News of the Week for Mar. 29^th, 2020

• Corona Virus
• Election 2020
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Corona Virus

AKA Xinnie the Flu’s Wuhan Bat Soup Death Plague ChiCom Bio-Weapon of DOOM (with Sprinkles*)

* The sprinkles are also cursed.

 

 

The Closing of 21 Million Cell Phone Accounts in China May Suggest a High CCP Virus Death Toll
Over 21 million cell phone accounts in China were canceled in the past three months while 840,000 landlines were closed, Beijing authorities announced on March 19. Deaths due to the CCP virus may have contributed to the number of account closings.

We can no longer give respirators to anyone aged over SIXTY warns Israeli doctor working in coronavirus epicentre of northern Italy
Dr Gal Peleg, in Parma, said machines are low in numbers so must be limited

Timeline: The Regulations—and Regulators—That Delayed Coronavirus Testing
There have been three major regulatory barriers so far.

The Comprehensive Timeline of China’s COVID-19 Lies
On today’s menu: a day-by-day, month-by-month breakdown of China’s coronavirus coverup and the irreparable damage it has caused around the globe.

Italy, Numbers, and Confusion: Why Is Italy the Hotbed of COVID-19
Stripped of the panic, SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 — the new betacoronavirus that originated in China, and the disease the virus caused — are really fascinating, an exciting and important scientific detective story that someone, someday, will get to tell without ritualized stomping by various political factions. Probably not today, but someday.

Shredded T-Shirts Used as Toilet Paper Are Backing Up Sewer Systems
Thanks to all of you numbskulls who bought a million rolls of toilet paper in the last few weeks, some California towns are experiencing sewer problems because people are using disinfectant wipes, paper towels, and even shredded T-shirts and then flushing them.

The Very Low Number of Russia’s Reported COVID-19 Cases Raises Questions of a Cover-Up
Vladimir Putin is apparently doing a bang-up job in containing the coronavirus. In fact, he has performed spectacularly.

The doctor who helped defeat smallpox explains what’s coming
We can beat the novel coronavirus—but first, we need lots more testing.

Coronavirus: Canada refuses to send athletes to Tokyo Olympics unless Games postponed
Canada won’t have a team at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics unless the Games are postponed — a bold move that would at least give Canadian athletes some sense of direction in the coming months.

Report: China May Have Massively Underreported Coronavirus Deaths
By looking at the number of cell phone users in the communist country, The Epoch Times concludes that China lied about the death toll caused by the new coronavirus. And we’re not just talking about a factor of 5 either; we’re talking very serious numbers here. Numbers that would explain why Italy is currently losing more than 600 of its citizens per day to the new Chinese virus.

IOC member says that 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed due to coronavirus pandemic
Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks.

New Totalitarian Pandemic Power-Grab Idea: Permanently Close Some City Streets to Cars
These past few weeks have been far too filled with various attempts at crisis-induced power grabs by politicians, which isn’t historically unusual. A pandemic is the kind of thing that calls for extraordinary measures but politicians almost (I’m being generous there) always try to get a little too extraordinary with their responses. It is almost as if they are genetically coded to try and take a mile every time a frightened public offers them an inch.

Coronavirus and the future of living and working in America
By late spring, the most severe impacts from the coronavirus may be fading, but its impact on how we live and work will not go away. Indeed, many of the most relevant trends — including the rise of dispersed work and living arrangements — were already emerging even before the pandemic emerged.

YouTuber Who Licked Public Toilet Seat Now Claims He’s Tested Positive For Coronavirus
Guaranteed Darwin Award winner.

The Problems with the Democrats’ New Proposal
I have some reservations about some of the proposals put forward by Senate Republicans. But at the very least, most of the proposals are meant to address the current crisis. The Democrats, on the other hand, seem intent on using this opportunity to push everything they ever wanted into a 1,119-page bill. To make it work, they added the words “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus” here and there, hoping no one would notice.

FDA issues hand sanitizer manufacturing guidelines
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Friday two guidelines regarding the temporary manufacturing of certain alcohol-based hand sanitizer products in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Tokyo Olympics Indefinitely Postponed, Says IOC Member
One of the most oppressive events looming over the head of Japanese culture is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Why? Because it means that Japan would have to further alter their culture to accommodate the standards of Western ideologues. We’ve already seen them culling porn magazines from store shelves, and trying to clean up their act for all the media attention they would have received had the Olympics moved forward as scheduled, but thankfully it’s been postponed… indefinitely.

Police break up gatherings as govt warns of ‘unlimited’ fines if coronavirus rules broken
Latest updates after Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduces even tougher restrictions to battle the spread of COVID-19.

‘Democrat Totalitarianism’: NJ Releases Prisoners From Jail Over Wuhan Coronavirus But Threatens Residents For Disobeying Lockdown Orders
Under an order by New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, up to 1,000 prisoners in the state have been temporarily released in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Texas Lt. Gov.: I’m Willing To Risk My Life To Save The Economy For My Children
I wrote three posts yesterday about the insanity of going back to work soon but a Twitter pal, watching this clip, cut to the heart of it in one line: “Every cult eventually becomes a death cult.”

We Need a Hard Pause, Followed by a Soft Start
Policy makers need to start planning for a careful and gradual return to normalcy.

Clark County shut down nonessential businesses
Clark County’s Business License Department had shut down 11 nonessential businesses during the first two days of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s emergency order, according to county spokesman Dan Kulin.

Democrats Have Misread the Moment
In the effort to reassert some influence over negotiations involving the breadth and scope of Coronavirus relief legislation, Republicans made a bad bet. They played politics, cynically appealing to the threat posed by a ballooning debt at a time when fiscal prudence is a tertiary concern. Republicans were duly savaged in the press and, ultimately, retreated from this indefensible terrain. The magnitude of the crisis demanded it. Democrats observed all this and promptly went making all the GOP’s same mistakes.

Sisolak bans gatherings of 10 or more people
Gov. Steve Sisolak has signed an emergency directive banning gatherings of 10 or more people in public spaces including parks, social clubs, libraries and parking lots.

Sisolak bars malaria drugs for coronavirus patients
Nevada’s governor has signed an emergency order barring the use of anti-malaria drugs for someone who has the coronavirus.

The War on Coronavirus Advances on Five Different Fronts
Today on the menu: the different forms the world is utilizing to battle the coronavirus, from massively stepping up respirator production to creating treatments for those with the virus.

Nevada governor bans malaria drugs for coronavirus patients
Nevada’s governor on Tuesday banned the use of anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients.

Nevada Governor Bans Use of Promising Drug Chloroquine to Fight Coronavirus
Several days after President Trump touted the drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as promising treatments for COVID-19, the governor of Nevada has signed an emergency order barring the use of the drugs to fight the disease.

White House, Congress agree on $2 trillion virus rescue bill
The White House and Senate leaders of both major political parties have agreed on an unprecedented $2 trillion measure to rush aid to businesses, workers and a health care system slammed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Global Rush for Trump-Backed Virus Drug Sparks India Export Ban
Move comes as malaria drug has seen a global run on supplies

There Is No Quarantine for Stupidity
Below, our Charlie Cooke links to an explanation of why chainsaws are sold with a warning tag that tells users not to hold the wrong end. “It’s often cheaper, and simpler, to warn consumers about things that many may find obvious than it is to defend a defective product lawsuit.”

Patient Infected With Two Strains of COVID-19 In Iceland
It’s been confirmed that an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 in Iceland has been infected by two strains of the virus simultaneously. The second strain is a mutation of the original novel coronavirus. It is thought that this could be the first recorded dual infection case of this kind.

Coronavirus: Briton, 21, with no pre-existing health conditions dies after contracting COVID-19
A 21-year-old woman is believed to be the youngest person with no pre-existing health conditions to have died after contracting coronavirus in the UK.

China’s symptom-free coronavirus carriers raise fears of new wave of infections
The existence of a substantial but unknown number of asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus in China has raised concerns among the public that people could still be spreading COVID-19 without knowing they are sick.

A Hard Look at the Remaining Hospital Capacity across America
On the menu today: States are racing against the clock to increase capacity, but they might not be fast enough; what steps states are taking in preparation; and some unfortunate news from the direction of the New York Jets.

Communist Quality Control: Beijing Sends 150,000 Wuhan Virus Testing Kits to Prague, 80% Fail
The Communist thugs in charge of China have been trying to have it two ways on coronavirus: Playing the aggrieved victim of racism/biological-warfare/whatever, and acting like the international bigshot who, having solved the crisis at home, is now eager to help other nations around the world.

Denver mayor reverses order to close liquor stores, marijuana dispensaries
Hours after Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced liquor stores and recreational marijuana dispensaries would close across the city in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus, his office reversed course, a report said.

Spanish Military Finds Dead Bodies And Seniors ‘Completely Abandoned’ In Care Homes
The Spanish military has found older residents of some care homes “completely abandoned” and even “dead in their beds,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles said in a television interview on Monday.

Brazilian Gangs Impose Curfew in Rio Amid COVID-19 Pandemic – Report
Criminal gangs have reportedly imposed curfews in some of Rio-de-Janeiro’s favelas amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Brazilian government restricted the use of public transport, but has not officially laid out a plan to keep people off the streets.

Maduro Regime’s Prisons May Become Coronavirus Breeding Grounds
In Venezuela, given the spread of COVID-19, the prison population may suffer greater health complications than what they have already been suffering for several years

Wuhan Virus Watch: New Orleans May be “Hot Spot” Because of Mardi Gras
Hot spots around the country and around the world.

Drones, apps and packed lunches: The latest on big tech’s COVID-19 response
Microsoft makes sandwiches and Intel empties its factories of protective gear

Fauci: We Don’t Make The Timeline On Reopening For Business, The Virus Makes The Timeline
Military commanders like James Mattis are known to caution about battlefield strategies that “the enemy gets a vote.” This is an epidemiological version of that.

Trump looking to put troops near Canadian border amid coronavirus fears
American government officials inside Donald Trump’s White House are actively discussing putting troops near the Canadian borders in light of U.S. border security concerns around the coronavirus pandemic, sources tell Global News.

Masks and More
In my Impromptus yesterday, I linked to an article in the Washington Post headed “U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic”

Coronavirus Update: New York Hospitals Stressed, Testing Continues Apace
New York now has more confirmed cases of coronavirus than Iran and France. Late Wednesday night, the Senate passed a spending package aimed at mitigating the economic harms of the pandemic, but governor Andrew Cuomo argued that the bill does not provide enough money to his state’s emergency medical efforts. The legislation allocates $3.8 billion to New York, but Cuomo says the state faces a budget shortfall as high as $15 billion. Nonetheless, Cuomo indicated that the city’s partial lockdown has been effective, saying in a briefing that “the evidence suggests that the density control measures may be working.”

Mike DeWine and Andrew Cuomo Give the Establishments Their Moment
Different moments thrust different types of politicians to the fore. Over the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, a number of state governors have attracted particular attention for their proactive responses to the crisis. The most prominent of these on the Republican and Democratic sides of the aisle, respectively, have been Ohio’s Mike DeWine and New York’s Andrew Cuomo. They are the unlikeliest of folk heroes, but there are reasons why this particular moment plays to their strengths.

Iceland scientists found 40 mutations of the coronavirus, report says
Scientists in Iceland found 40 mutations of the coronavirus among people with the deadly bug in the country — and that seven infections came from people who attended the same soccer match in the UK, according to a report.

In Iran, false belief a poison fights virus kills hundreds
Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.

PM Boris Johnson tests positive for coronavirus
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus, Downing Street has said.

Draft hospital letter leaks, outlining who gets ventilators in a shortage
A draft letter outlining which patients would be prioritized if Henry Ford Health System runs out of ventilators or Intensive Care Unit beds, was leaked on social media Thursday night.

Social distancing is slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
As governments around the world have pushed their citizens away from populated places to slow the spread of Covid-19, they may not have realized that they were also combatting other infectious diseases, such as the seasonal flu.

US was more prepared for pandemic than any other country, Johns Hopkins study found
The United States was ranked the best-prepared country in the world to handle a pandemic in late 2019 by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHCHS) — an assessment seemingly at odds with claims by Democrats that the Trump administration left the country vulnerable to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

China Supplied Faulty Coronavirus Test Kits to Spain, Czech Republic
The majority of rapid test coronavirus test kits supplied by China to Spain and the Czech Republic are faulty, local news outlets reported.

Imperial College Study Author Clarifies On Death Projections: Our Model Hasn’t Changed. Your Behavior Has.
Ah, well then. My mistake.

Study Of 1918 Flu: Cities That Imposed Social Distancing Performed No Worse Economically Than Those That Didn’t — And Did Better Afterward
Something new and timely from three economists who work for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and MIT, respectively.

China Claims To Be Winning The Wuhan Flu War — But Should We Believe Them?
Good question, no? Here’s the proper way to approach any claims by China’s leadership at any time, but especially after the past few months. If Beijing says, “Good morning,” immediately open a window to check it out.

The Universal Truth of Coronavirus
Anyone who is less worried than you are about they or their loved ones catching the coronavirus is naive, reckless, uninformed, oblivious, and/or only cares about the economy, money, and profit, and not human lives.

Germany alarmed by triage of patients in Alsatian hospitals
“Anyone over 75 is no longer intubated,” headlines the Frankfürter Allgemeine Zeitung. “German specialists publish an alarming report on Strasbourg”, underlines the Tagesspiegel. In France, “we now only help the oldest patients to die”, adds Die Welt.

Poll: 91 Percent of Americans “Staying Home As Much As Possible” to Fight Spread of Coronavirus
Don’t be fooled by last week’s videos of heedless spring-breakers shrugging at the possibility of catching and spreading the coronavirus.

Will COVID-19 Mark the End of European Liberalism?
Understandably, given its potential for large scale loss of life and severe economic disruption, coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic has so far focused on its short-term health and economic impact. Eventually, however, we will have to start thinking about the longer-term repercussions of the virus—particularly its political fall-out. According to the social science literature, there appears to be a positive correlation between the prevalence of disease and an increase in authoritarian-nationalist political views.1 This could have important ramifications in continental Europe, where several of the countries at the epicentre of the outbreak were already dealing with the rise of authoritarian-nationalist opposition parties and have upcoming elections. The possibility of the EU’s three largest economies (Germany, France, and Italy) shifting toward authoritarian-nationalist politics, and upending the liberal settlement of the world’s biggest economic block, means the political fall-out from COVID-19 could influence events around the world for decades to come.

Finnish government closes off infected Helsinki, capital region from rest of country to stem the spread of virus
Police in southern Finland began Friday to enforce the new regulation aimed at ceasing all unnecessary human traffic to and from Uusimaa, the region that includes the Nordic nation’s capital, Helsinki.

Urns in Wuhan far exceed death toll, raising more questions about China’s tally
A single mortuary has had 5,000 urns delivered over the past two days, double the city’s reported coronavirus death toll

Our Choice: A Third Quarter Rebound or a Lost Decade
The anguish in people’s voices as they call our office every day is heart-breaking. Many are wondering how they can pay their bills, whether their job will still exist in a week, whether their retirement savings have been decimated or whether they’ll lose the shop they’ve spent their lifetimes and life savings to build.

Recent Wuhan coronavirus death numbers in the U.S.
Yesterday, March 27, there were 401 reported deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus in the U.S., according to Worldometer. Here are the daily numbers for the past five days: 140, 225, 247, 268, and 401.

Rhode Island Calls Out the National Guard to Hunt for New Yorkers Who Have Entered the State
Gov. Gina Raimondo (D-R.I.) has a message for any New Yorkers who want to come to visit her state: keep out.

Dancing dean: NYU admin sends bizarre video to students demanding refunds
The dean of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts reportedly sent a video of herself dancing in her home in response to students demanding a refund.

Mexican governor sparks outrage after claiming poor are “immune” to coronavirus
A state governor in Mexico sparked outrage Wednesday when he claimed poor people are immune to the coronavirus.

California once had mobile hospitals and a ventilator stockpile. But it dismantled them
They were ready to roll whenever disaster struck California: three 200-bed mobile hospitals that could be deployed to the scene of a crisis on flatbed trucks and provide advanced medical care to the injured and sick within 72 hours.

Trump Administration Pushes UN To Name Wuhan As The Origin Point Of The Coronavirus (And China Is Furious)
The United Nations security council has been trying to put together a joint statement about the coronavirus. The Unites States decided to push for some clarity in that statement about where and when the virus began, i.e. Wuhan, China in November of last year. Those edits have outraged the Chinese government which called the statements “groundless accusations.”

New Yorkers are throwing “corona potlucks” and visiting “speakeasies”
Quarantine? Is that a drink?

Italy Takes a Turn for the Worse
After five days of apparent improvement, Italy’s coronavirus outbreak worsened Friday, when the country reported more than 900 deaths

South Korea Provides Lessons, Good and Bad, on Coronavirus Response
Early international media reporting on the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in South Korea was both alarming and alarmist.

UC tells students “do not” say “Chinese Virus” and “do not allow” others to say it either
The University of California system has issued a set of guidelines directing students and employees how to speak about the coronavirus from Wuhan, China.

Gov. DeWine: FDA’s “reckless” decision limits Battelle’s PPE mask sterilizing technology to only 10k a day
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, along with Lt. Governor Jon Husted, have released a statement expressing frustration after they say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to limit the use of new technology to sterilize desperately-needed surgical masks.

Estimates Show Wuhan Death Toll Far Higher Than Official Figure
As authorities lifted a two-month coronavirus lockdown in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, residents said they were growing increasingly skeptical that the figure of some 2,500 deaths in the city to date was accurate.

The Current Trajectory Of Confirmed Covid-19 Cases In America
In my ongoing coverage and analysis of Covid-19 in America (updated almost daily), I included a much earlier graph with a curve fit, at the time, exponential and with a very high correlation coefficient.

Report: Thousands Of Urns Shipped To Wuhan, Where The Virus Is Supposedly Under Control
If you can’t trust a totalitarian government waging a ruthless propaganda war to tell the truth about the extent of the epidemic within its borders, who can you trust?

Coronavirus outbreak is stretching New York’s ambulance service to breaking point
The coronavirus outbreak sweeping through New York City has pushed its ambulance service close to the breaking point, with hundreds of personnel out ill and emergency calls skyrocketing, supervisors and rank-and-file emergency medical technicians said on Friday.

Coronavirus Update: More Than 2,000 Deaths in U.S.
Seventeen U.S. states have now confirmed more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus, with the national total over 119,000. New York remains the epicenter of the domestic outbreak, with more than 50,000 confirmed cases. Trump floated the idea of placing restrictions on travel in and out of New York, but yesterday he announced he would opt instead to have the CDC issue a “strong travel advisory.” Meanwhile, Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo has ordered state troopers to stop vehicles with New York license plates, collect drivers’ contact information, and inform them that they must self-quarantine for 14 days.

Ten Thousand Coronavirus Deaths in Italy in Three Weeks
On March 7, the coronavirus death toll in Italy was 233. As of March 28, Italy’s coronavirus death toll was 10,023.

Gov. Newsom gives chief justice broad powers during coronavirus
California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who was given unprecedented powers by Gov. Gavin Newsom, voted with other judicial leaders Saturday to recommend that courts use remote hearings to get people out of overcrowded jails.

DHS Adds Workers for Gunmakers, Gun Retailers, and Shooting Ranges to “Essential Critical Infrastructure” List
This is an advisory list, but I expect will have some influence on some local governments.

Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus, Too
The decision by the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., to partly reopen his evangelical university enraged residents of Lynchburg, Va. Then students started getting sick.

 

Election 2020

 

Like It or Not, the Presidential Campaign Is Effectively on Hiatus
Today, the New York Times writes that likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden “has struggled to break through given the flood of news about the outbreak, and he lacks the kind of platform that is available to Mr. Trump, who has appeared daily at White House briefings on the virus.”

Former Biden Staffer Says He Sexually Assaulted Her in the 1990s
Reason.com’s Robby Soave: “Joe Biden Said He Believes All Women. Does He Believe Tara Reade?”

 

Gun Rights

 

Pa. homeowner won’t be charged in fatal shooting of armed intruder
A Pennsylvania homeowner accused of fatally shooting an armed intruder will not face criminal charges, prosecutors said Thursday.

LA County Sheriff halts efforts to close gun stores after county counsel intervention
The Los Angeles County Sheriff told FOX 11 on Tuesday night that enforcement efforts to close down local gun stores have been suspended after intervention from the county’s legal counsel.

Pennsylvania Governor Caves On Gun Store Closures
Well, that didn’t take long at all. It was only yesterday that we were discussing Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s decision to close all of the gun shops in his state during the coronavirus lockdown, deeming them nonessential businesses, and the state supreme court’s ruling that he was able to do so. But it seems that some people just can’t take yes for an answer. Despite his legal victory at the state’s highest court, Wolf has now relented and will allow gun shops to remain in business, albeit on a limited basis.

Connecticut Declares Gun Stores Essential
While Connecticut doesn’t tend to get named with states like California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey when talking about which are the most anti-gun, it’s not for lack of trying on the part of lawmakers in the state. They have a long and storied history of trampling on their citizens’ Second Amendment rights, after all.

Lawsuits Filed Against NC, CA Sheriffs & CA Gov Over COVID-19 Gun Orders
The sheriffs of Wake County, North Carolina and Los Angeles County, California are the subjects of the latest round of lawsuits targeting emergency orders over the coronavirus pandemic, along with California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Report: China Stopped Testing for COVID-19. That’s Why There Are Zero New Cases.
The world has taken heart from news that China has “flattened the curve” reflecting few to no new cases of COVID-19.

Is Sisolak practicing medicine without a license and violating state law?
Gov. Steve Sisolak issued the above press release announcing his order that doctors may not prescribe “two certain drugs” — chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — to treat coronavirus patients.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Dutch Cabinet Postpones New Climate Measures because of Virus
The Dutch government has been in the forefront for “Climate Action”. But a remarkable switch in policy has been caused by the economic reality resulting from “the virus”.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

CV-19 & ObamaPlans
That is, premium deferment options similar to what we’re seeing in the group market

 

War & Terror

 

In Defense of U.S. Generalship
America’s military leaders have a long record of success as operational commanders within the limits set by U.S. policy.

Warplanes: French Fortitude Foils Chinese Power Play
China, over the last eight years, has produced only 118 of its Z10 helicopter gunships. This was China’s first effort at designing a Western style gunship. The low production rate is because there have been problems and China likes to fix most of these “new system” problems before building a lot of something.

US Charges Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, 14 Others With Narco-Terrorism, Corruption And Drug Trafficking
Attorney General Barr announced the charges against Nicolas Maduro and 14 other Venezuelan officials at a press conference Thursday morning.

 

National

 

Proposal to mandate classical architecture in DC a “warning sign” of “genocide,” tweets Yale professor
When a draft executive order mandating new federal buildings in Washington D.C. be built in a classical style was leaked, many of President Donald Trump’s opponents drew a comparison to the architecture under Adolf Hilter’s Nazi Germany

A trick from cancer cells helps rats accept transplanted limbs
Crucially, the technique doesn’t rely on medications that suppress the immune system

Know any college students stuck at home? Send them this anti-socialist reading list
As Americans practice social distancing, many find themselves in need of a good book to read.

UC San Diego workers file class action lawsuit to fight mandatory union dues
Public sector employees have First Amendment right not to subsidize union, lawsuit alleges

Justice Department Weighs in on Trans Athletes
On Tuesday, attorney general William Barr signed a statement of interest disagreeing with the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s (CIAC) decision to allow student-athletes to compete against the gender they identify with, in sporting events and competitions. By extending the category of women to include men, Barr explained, “CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX.”

New feathered dinosaur was one of the last surviving raptors
A new feathered dinosaur that lived in New Mexico 67 million years ago is one of the last known surviving raptor species, according to a new publication in the journal Scientific Reports.

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn dies at 72
Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a physician who became a powerful force in Congress on fiscal matters, died early Saturday morning after a long fight with prostate cancer. He was 72.

The Atmosphere of Uranus Is Literally Leaking Gas Into Space
Poor old Uranus just can’t seem to catch a break. Something already tipped the planet on its side, so its orbit is perpendicular to those of the other Solar System planets. It probably smells terrible. And now scientists have discovered that the atmosphere of Uranus is leaking out into space.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
A cold prison, a suspicious suicide, and federal advisory committees.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Federal Reserve announces extensive new measures to support the economy
The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support households, businesses, and the U.S. economy overall in this challenging time. The coronavirus pandemic is causing tremendous hardship across the United States and around the world. Our nation’s first priority is to care for those afflicted and to limit the further spread of the virus. While great uncertainty remains, it has become clear that our economy will face severe disruptions. Aggressive efforts must be taken across the public and private sectors to limit the losses to jobs and incomes and to promote a swift recovery once the disruptions abate.

The Forgotten 1957 Pandemic and Recession
The 1957 Asian Flu Pandemic killed around 70 to 100 thousand people in the United States (the 57 flu was not as infectious or deadly as COVID-19). In the last quarter of 1957 the growth rate (on an annualized basis) was -4% and in the first quarter of 1958, -10%, the largest such decline in post WWII history, bigger even than in the financial crisis. By the third and fourth quarters of 1958, however, the growth rate had surged back up to nearly 10% and for the year as a whole GDP declined by less than 1%–a bad recession, 3rd worst by depth in post WWII history, but not unprecedented.

What the Fed Is, and Isn’t, Doing
Matthew Yglesias has a good run-down of all the things the Fed is doing to support the economy, from creating new lending facilities to expanding the assets it will purchase as part of its quantitative easing. As Yglesias points out, what the Fed hasn’t done is change its basic policy of seeking 2 percent annual inflation. There are alternatives, such as making the target an average. If we have a deflation during the next few months, for example, the Fed could commit to having above-2-percent inflation afterward.

A Record 3.3 Million Americans Just Filed For Unemployment Benefits
The pace at which Americans are losing their jobs is absolutely breathtaking. According to the Wall Street Journal, the largest number of new claims for unemployment benefits ever recorded in a single week prior to this year was 695,000 during the week that ended October 2nd, 1982.

Trump Admin Indicts Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro On Drug Trafficking Charges
Attorney General Bill Barr’s Justice Department indicted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on drug trafficking charges, naming him as the leader of an international drug cartel.

The Fed’s Cure Risks Being Worse Than the Disease
The economic debate of the day centers on whether the cure of an economic shutdown is worse than the disease of the virus. Similarly, we need to ask if the cure of the Federal Reserve getting so deeply into corporate bonds, asset-backed securities, commercial paper, and exchange-traded funds is worse than the disease seizing financial markets. It may be.

 

International

 

Man who killed armed robber in his Glasgow home is jailed
A man who killed an armed robber after he turned up at his house demanding money has been jailed for five years.

Geologists find lost fragment of ancient continent in Canada’s North
Sifting through diamond exploration samples from Baffin Island, Canadian scientists have identified a new remnant of the North Atlantic craton—an ancient part of Earth’s continental crust.

 

Opinion

 

About Those Self-Evident Truths. . . .
What are we without them?

“Against Democracy”—A Review
Many voters can find democracy exasperating, particularly when watching the TV on the night of an election which hasn’t gone their way. But most would still likely endorse Winston Churchill’s observation that “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” (Unlike most of the quotes attributed to Churchill he actually said this, in the House of Commons on November 11th, 1947, but he didn’t claim it was original to him.) Few citizens in a democracy want to delimit or do away with their democratic institutions entirely, and most are genuinely grateful that they do not live in an undemocratic state.

America’s Tradition of Federalism Leaves Progressives Puzzled
In the wake of the crippling coronavirus ( COVID-19 ), Americans are witnessing a resurgence of Federalism in their local communities unlike any in recent history.

Trump’s Strategic Foresight Is Being Put to the Test
Trump will win or lose on whether he has this foresight.

In Congress, assembled: A virtual Congress creates more problems than it solves
The coronavirus has disrupted life for millions of Americans. People across the country have altered their daily routines in a bid to slow its spread. In many states, bars, churches, restaurants, and schools have closed. Businesses that can have directed their employees to work remotely.

Repealing Prop. 209 Would Harm Asian-American Students
As noted, in a time of a deadly pandemic, Democrats and mainstream media (but I repeat myself) have been preoccupied with the alleged racist implications of calling COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus — an appellation the Left maintains may stoke xenophobia and animosity toward Asian Americans.