News of the Week for Apr. 12^th, 2020

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

 

Corona Virus

 

 

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven warns citizens to prepare for thousands of deaths after global amazement at officials’ refusal to order a lockdown amid coronavirus pandemic
‘We are facing thousands of deaths. We need to prepare for that’ – Stefan Lofven

China Wants to Use the Coronavirus to Take Over the World
The great-power competition has begun in earnest.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Admitted to Hospital with “Persistent” Coronavirus Symptoms
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to the hospital after experiencing what a spokesperson called “persistent symptoms” of Covid-19. Johnson tested positive for Covid-19 on March 27 and has been in self-isolation since.

White House coronavirus task force: Avoid grocery store and pharmacy over next two weeks
Over the weekend, the White House coronavirus task force said Americans should try to avoid the grocery store and pharmacy over the next two weeks as the outbreak is expected to get worse.

Hospital Asks For People’s Help With Pain From Wearing A Face Mask All Day, This Boy Scout Delivers
In light of the novel coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world, the famous saying “not all heroes wear capes” applies to more and more people every day. The doctors and the rest of the medical staff fighting the virus on the frontlines, all the people who can’t stay home and are going to work every day, keeping our civilization intact and functioning as it’s supposed to – shopkeepers, cashiers, electricians, plumbers, garbagemen, you name it. We also can’t forget the people who are locking themselves at home so they can relieve at least some of the tension on the healthcare system of their country.

LA doctor seeing success with hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19
A Los Angeles doctor said he is seeing significant success in prescribing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc to treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19.

Early April Wuhan coronavirus numbers
Italy is reporting some progress in its fight against the Wuhan coronrvirus, and yesterday (April 5), Spain had its best day in a while. However, in Germany, the UK, and France, the daily numbers are getting worse.

All Signs Point to China
Just one big story today: collecting and sorting through what we know about the coronavirus’s origins, and what makes sense and what doesn’t in the theory that it originated from someone eating bats or pangolins from the Huanan Seafood Market.

Nobody Has Filled The Strategic PPE Stockpile Since Bush 43
Much of the MSM coverage of the novel coronavirus pandemic has boiled down to a blame game at this point. While there were some hopeful signs of cooperation for a while between federal, state and municipal governments, particularly in New York and California, we’re now seeing some governors blaming the White House, the President calling out the states and almost everyone in cable news and the major newspapers seeking to blame the Bad Orange Man for doing a Bad Job.

California Is Forcing Nursing Homes To Take COVID-19 Patients
Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but that doesn’t mean those measures are always smart or even effective. As part of a struggle to clear out ICU beds in California to make room for swelling numbers of COVID-19 patients, the California Department of Public Health has ordered all skilled nursing homes to take in patients regardless of their COVID-19 status. Considering the brutal death toll at other nursing homes where the virus has taken hold, this has a lot of the staff at nursing homes around the state understandably upset.

My Evacuation from South Africa to Germany
My family and I boarded a flight on Friday as part of an evacuation measure expected to bring back some 5,000 German nationals home as the Wuhan Coronavirus reaches the southern tip of Africa.

Queen Elizabeth: “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return”
God Save The Queen

Medical Ethics in Crisis
The Witherspoon Institute has published a joint statement providing guidance about some of the difficult decisions on the way: “In cases where decisions must be made about who shall be saved when not all can be saved, we also decide what sort of society we want ours to be—we are constituting ourselves as a certain kind of people. When faced with scarcity, some will be tempted simply to pass by those who are older, the physically disabled or cognitively impaired, those who seem to have little to contribute to our common life. Indeed, some of the proposals for treatment allocation that have been made in different states may already reflect a yielding to that temptation. . . .”

Coronavirus: Government’s testing chief admits none of 3.5m antibody kits work sufficiently
Tests are ‘not good enough to be worth rolling out in very large scale’, says Professor John Newton

Has Sweden Found the Right Solution to the Coronavirus?
Unlike other countries, it has so far avoided both isolation and economic ruin.

China forces Italy to buy same coronavirus supplies it had donated to Beijing a few weeks ago
China’s efforts to rebrand itself as a global leader focused on humanitarian relief amid the coronavirus outbreak has hit a major snag and perhaps revealed Beijing’s true intentions behind their public relations blitz.

China outraged after Brazil minister suggests Covid-19 is part of ‘plan for world domination’
Beijing demands explanation after ‘highly racist’ tweet by Abraham Weintraub suggests it is part of a geopolitical plan

Boris Johnson’s government reportedly believes the coronavirus may have accidentally leaked from a Chinese laboratory
The UK government reportedly believes the coronavirus outbreak may have started in a Chinese laboratory.

Germans Accuse U.S. Of “Piracy,” Seek Military Involvement Over Shipment Of Masks Rerouted To The United States
Politico published an interesting story today about an international squabble over an order of masks. It started with an order for 200,000 masks which were destined to be given to police in Berlin, Germany. An order was placed with a supplier in Asia and the masks were paid for in advance. But the shipment from Thailand was redirected at the last moment, allegedly to the United States. Some German officials are really angry about it and are blaming President Trump.

Is This Why The Death Toll In New York Was Lower Than Expected Lately?
Yesterday I wrote about how the official daily coronavirus death count in New York State had plateaued at 600 or so even though the IHME model projected 700+, with deaths expected to approach 900 per day at the peak. What explains the difference? Were the assumptions behind the model, which were based on China’s dubious early data, simply too pessimistic? Had social distancing by New Yorkers been more effective than anticipated in flattening the curve? Could be both, of course.

51 recovered coronavirus patients test positive again in South Korea
At least 51 patients diagnosed as having fully recovered from the coronavirus in South Korea have tested positive a second time after leaving quarantine, according to officials.

US trial of Japanese flu drug for coronavirus gets green light
The US Food and Drug Administration has given the green light for the country’s first clinical trial of a Japanese flu drug that could be used to treat the coronavirus, according to a report.

Can Corporations Doing Business in China Speak Freely? Can Their News Divisions?
When we see headlines like this one from NBC News . . .

Is New York Undercounting Coronavirus Deaths?
Gwynne Hogan at Gothamist writes that a rash of in-home deaths in New York City suggests the city may be undercounting its COVID-related fatalities

Charting the Path Back to Semi-Normalcy
In today’s Wall Street Journal, columnist Bill McGurn quotes Ashish K. Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute as saying, “My sense is that we can get 90 percent of our lives back, if we have a really well-deployed testing infrastructure deployed, and we’re testing people and are identifying people who are sick and pulling them out.”

Coronavirus Update: Social Distancing Is Working
As the numbers come in this week, the evidence grows that social distancing is working, and the U.S. has avoided the worst-case scenarios of the pandemic. “This is an indication, despite all the suffering and the death that has occurred, that what we have been doing has been working,” Dr. Fauci said of this week’s data. “Keep it up,” he added.

The Jury Is Still Out in Sweden
John Fund and Joel W. Hay argue on the homepage that Sweden’s lax approach to the coronavirus has been successful, and further that its success will “probably” prove the recommendations of most epidemiologists wrong. “If social isolation worked, wouldn’t Sweden, a Nordic country of 10.1 million people, be seeing the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocket into the tens of thousands, blowing past the numbers in Italy or New York City?” they ask. But the jury seems to be out on the wisdom of the Swedish approach.

The Fed and Normality
My article in the latest NR issue concerns what additional steps the Fed can take to support the economy during and after the coronavirus shutdown. David Bahnsen adds two caveats to what I say. Both are well-taken.

Nevada lawmakers OK $8M in coronavirus relief
Nevada lawmakers on Tuesday approved more than $8 million in funds to help the state handle medical and economic threats posed by the new coronavirus.

The military high command surrounded Bolsonaro and imposed General Braga Netto as “operational president”
General Walter Souza Braga Netto is officially the Prime Minister of the Civil House of Brazil, but now he is also the “operational president” of the neighboring country. He will be in charge of directing and centralizing all the government’s management, at least for the duration of the crisis. This decision had to be accepted by Bolsonaro and his political group and was disseminated on various portals, including the military Defesanet.

Infections continue to slow as Italy records 604 more coronavirus deaths
Italy’s coronavirus figures, while still worryingly high, continued to show a steady downward trend on Tuesday according to the latest offical data.

Let’s Zoom Xi. He has questions to answer
In Liu Cixin’s extraordinary science-fiction novel The Three-Body Problem, China recklessly creates, then ingeniously solves, an existential threat to humanity, by establishing contact with the planet Trisolaris and then thwarting a Trisolaran invasion.

Maybe This Explains Why Hospitals Are Seeing Fewer Heart Attack Patients Right Now
I wrote about this earlier in the context of the lower coronavirus death toll reported in New York State over the weekend. (Today’s toll was higher, unfortunately.) A cardiologist at Yale claims that he and his colleagues are seeing a strange, counterintuitive decline in the number of non-COVID emergencies at their hospitals. You wouldn’t expect heart attacks to be less likely at a time like this. You’d expect them to be more likely due to the stress of the moment plus the fact that respiratory illness can aggravate preexisting heart conditions.

Massachusetts Issues Guidelines To “Prioritize” Who Will Be Saved
In the midst of all of the cautious suggestions of “good news” in New York City as the pandemic appears to have reached a plateau, other places are only now starting to ramp up toward critical levels where their health care services are being overwhelmed. One such hotspot is in Massachusetts, where Boston Medical Center’s ICU is overflowing with patients and it’s getting hard to find a ventilator for those in the direst straits. The Boston Globe reported that some ambulances headed for the hospital were temporarily diverted to other facilities over the weekend because there were simply no critical care beds available.

All China’s Lies
A roundup on what China is lying about today

Report: American Companies Are Leaving China
The coronavirus COVID-19 that originated in China may be the last straw that finally has triggered American companies to exit China. In the Global manufacturing consulting firm Kearney’s seventh annual Reshoring Index released on Tuesday, co-author Patrick Van den Bossche writes

Coronavirus in Humboldt: How a small, rural county ended up with the second-most cases per capita in Nevada
Humboldt County, for two days this week, held the distinction of having the most coronavirus cases per capita of any county in Nevada.

Yes France’s coronavirus death toll is grim, but here’s why there is cause for optimism
On Tuesday France reached a disheartening milestone – 10,000 deaths since the start of the coronavirus epidemic. That came after another 1,400 deaths were reported. But if you look a little closer at the statistics there is reason for hope.

Spain’s daily coronavirus death toll rises again
Spain recorded a second successive daily rise in coronavirus-related deaths with 757 fatalities, lifting the total toll to 14,555, the health ministry said Wednesday.

Infections continue to slow as Italy records 604 more coronavirus deaths
Italy’s coronavirus figures, while still worryingly high, continued to show a steady downward trend on Tuesday according to the latest offical data.

Taiwan shows up China, sending hard-hit countries lifesaving coronavirus supplies
Taiwan may have been frozen out of the World Health Organization by China, but the small Asian island could have the last laugh.

A Rapid Test for Covid-19 Arrives Via a 20-year-old Technology Already in Many Hospitals
Cepheid’s microfluidics-based rapid testing system proved itself during the 2001 anthrax attacks. Now it steps into the coronavirus battle

How Woodrow Wilson Let Flu Deaths Go Viral in the Great War
The last time the United States faced a worldwide pandemic – the “Spanish flu” of 1918 and 1919 — cities rolled up the sidewalks, closed theaters, and shuttered saloons. Firemen, policemen, nurses and panicked citizens covered their faces with gauze masks.

Ecuador Gives Glimpse Into Pandemic’s Impact on Latin America
In Guayaquil, Ecuador’s biggest city, a surge in deaths has overwhelmed health care and burial services. Scenes of bodies on sidewalks and desperate families serve as a warning for the region.

Iran “hides 500,000 virus cases,” says member country’s anti-virus taskforce
Iran is covering up the full extent of the coronavirus pandemic, a member of the country’s own anti-virus task force admitted on Tuesday.

Passengers to be evacuated from Antarctic cruise ship after almost 60% test positive for coronavirus
Australian and New Zealand passengers will be evacuated from a stricken Antarctic cruise ship Thursday, after almost 60% of those on board tested positive for the coronavirus.

Dem Governor Who Banned Hydroxychloroquine Gets Caught Hoarding It
The Democrat Governor of Nevada has done something incredibly suspicious that may affect the health of millions of people.

China Mourns Dead as Wuhan Families Deal With Mass Cremations
As families across China remembered the dead on a traditional mourning day, the authorities issued a warning to a prominent lawyer who drew attention to the large numbers of family members lining up to collect their loved ones ashes in the central province of Hubei.

Reports Are In: Malaria Drug Saves Lives in Coronavirus Crisis, Doctors and Patients Say
Reports are in: Hydroxychloroquine is saving lives and President Donald Trump deserves praise for advocating the malaria drug as a potential cure for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. A small study in France laid the groundwork for using the drug in treatment. Doctors and patients across America have reported positive results, despite constant naysaying from left-leaning media outlets.

Official Chinese Government-Backed Paper: ‘Hey, How’d You Like a Taste of Wuhan?’
No bats were harmed in the making of this tweet. Well, not that we know of.

Pope Says Virus Is Nature’s Response to the Climate Crisis
Pope Francis is certainly not letting a planetary crisis go to waste. He is trying to piggyback the religion of climate change on the back of the coronavirus pandemic.

The New Chernobyl
I’ve seen a lot of grumbling by journalists who hang around the White House that the president is not being straight with them, that the briefings are a circus, that campaign dynamics supersede science, etc. Maybe. So why don’t they get out there and do some reporting on what really matters? There’s a gigantic story going on in China. No one has cracked the secrets of what Xi Jinping has been up to in his massive coverup. Why doesn’t everyone go work on prying the story out of China? Go undercover, if necessary! Sure, this is risky, but political reporters are always bragging about being risk-takers. Danger is already their middle name, isn’t it?

With restaurants closed, a bacon backup is building in Minnesota and hog prices are plunging
About two-thirds of bacon sales happened in restaurants and hog farmers are suddenly losing significant revenue.

A top German doctor recommends whiskey to protect against COVID-19
While the World Health Organization vehemently disagrees, Dr. Juergen Rissland, a lead doctor at the Institute for Virology at Saarland University Hospital in Germany, went on the record to say: drinking whiskey can protect against COVID-19.

Running out of body bags. People dying in the hallway. Coronavirus has Michigan hospital workers at a breaking point.
Krysti Kallek has worked for the past decade in the emergency department at Detroit’s Sinai Grace Hospital. But she’s never experienced anything like Michigan’s coronavirus crisis.

Don’t Trust the Chinese Government’s COVID-19 Timeline
Today’s “I can’t believe that” report about wet markets in China, called to my attention by Morning Jolt reader David, is that apparently quite a few vendors use cooking oil that has been pulled from waste from sewer lines and other extraordinarily unsanitary locations.

Most New York Coronavirus Cases Came From Europe, Genomes Show
Travelers seeded multiple cases starting as early as mid-February, genomes show.

Millions Aren’t Paying Rent, Sparking a Coronavirus Housing Crisis
The United States may be headed for an unprecedented housing crisis — the result of potentially millions of evictions and foreclosures.

Uh-Oh. South Korea Reports That Coronavirus ‘Reactivates’ in Some Patients Thought Cured
The South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting that 51 patients who were “cured” of the coronavirus have tested positive again. To be classified as cured, a patient must test positive for the virus and then have two tests in 24 hours that are negative.

How Worried Should We Be about Reinfection or Reactivation of the Virus?
At a time like this, people understandably dislike pessimists. But that doesn’t mean that those who bring bad news are wrong. New reports from South Korea, indicating that the country has 74 patients who retested positive after appearing to beat the virus, indicate that building up “herd immunity” might be a longer and more difficult process than we thought: “‘The ratio of patients retesting positive is very small even if we were to see more cases. . . .It is important to examine the virus and check for infectivity in these cases,’ said Kwon Joon-wook, deputy director of the KCDC, in a daily virus status briefing earlier in the week.”

Poll Shows Americans Blaming China, Not Trump, for Coronavirus Pandemic
Good luck spinning, media!

In Iran, 600 Have Died From Drinking Pure Alcohol To “Cure” The Coronavirus
I hadn’t heard of this until today but apparently it has been going on for at least a month. People in Iran who are desperate to avoid the coronavirus have turned to pure alcohol as a “cure.”

Chinese-made medical supplies to France conditional upon adopting Huawei technology
Rep. Mark Green said the Chinese told France it would provide 1 billion protective face masks only if the French let Huawei implement its 5G capabilities.

Yes, we should blame China’s communist government for the spread of COVID-19
Apparently, blaming China for exporting a deadly virus around the globe, lying about the danger it posed and withholding vital information regarding its origin is now considered racist by polite society.

Sisolak abuses his power with ban on church services
Gov. Steve Sisolak’s ban on church services was an unnecessary overreach that raises significant constitutional concerns. Less than a month ago, he even said he didn’t have the power to do it.

Researchers Warn Possible Coronavirus Treatment Hydroxychloroquine May Be Toxic When Combined With Diabetes Drug
Researchers have warned that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ), two similar drugs repeatedly touted by President Trump to be promising treatments for COVID-19, may be toxic when combined with a common diabetes drug.

People are reportedly panic-buying baby chickens
Through the coronavirus pandemic and a future of uncertainties, Americans have been flocking to bulk-buy toilet paper, groceries and cleaning disinfectants like never before. However, the latest purchasing trend in some parts of the country is allegedly agrarian: baby chickens.

Heritage Coronavirus Commission Releases 5-Step Plan to Reopen America
On Thursday, the Heritage Foundation’s National Coronavirus Recovery Commission met for the first time. At the meeting, seventeen experts hammered out a general five-phase plan to “save lives and livelihoods” by defeating the coronavirus and jumpstarting the economy. Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged the commission’s work.

Food Processing Plant Becomes A COVID-19 Hotspot. Now What?
The good news is that your Easter ham is safe for consumption. The bad news is that the food supply chain is being disrupted briefly as some food processing plants deal with the coronavirus.

Recognize Taiwan to Punish China for the Novel Coronavirus
As we move cautiously to the post-virus phase, many are necessarily considering how to do so. Most obviously, how to revive the economy without jeopardizing out people or, worse, rekindling the pandemic.

Blaming China and WHO Isn’t Scapegoating
China and the WHO worked together to expose the rest of the world to the virus at the same time that they downplayed its dangers.

Other Senators Don’t Have Richard Burr’s Insider-Trading Problem
Unique among those caught up in this coronavirus-related controversy, the North Carolina Republican is in significant legal danger.

Nevada colleges, universities outline potential $124M in budget cuts
The economic downturn caused by the new coronavirus could force the Nevada System of Higher Education to make $124 million in budget cuts under a worst-case scenario, leading to increased fees for students and furloughs for staff.

Man’s phony act of coronavirus good will cost struggling pizzerias “thousands,” cops say
Police were searching Friday for a man who called more than a dozen pizzerias and restaurants across the state during the coronavirus outbreak, placed large orders — some of which he said were intended for local police departments — never picked them up and then berated the employees when they called him back, authorities said.

Decision: No intensive care for people over 80
Corona patients with a biological age over 80 should not receive intensive care at Karolinska University Hospital during the current pandemic. Nor multi-sick person over 60, according to a document that Aftonbladet received. The document shows which patients are prioritized in covid crisis Stockholm.

Boris Johnson’s half-brother slams coronavirus care at 10 Downing St.
The half-brother of Boris Johnson isn’t happy with the medical care — or rather the lack of it — that the British prime minister received at No. 10 Downing Street during the early days of his battle against the coronavirus.

The Power of Media Ignorance
Almost two weeks ago I offered at NRO a few synopses of various theories about why California — which, for a variety of reasons, had seemed so ripe for a New York–style epidemic — had nonetheless strangely been exempt at least for a while from the virus’s spread. I included the pedestrian possibility of some previously acquired “herd immunity,” given the state’s singular exposure from November to January 31 to direct flights from China, including those from Wuhan, and initial CDC and media reports last year of an unusually early and severe assumed flu hitting the state.

WHO’s Irresponsibility Led to Spread of Coronavirus
It took months for the World Health Organization to declare the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic

Models, Math, and Facts on the Ground
First, please note that while parts of the press seem somewhat celebratory that the United States now has passed China in numbers of COVID-19 infections, the reality is China lies about its numbers. Look no further than China reinstituting a ban on movie theaters. A country that was doing okay would not be doing that.

New Chinese Assault Carrier Catches Fire
Black smoke has been seen billowing from China’s first assault carrier in Shanghai. The new Type-075 carrier, which is similar to the U.S. Navy’s America Class assault carriers, is designed to carry helicopters and hovercraft to support amphibious landings.

‘The NHS saved my life’: Boris Johnson pays tribute to hospital medics saying ‘I can’t thank them enough’ and friends reveal he came close to death – as coronavirus claims 917 UK lives in 24 hours
The PM had been expected in St Thomas’ Hospital, London, three days before he was finally admitted

 

Election 2020

 

Georgia GOP Senator Is Latest To Be Accused Of Pandemic Stock Trades
I had a feeling we hadn’t heard the last of these stories and as more time goes by there could very well be more to come. Another Senator has been discovered to have done a hefty amount of stock sales and purchases shortly after being briefed on the potential severity of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, on the same day that the Senate Intelligence Committee received their briefing, Senator David Perdue (R-GA), who is on the committee, purchased a significant amount of stock in a manufacturer of medical personal protective equipment. On that same day, his portfolio recorded more than 80 additional trades. The Senator’s office has an explanation, however.

South Dakota Democrats will not field a U.S. House candidate in 2020
Two potential candidates, Brian Worth of Dell Rapids and Whitney Raver of Custer, were unable to gather enough signatures on their qualifying petitions that would allow their candidacies to move forward.

Assigning blame for the Wisconsin election fiasco
The Democratic governor deserves much of it, but Republicans in the state legislature aren’t without fault

Throne of skulls? The Washington Post manages to make Cocaine Mitch McConnell sound even cooler with this headline
“Cocaine” Mitch McConnell was such a great nickname that the Senate Majority Leader’s campaign staff put it on a T-shirt. Then there was Nuclear Mitch. Then he proudly took on the mantle of the Grim Reaper, proudly blocking legislation trying to turn America into a socialist country.

Bernie Sanders Drops Out of Presidential Race
Socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has finally dropped out of the 2020 presidential race. Sanders announced his decision in a conference call with staff Wednesday morning and plans to speak to supports at 11:45 a.m. ET.

Wisconsin is discovering problems with absentee ballots, including hundreds that were never delivered
Attention turned to missing absentee ballots Wednesday as state officials reported three tubs of them were discovered in a mail processing center and the Milwaukee Election Commission called for an investigation into a separate set of undelivered ballots.

Why Ron DeSantis’ popularity has taken a hit since the pandemic started
The approval ratings of most governors have soared during the crisis. DeSantis has seen his support plummet amid a confusing, conflicting respons

Gov. Greg Abbott: executive order to reopen businesses expected next week
At his third press conference of the week, Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas businesses can expect an executive order from his office next week, with plans on how to begin reopening the state’s economy.

Bill Maher: We Named Other Viruses After Where They Originated. Why Should China Be An Exception?
You know you’ve been in quarantine too long when you find yourself nodding along throughout a five-minute Bill Maher monologue.

Wisconsin is discovering problems with absentee ballots, including hundreds that were never delivered
Attention turned to missing absentee ballots Wednesday as state officials reported three tubs of them were discovered in a mail processing center and the Milwaukee Election Commission called for an investigation into a separate set of undelivered ballots.

 

Gun Rights

 

Second Amendment Rights During Coronavirus Pandemic
States all over America are mandating that nonessential businesses close, which is forcing lawmakers to decide which businesses should be deemed “essential.” In states such as New York and Massachusetts, gun stores already have been told to close their doors. In Texas, on the other hand, the attorney general has said gun stores may remain open during the pandemic.

How the coronavirus led to the highest-ever spike in US gun sales
Americans grappling with the rapidly-spreading coronavirus purchased more guns last month than at any other point since the FBI began collecting data over 20 years ago. Why?

Virus-Panicked Liberal Gun Buyers Are Getting Angry When They Discover Their Own Gun Control Laws
I was chatting with a friend of mine recently and the topic of gun sales came up. My friend’s father owns a gun range near me and she said he’s seen a huge amount of liberals coming in to purchase weapons in recent weeks.

ATF Says U.S. Gun Retailers Can Offer Curbside Service During Quarantine
The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) on Friday issued a statement making it easier for federally-licensed gun dealers to stay open and provide essential services while “safe distance” protocols are still in effect.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Climate Change and Capitalism
Be it resolved: ending climate change requires the end of capitalism as we know it Guests: George Monbiot, Andrew McAfee

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

ObamaCare turned 10: 1,000 words
Courtesy of FoIB Scott M, a belated “Happy” Birthday to ObamaCare

 

War & Terror

 

Acting Navy Secretary blasts USS Roosevelt captain as “too naive or too stupid” in leaked speech to ship’s crew
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly made an unhinged speech to the crew members of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, in which he lashed out at former Capt. Brett E. Crozier and told sailors to stop complaining and do their jobs.

Will There Be a New Cold War with China? A Reply to Niall Ferguson
The end of the Cold War was a heady time in the West. Francis Fukuyama’s essay “The End of History?”—which argued that the world was witnessing the “unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism”—was published in the National Interest a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. US President George H.W. Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were touting the possibility of a “peace dividend,” in which billions of dollars could be shifted from defense budgets to domestic projects. The number of nuclear weapons in the world dropped precipitously after peaking in the mid-1980s, and the threat of nuclear war seemed dimmer than it had been in decades.

U.S. Senate, Google ban Zoom days after its launch of ‘security council’
Following two weeks of escalating privacy and security concerns about video conferencing platform Zoom, the U.S. Senate and Google have both banned its members and employees from using the software.

Could a Mach 5 SR-72 Spy Plane Already Be in the Sky?
In the late 1990s, the SR-71 Blackbird — the world;s fastest, highest-flying plane ever — was retired. Perhaps preemptively.

Israel to Syrian General visiting Hezbollah positions in Syria: “We see you. Consider this a warning.”
IDF: “Look closely. See the man with white hair? That’s the head of the Syrian Armed Forces 1st Corps, Luau Ali Ahmad Assad. He’s visiting Hezbollah positions in #Syria.”

Mexican Sinaloa Cartel Has Taken Over a Venezuelan City
The Mexican cartel is staying in a town called Machiques de Perijá under the complacent gaze of Nicolás Maduro’s regime

 

National

 

School suspends entire lacrosse team over alleged racist “incident” involving three members
School won’t discuss specifics of case, suspension

Judge reinstates anti-male bias claim against University of New Mexico by expelled student
University “prioritized administrative efficiency over a rigorous fact-finding process”

UW-Madison editorial calls to ‘decolonize’ ‘eurocentric, whitewashed, sexist’ curriculum
The UW-Madison student newspaper ran an editorial advocating for the “decolonization” of the curriculum.

Trump signs “space order” paving way for US to mine Moon and Mars for minerals and water
DONALD TRUMP has urged the United States to mine the Moon and possibly Mars for resources.

Maryland Court Rules That Bans On Topless Women Are Constitutional
Back in 2017, Ocean City, Maryland passed an ordinance prohibiting women from going topless on the city’s beaches. The following year, five women went to court, challenging the constitutionality of the ban and declared that they planned to go topless on the beaches in protest. Several of them were arrested.

Triggered: WaPo Imagines McConnell Confirming Judges ‘on a Throne of Skulls’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has helped President Donald Trump confirm originalist judges who will uphold the plain meaning of the Constitution, reversing a decades-long trend of activist judges twisting the founding document to push pet projects like abortion and same-sex marriage. The idea that McConnell would keep restoring the American judiciary in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic was so horrible for The Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri to contemplate that she published a hilarious dystopian op-ed about McConnell “on a throne of skulls.”

Mort Drucker, Iconic ‘Mad’ Magazine Caricaturist, Dies at 91
The long-time artist behind the magazine’s movie and television satires won numerous awards and honors.

Want to Leave This Planet? NASA Is Offering Some Seriously Cool Virtual Space Tours Right Now
NASA is ready to entertain and educate you all weekend long. The aerospace experts are pulling out all the stops to help everyone pass the time home socially distancing. That includes releasing some seriously cool virtual tours and highlighting a few of its coolest places. Check out a selection of seven tours available from NASA below.

Ole Miss students ‘required’ to complete ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ training
Ole Miss required all students to complete an online diversity and inclusion course.

Teachers unions, demands for “equity” work to block online schooling growth amid coronavirus crisis
Some states reportedly impose moratoriums on student transfers to cyber schools

Now metal surfaces can be instant bacteria killers
Bacterial pathogens can live on surfaces for days. What if frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs could instantly kill them off?

Young Turks Employees Vote To Unionize Over Cenk Uygur’s Strenuous Objections
The Young Turks is a progressive media company co-founded by Cenk Uygur. When a group of employees announced plans to form a union earlier this year, CEO Uygur suddenly started sounding like a conservative union-buster. He warned that a union couldn’t make a magic pot of money appear and begged employees to reconsider. Thursday, over his objections, the employees voted to unionize.

Metro lays off 100+ part-time employees
Citing the economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, Metro police has eliminated 112 part-time positions — 103 of which were filled. All of the layoffs impact part-time employees.

Harvard to Hold Anti-Homeschooling Summit
The Nazis are said to be the first to ban homeschooling (it remains illegal in Germany to this day). Harvard would like the USA to follow suit, and for the same reason. Homeschooling disrupts the uniformity of thought that social engineers attempt to impose through public schools.

Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Tasteless sarcasm, hydrofluorocarbons, and indefinite detention.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Boris Johnson To Pull Out Of Huawei 5G Contract Due To CCP Misinformation
CDMedia has heard from two sources close to the matter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will cancel the UK’s contract for 5G wireless service from the Chinese conglomerate Huawei. The move is a stunning reversal of fortune for Huawei, the flagship nationalized vehicle for advancing the CCP’s soft power in the West.

How About Some Good News on the Economy?
Appearing remotely on Sunday’s Face the Nation, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank Chairman James Bullard indicated that the Fed has no idea, really, just how bad the Coronavirus Contraction is going to get. Asked by Margaret Brennan about his team’s prediction that “47 million Americans could lose their jobs,” bringing the unemployment rate up to 32%, Bullard said the “32 percent number is a compromise in the middle.”

Spanish Government Aims to Roll Out Basic Income “Soon”
The Spanish government is working to roll out a universal basic income as soon as possible, as part of a battery of actions aimed at countering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Economy Minister Nadia Calvino.

University hid rape accuser’s HIV claim from accused student until he sued for gender bias
Even though it knew he had “serious underlying health conditions”

Berkeley moves to ‘lock down’ students’ browsers to prevent cheating
UC-Berkeley is instructing professor not to proctor exams as classes have moved online.

New Data Shows U.S. Companies Are Definitely Leaving China
U.S. companies are leaving China thanks to the trade war. They’ll leave even more thanks to the pandemic.

 

International

 

James Bond actress Honor Blackman dies aged 94
Honor Blackman, the British actress who played Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger, has died at the age of 94.

US increases support for Taiwan in recognition battle with China
US President Donald Trump has signed into law an act that requires increased US support for Taiwan internationally, which will likely infuriate a China already angry with Trump’s criticism of the handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Other Chinese Infection
The Chinese Communist Party’s Long March through the Institutions has been proceeding right under our noses, and it’s high time we applied serious and penetrating scrutiny to the Party’s practices as they relate to our own institutions. A case in point is the piles of money the ChiComs have been pouring into U.S. colleges and universities without anyone seeming to care. As Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, points out, “The dark money in politics is a fraction of the dark money in education.” Though federal law mandates that gifts of $250,000 or more by foreign entities to American universities must be disclosed, this rule is easily circumvented, and for many years there has been little attempt at enforcement anyway. In the past year the U.S. Department of Education has identified $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funding. Wood believes that Harvard and Yale have, by themselves, raked in billions of unreported foreign gifts and contracts in recent years. China isn’t doing this as a warm gesture of friendship. It wants something in return. It need hardly be noted that the interests of the Chinese Communists diverge significantly from the interests of a liberal democracy.

Sweden: Dad risking prison for beating up pedophile
A pedophile has admitted to sexually assaulting children while working at a pre-school in Stockholm county.

Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, BBC Takes Time Out to Claim King Henry II Considered Converting to Islam
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has contracted the coronavirus and spent a night in the intensive care unit, while Britain, like the world at large, remains on edge about how this virus can be stopped, and how many people will die before it is stopped. But all that has not prevented the BBC from returning to one of its perennial themes: that Islam is as English as bangers and mash, and thus anyone who opposes mass Muslim migration into the country is not only racist and bigoted, but traitorous to his or her own culture and heritage.

The Eurozone’s Dutch Treat
With no progress (however that might be defined) so far on resolving the extent to which the Eurozone as a whole (as opposed to just the ECB, the European Central Bank) will step in to help out those of its member-states most battered by COVID-19, Germany appears to be hiding behind The Netherlands

Eruption at Indonesian volcano Krakatoa
The Indonesian volcano Krakatoa, also known as Krakatau, has reportedly erupted. Reports say it sent a plume of ash several kilometres into the air, with a boom that could be heard from far away.

Childbirth in Venezuela, Where Women’s Deaths Are a State Secret
We spent weeks following women inside the country’s health care system, which has been crippled by a broken economy overseen by an increasingly authoritarian government.

Female prison officers have been raped by inmates who self-identify as trans women, ex-Tory minister Rory Stewart claims
Mr Stewart revealed he was ‘instinctively worried’ about the situation

 

Opinion

 

Thank god for the internet
What the hell would be happening now without it?

China: Mobster Government, Mobster Tactics
The Trump administration is reportedly looking at taking legal action against the Chinese Communist government over hoarding personal protective equipment (PPE) such as N95 respirators, booties, gloves, and other supplies. Ebony Bowden and Bruce Golding report for the New York Post that Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to Trump’s re-election campaign, said: “In criminal law, compare this to the levels that we have for murder.”

Dungeons and Dragons and Jurisprudence
I suppose that for the rest of my life my name will be invoked every time The Atlantic publishes something controversial, as any good magazine does from time to time, or something dopey, as even the best magazines occasionally do, despite the efforts of their editors.

In the Face of a Real Crisis, Transgender Activism Is ‘Elective’ and ‘Non-Essential’
Over the past five years, Democrats and liberals have leaped over one another to champion the transgender movement, pronoun silliness included. President Obama tried to redefine “sex” in federal law to refer to gender identity, not biological sex. Democrats in the 2020 election cycle rushed to champion transgender activism, with Julian Castro pandering himself into insanity, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posting her preferred pronouns, and Joe Biden calling trans activism “the civil rights issue of our time.” Left-leaning news outlets like The New York Times demonized President Donald Trump’s military policy as “erasing” people.