatchy in a profile of the new Gen Xer politicians along with Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
It was thought that the spotlight would do for her what it did for Obama, transforming her from a local prospect
In this unprecedented crisis brought to us by the lying Communists in China, the COVID-19 pandemic panic has gone too far. America's truckers, the people we rely on to restock our empty grocery shelves, are being treated like disease vectors and worse, they've been forgotten.
The state of Pennsylvania thought it was a good idea to shut down all the rest stops where truckers sleep, including closing the bathrooms—until the trucking lobby caught the ear of the president. Thirteen rest stops have been reopened in Pennsylvania, but our truckers are being forced to use porta-Johns that are far dirtier than the public bathrooms. How is this helping?
A worsening coronavirus pandemic has driven European leaders to revive border controls within the European Union after three decades of efforts to abolish internal borders within the continent.
“The governments are really scared that the virus does not spread, so they are afraid of allowing any kind of freedom of movement,” Kinga Brudzinska, a foreign policy analyst at GLOBSEC in Slovakia, told the Washington Examiner.
Italy’s stunning struggle to cope with the new contagion spurred Hungary and Austria to close borders with their southern neighbor on March 11. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hoped that a ban on entry into the EU would undercut
The coronavirus is quickly taking a sledgehammer to the historically low unemployment rates that have defined much of President Trump's time in office.
The pandemic's toll on the economy is now a key focus of Washington’s response to the growing public health crisis, with Congress and the White House scrambling to provide relief for struggling workers and businesses.
“It’s going to be a big problem,” said Jay Shambaugh, director of the Hamilton Project and a senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Unemployment is going to be where we see the economic damage, and is rising, frankly, faster than we expected just a week or two ago.”
A Washington Post fact-checker ruled Thursday that Joe Biden hadn't lied when he said he supported a fracking ban during Sunday's Democratic presidential debate. Rather, Biden had simply "described his fracking stance inaccurately."
The Post gave Biden "Zero Pinocchios" for saying during the most recent Democratic debate that he opposed fracking entirely. Instead, the paper pointed to the Biden campaign's explanation that the candidate had "misspoken" and that "his position was the same as ever," opposing fracking only on public lands.
Yesterday, amid the ongoing economic and social disruptions caused by the coronavirus, rising numbers of infections and deaths globally, and widespread closures of schools and other extreme measures imposed across the country, the mainstream media decided we should have a national debate about whether it’s racist for President Trump to call it the “Chinese virus.”
In what can only be described as a moment of unconscious self-parody, the media pretended not to understand why Trump would refer to the virus in geographic terms—as if they’d never heard of the Spanish Flu, West Nile Virus, Ebola, Zika, Lyme Disease, or the many other diseases named for their places of origin.
Illinois Democratic Rep, Dan Lipinski, known as “the last pro-life Democrat,” who barely survived an attempted purge by the progressives dominating his party, in 2020 has succumbed to a second primary challenge from Marie Newman, a pro-abortion progressive activist more in tune with the pro-death beliefs of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Crises have a way of shocking us out of complacency to consider how fragile and vulnerable civilization still is, and always will be. In the short run, that means retreating to humanity’s basic survival impulses and taking a triage approach to our priorities. In the long run, however, COVID-19 should prompt some reflection on our vulnerabilities and how to limit them in the future. One in particular bears rethinking: our ever-growing urban concentration and dependence on high-density, centrally managed mass transit.
The relentless march of urbanization, in the United States and around the world, has been coming for a long time.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is a direct threat to the public safety of the City of Brotherly Love. Philly PD Cpl. James O’Connor, shot and killed in the line of duty Friday, didn’t have to die. If not for Krasner treating violent and dangerous criminals with kid gloves, O’Connor would be alive today.
O’Connor’s alleged killer, Hassan Elliot, should never have been on the streets. He was cut loose and slapped on the wrist by Krasner’s office time and again. Every time Elliot was arrested for serious felonies, Krasner’s indifference and ideology prevented the government from doing its duty to protect the public.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday issued an executive order that will close schools, restaurants, bars and gyms in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Speaking to reporters from the state Capitol, Abbott said the order prohibits dining or eating at restaurants and bars, but “to go” orders are still permitted. He said that Texans must limit social gatherings to 10 people and may not visit nursing homes except for critical care. “Working together, we must defeat COVID-19 with the only tool that we have available to us – we must strangle its expansion by reducing the ways that we are currently transmitting it,”
With the American population fighting over a single precious roll of toilet paper amid the coronavirus outbreak, police in North Carolina uncovered nearly 18,000 pounds of commercial bathroom paper products inside a stolen tractor-trailer on Wednesday.
Police said they aren't releasing the name of the driver because the topic of toilet paper is “fairly sensitive right now.”
"After further investigation, it was determined the 53-foot Hyundai dry-van trailer was reported stolen locally and was being utilized to transport nearly 18,000 pounds of commercial bathroom paper products," the Guilford County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
Coronavirus shutdowns are forcing historically unprecedented changes to celebrations of Easter and Passover, with many religious institutions canceling or moving their services online.
Easter, the most important feast in Christianity, falls on April 12 this year. In the Catholic Church, where the day is preceded by Holy Week, which includes a series of special masses and other services, several dioceses are already canceling the public celebration of those events.
Catholic bishops in Ohio on Monday decided to cancel all public Easter masses in the state, a decision made in keeping with Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s ban on all public gatherings of 100 or more people.
CNN commentator Chris Cuomo admonished President Trump for repeatedly calling the coronavirus "the Chinese virus."
“Calling it the Chinese virus or the Wuhan virus or the Kung Flu. Listen, you may think it's clever, but it's hurting,” Cuomo said on his nightly show on Wednesday. “The idea, ‘Well, it did come from China.’ Then why doesn't Fauci and other top health officials, why don’t they call it that? You know why? Because it could have come from anywhere.”
The virus, which has sparked a global pandemic, is believed to have originated in an animal market in Wuhan, China.
Trump has said he uses the phrase "Chinese virus" for accuracy purposes.
Apparently, American manufacturing workers and scientists weren’t good enough to help America through the coronavirus crisis and we could only get through it with the help of those that caused it: China. That’s according to Beijing-loving New York Times columnist Tom Friedman during a Thursday night appearance on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time.
\\ Just after noting that there would be an “explosion” in more domestic manufacturing of essential supplies needed in a pandemic once this crisis was over, Friedman immediately defended the communist regime from the current round of denunciations
Fox News medical correspondent Dr. Marc Siegel answered your questions about the coronavirus pandemic on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. Question: How safe is it when I am grocery-shopping to not have a mask? Someone could have just coughed or sneezed before I got there? The question comes as a new study suggests that the novel coronavirus can remain in the air for up to three hours, and live on surfaces such as plastic and stainless steel for up to three days.
CLAIM: The coronavirus outbreak hit the U.S. because President Donald Trump “eliminated” President Barack Obama’s pandemic office.VERDICT: FALSE.Former vice president Joe Biden claimed on Twitter on Thursday that the U.S. is “paying the price” of coronavirus because President Trump “eliminated” an office that dealt with pandemics. (Tweet) Biden is wrong — very wrong. This falsehood almost deserves an entirely separate category of ignominy because of its ability to divide and frighten people in the middle of a crisis that requires social cooperation and trust.The truth — as explained earlier this week in the Washington Post by former National Security Council official Tim Morrison — is that the office was
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued an order for all 40 million Californians to stay at home Thursday night due to the coronavirus outbreak. “This is not a permanent state, this is a moment in time,” Newsom said in a news conference. “We will look back at these decisions as pivotal.
The directive goes into effect Thursday evening. Those found violating the law could be fined up to $1,000.
A Georgia senator has become the second lawmaker to have reportedly dumped millions in stock just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic as she was getting coronavirus warnings. According to The Daily Beast, Sen Kelly Loeffler and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, reportedly sold $3.1million in stock with the first sale in the company Resideo Technologies worth between $50,001 and $100,000 on January 24. That same day Loeffler's committee, the Senate Health Committee hosted a private, all senators briefing with administration officials, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director and Anthony Fauci.