MORNING NEWS BRIEFING – MARCH 13, 2020

Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Friday March 13, 2020.


THE DAILY SIGNAL

Mar 13, 2020

Happy Friday from Washington, where President Trump warns liberals not to use the coronavirus as an excuse to try to win fights they couldn’t win before. Fred Lucas reports. The Chinese have some explaining to do, Rep. Jim Banks writes. Why the bipartisan House vote to change surveillance practices? Cully Stimson explains. On the podcast, the newest U.S. senator talks about her transition and the growing health crisis. Plus: a judge blatantly reveals his bias, the EPA restrains itself, and black liberals spread destructive rhetoric. On this date in 1942, the Army begins training dogs for the new War Dog Program, dubbed the “K-9 Corps.” Have a great weekend.

COMMENTARY
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By Rep. Jim Banks
Is the coronavirus China’s Chernobyl? It could be—but only if we hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their early missteps that allowed the virus to spread unchecked for weeks.
COMMENTARY
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By Cully Stimson
There were wide-ranging procedural abuses in the FBI’s application process in 2016 for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on Carter Page, a Trump campaign volunteer.
NEWS
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By Fred Lucas
President Trump says that he doesn’t support House Democrats’ coronavirus bill in its current form because it includes too many “goodies” that have nothing to do with the disease.
ANALYSIS
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By Rachel del Guidice
“I bring a lot of outsider perspective to Washington and I think that’s helpful … particularly in matters of economic, national security, and other stabilizing factors that give us a strong economic environment,” says Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
COMMENTARY
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By Mike Howell
The EPA now accounts for $6.5 billion in deregulatory savings achieved over the course of President Trump’s administration.
COMMENTARY
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By Star Parker
Today’s great challenge for blacks is to shake off the culture of the welfare plantation and the destructive rhetoric of evil black liberals who want to keep them there.
COMMENTARY
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By GianCarlo Canaparo
The judge accuses President Trump of making no effort “to enact policies beneficial to the general public,” behaving like an “autocrat,” and failing “to buck the wealthy individuals and corporations who control his party.”
LOGO-CHARCOAL_75percent.jpg

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THE EPOCH TIMES

Red Rock Secured—A Trusted Leader in Gold IRAs. Protecting Your Retirement: Our Mission is to protect our clients’ retirement through a safe and secure investment diversification

“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Good morning,

The spread of the coronavirus around the world has revealed America’s reliance on China for medical supplies.

Chinese media appeared to use this reliance to threaten the United States, warning that China “could ban the export of face masks and other medical gear to America which are in acute shortage.”

Read the full story here.

First Patient With New Coronavirus Dies in Georgia: Governor

US Capitol Closed to Visitors Over Coronavirus Outbreak

Most Neiman Marcus Last Call Outlet Stores Are Closing

House Passes Resolution Aimed at Limiting Trump’s War Powers in Iran

An extraordinary $2 trillion injection into the short-term lending market announced by the Federal Reserve on March 12 didn’t help the U.S. stock markets quell concern about the economic slowdown stemming from the coronavirus, leading to a 10 percent drop and the worst day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1987. Read more
Efforts to track the spread of coronavirus in the United States are hampered because Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials can’t use the most advanced form of location contact tracing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said March 12. Read more
Questionable contracting procedures, unnecessary accounting problems, schedule delays, and more than $2 billion in cost overruns are raising serious doubts about NASA’s plan to return Americans to the Moon in late 2024, according to the agency’s inspector general. Read more
U.S. Small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 outbreak will be able to receive up to $2 million in disaster assistance loans as part of the economic relief package offered by President Donald Trump. Read more
In a synchronized nationwide raid on the early morning of March 11, more than 250 members of Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nuevo Generacion were swept up by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Read more
When the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan compromise measure on March 11 to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including the court at the center of the Spygate scandal, it appeared supporters were headed to a quick victory. Read more
See More Top Stories
Is your retirement safe from Coronavirus market panic? Experts warn your 401(k) or IRA could be at SERIOUS risk. U.S. stocks plunged recently on fears of a global economic slowdown which led to the Dow Jones losing 2,000 points, its largest ever single-day drop. If that doesn’t get your attention—what will? Retirement accounts, savings accounts, and financial portfolios will be at the mercy of global turmoil. Goldman Sachs, however, has identified one asset class that it deems virus-resistant—Gold. Gold continues to dramatically outperform other safe havens in 2020 and has now officially become, “the currency of last resort.” Don’t wait until it’s too late—Get Your Free Copy: #1 Retirement Playbook
Joe Biden’s Coming Disappearing Act
By Roger L. SimonEven though Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he’s staying in the presidential race—what else has he got to do—Joe Biden is looking more and more like the Democratic Party nominee. Read more
The Coronavirus and the Division of Labor
By Mark HendricksonUnless something truly extraordinary happens later this year, the coronavirus is bound to be the story of 2020. Although it’s too early to estimate what its total impact will be… Read more
See More Opinions
The Life Blood of Our Economy
By Valentin Schmid
(July 29, 2014)When 77 million people have failed to pay their debt the problem becomes systemic. It’s not just a question of a few people having bad luck or spending money that they shouldn’t. It’s a question of how money is created and distributed. Read more
Powerful testimony from the “Phoenix 11,” a group of child sex abuse survivors, kicked off the announcement of a new collaboration between governments and tech companies to stop the online sexual abuse of children. 
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DAYBREAK

Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak Insider
Having trouble viewing this email? View the web version.
The Daybreak Insider
FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020
1.
Pelosi Seeks Abortion Spending in Coronavirus Bill

According to the White House.  Once again, the obsession with abortion appears to steer everything she does (Daily Caller).  The eventual deal, according to the Los Angeles Times, “is expected to eliminate insurance co-payments for COVID-19 testing and provide billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments for food programs and unemployment benefits. It is also likely to include assistance for workers dealing with coronavirus who don’t receive sick pay from their employers” (LA Times).

2.
The Coronavirus Cancelations Continue

From MLB to Disney (Fox News).  Meanwhile, it appears Iran is burying coronavirus victims in a mass grave (Washington Post).  A study finds coronavirus can survive in a system for 5 weeks (NY Post).  The wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has the virus (ABC News).  A look at life inside New York’s containment area (NY Times).  CNN is concerned if schools close, kids won’t eat (CNN).  A good list of what to do if you have the symptoms (Twitter).

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3.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Blames U.S. for Coronavirus

He tweeted: “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan” (Washington Examiner).  CNN, not to be outdone by China, compared Trump’s speech Wednesday evening to anti-Semitism (CNN).

4.
Biden Sets Up Criticize-the-President Task Force on Coronavirus

From Wesley Smith:  it seems to me that the committee’s true purpose is to be a “shadow” task force that will second guess the Trump administration’s actions to the media and strive to make Biden appear presidential in the face of the threat. If so, this is politics at its most cynical and could inhibit effective public response to the ongoing panic by creating a competing center of information and communication. The unnecessary speech Biden made about not shaking hands or hugging anymore — and the press response thereto — backs up my suspicion (National Review).  Biden called Trump acknowledging this is a foreign virus “xenophobia” (Twitter).  From Mark Hemingway: This is an opportunity to highlight that China’s authoritarianism and dishonesty are a threat to global stability and our physical well-being. This isn’t xenophobia — it’s a truth all Americans should understand (Twitter).  Turns out, CNN has been calling it the Wuhan or China coronavirus for quite some time (Twitter).

5.
Poll: White Evangelicals Believe Trump is Fighting for Their Beliefs

Even though they are troubled by his conduct. But you knew that already.

Pew Research

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6.
Weinstein Hospitalized for Mild Heart Attack

For which he had emergency angioplasty (Washington Examiner).  Weinstein’s lawyer says he is still fighting the accusations (ABC News).

7.
Ilhan Omar Marries Controversial Consultant

Whom she denied having a relationship with.

Hot Air

8.
Canadian Man Faces Charges for Speaking to Media About Daughter Transitioning to Male

And the Christian broadcaster he spoke to may also be charged.  The man simply wants the insanity to stop – to force his ex-wife to let his daughter remain a girl, but the government is playing the role of evil big brother.

Life Site News

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THE SUNBURN

Breaking overnight: “15 new positive cases of coronavirus in Florida; 3 in the Tampa Bay area” via the News Service of Florida — Five of the new cases were in Broward County, while two were in Palm Beach County and two were in Sarasota County. Alachua, Volusia, Duval, Clay, Hillsborough and Lee counties each had one new case. The virus can particularly affect seniors and people with other medical conditions. Seven of the new cases involved people at least 68 years old, but other cases involved a 20-year-old, a 24-year-old and a 25-year old. Three of the cases involved people from other states — New York, Massachusetts and Texas — who were in Florida. In all, the Department of Health said the state has had 42 cases of Floridians who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.

___

It’s just about a sucker bet that Florida will reach next Tuesday’s presidential primary without attracting even one major campaign rally featuring a Democratic candidate this year.

Sure, the contest’s not competitive. Joe Biden will win in a landslide. There’s that. So a priority, Florida isn’t. Not for him nor Bernie Sanders, just as it wasn’t for any of the other Democrats, except Mike Bloomberg.

Joe Biden will probably win big in Florida Tuesday, but retail politics will take a major hit.

But the dearth of events now is due to the same wild-card factor that’s canceled just about everything in America in the last 36 hours: the new coronavirus outbreak and concerns about big gatherings.

That’s why Biden canceled the Tampa rally that was set for Thursday, and the Miami one set for next Monday. It’s as good an excuse as any for Sanders not buying any Florida-bound plane tickets. Biden also made it clear in his coronavirus speech Thursday that he and his campaign have real concerns about big rallies going forward.

So when Wednesday comes, and Florida’s delegates all are spoken for, the same factor may continue to change political campaigning radically. There’s still a general election, and not even a fool would ignore Florida for that.

But how should that work now?

It’s not just the big crowds; it’s the travel. That’s why DNC officials decided to move Sunday’s Biden-Sanders debate from Phoenix to Washington D.C. — so they and staff and everyone else wouldn’t have to fly.

It’s not just the big crowds and the travel, it’s the intimate contact. Kissing babies, shaking hands, high-fives, and hugs are so 2019 now. Gwen Graham would be completely lost in a 2020 campaign.

So, too, might be door-to-door canvassing and other intimate retail campaigning. Maybe no one expects Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer to run an ordinary campaign, but when she gave up canvassing this week, it was a clear message for all: Given coronavirus concerns, it’s not such a good idea to talk face-to-face with as many people as possible.

Other candidates such as Democrat Debra Kaplan in House District 31 and H. Alexander Duncan in Senate District 9 concede that’s a real worry. Organize Florida Executive Director Stephanie Porta said it’s a major dilemma right now.

For this year’s election, this ain’t your father’s campaign. Or Gwen Graham’s.

Today’s Sunrise
Florida’s Legislature is hoping to wrap things up by Wednesday. The tentative plan is to sign off on the budget by Sunday and then return for a vote Wednesday — after the mandatory 72-hour cooling-off period for the budget bill.

Also, on today’s Sunrise:

— Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking groups hosting events like festivals, concerts and golf tournaments to postpone or cancel any sort of mass gathering because of the coronavirus. And his predecessor, Sen. Rick Scott, is quarantining himself after coming into contact with a Brazilian official who tested positive for the virus.

— After ignoring subpoenas from the legislature, Tiffany Carr, the former director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, is now facing the possibility of being held in contempt of the House.

— A bill prohibiting insurance companies from using your genetic information to set rates heads for the Governor’s desk.

— Also heading to the Governor is a bill that abolishes state regulations over telegraph companies; the Senate sponsor had to explain the concept of “a telegram” to the young-uns.

— Steve Vancore explains how the coronavirus could have a substantial impact on next week’s Florida presidential preference primary.

— The latest on Florida Man, including 73-year-old University of Miami professor Bruce Bagley, an expert on money laundering, who faces three counts — of money laundering.

To listen, click on the image below:

Situational awareness
@NYTDavid: I get the sense that this is not only the low point of the [DonaldTrump presidency but the low point of the American presidency ever. Has any president ever been this overmatched by a crisis?

@GerardAraud: Trump needed a narrative to exonerate his administration from any responsibility in the crisis. The foreigner is always a good scapegoat. The Chinese has already been used. So, let’s take the European, not any European, the EU-one. Doesn’t make sense but ideologically healthy.

@ShaneGanam: The media didn’t shut down China, or Italy. The media didn’t cancel tens of thousands of flights. The media didn’t infect more than a hundred thousand people in dozens of countries in a month. The media didn’t tell you to buy toilet paper. The media said wash your damn hands.

@WesleyLowery: When the story of this is written, the NBA postponement and Tom Hanks diagnosis could very well be the moment the average American began taking coronavirus seriously. The question, of course, is how much worse this will end up being because that took so long

Tweet, tweet:

@MattDPearce: I imagine all the closures and cancellations give people a sense of ominousness. But it’s really an amazing act of social solidarity: We’re sacrificing so we can give nurses, doctors and hospitals a fighting chance. Start from there and hopefully we can figure out the rest.

@GillianHTurner: BREAKING: The World Health Organization has announced that dogs cannot contract COVID-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out.

@HarrisonKey: In lieu of freaking out I will be freaking in

@nntaleb: Can someone explain to me why it is “irrational” to stock up on nonperishables (such as toilet paper) when interest rates are nearly zero?

Tweettweet:

@Sarklor: “Self-isolation”: – Boring, clinical – Following the orders of a government – Nobody will notice your effort “Exiled for the good of the realm” – Mysterious – Sexy – Everyone will wonder what you did

@MDixon55: It doesn’t feel like death and impending doom outside. It’s actually quite nice

Days until
11th Democratic debate in Washington D.C. — 2; Florida’s presidential primary — 4; Last day of 2020 Session (maybe) — 5; Super Tuesday III — 4; “After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News” premieres on HBO — 6; Quibi launches — 24; Easter — 30; First quarter campaign reports due — 33; Florida TaxWatch Spring Board Meeting begins — 33; TaxWatch Principal Leadership Awards — 34; Last day of federal candidate qualifying — 38; NFL Draft — 41; Mother’s Day — 58; Florida Chamber Summit on Prosperity and Economic Opportunity — 63; Last day of state candidate qualifying — 87; “Top Gun: Maverick” premieres — 105; Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee begins — 121; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” premieres — 125; 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo start (maybe) — 133; Florida primaries for 2020 state legislative/congressional races — 158; Republican National Convention begins in Charlotte — 164; First presidential debate in Indiana — 200; First vice presidential debate at the University of Utah — 208; Second presidential debate scheduled at the University of Michigan — 216; Third presidential debate at Belmont — 223; 2020 General Election — 235; “No Time to Die” premieres (now) — 257.
Top story
Mass gatherings in Florida should be postponed to stop coronavirus spread, Ron DeSantis says” via Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times — If a mass gathering is not canceled, event organizers should have screening measures in place to prevent people who have been exposed to the virus from entering, he said. DeSantis did not define what accounts for a “mass gathering,” although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines it as groups of more than 1,000 people. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez said the guidance he received was for any gathering of more than 250 people. The announcement was the most sweeping recommendation yet from DeSantis in response to the coronavirus, known as COVID-19. He issued an executive order prohibiting a wide array of people from visiting nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other places where older residents live.

Ron DeSantis suggests canceling any large gatherings.

After delays, test kits on way to Florida to increase testing ability, DeSantis says” via Jeff Schweers of the Tallahassee Democrat — DeSantis isn’t waiting for the CDC to deliver those test kits to increase the state’s capability. He announced in Miami that he authorized state Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz to buy 2,500 commercial test kits, which should arrive this weekend. The kits will be distributed to 50 qualified labs around the state to be closer to the communities that need them, instead of sending all samples to one of the state’s three labs in Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa. The kits will be able to test 625,000 people, he said. “We have to increase our testing capability in Florida,” DeSantis said at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, which will be one of the first hospitals to get test kits.

Dateline: Tally
Outside, coronavirus looms. Inside, legislators hug it out in the Capitol” via Samantha Gross of the Miami Herald — Inside the chambers of the Florida House and Senate where hundreds of lawmakers, lobbyists, journalists and members of the public gather daily, the sense of urgency is hard to find. Lawmakers have spent hours giving long farewell speeches, sharing hugs and handshakes, posing for photos and exchanging gifts. The Senate did the annual unveiling of the Senate president’s portrait. Meanwhile, people watching in the galleries saw their phones and Twitter feeds light up with the never-ending barrage of breaking news: sports tournaments canceled, the U.S. Capitol closed to visitors, cruise industry idle. When Senate President Bill Galvano gave his goodbye address, lawmakers presented him with a trip to Hawaii, complete with a ukulele and a koa wood necklace.

Bill Galvano gets a Hawaiian send-off. Image via Twitter/@FLSenate.

As the economic threat of the coronavirus grows, the Legislature is backing away from some business tax breaks” via Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel — With the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic rapidly escalating, lawmakers on Thursday abandoned plans to hand out an assortment of tax breaks to businesses. Instead, the Senate tentatively approved a smaller package of tax cuts — highlighted by a reduction in the state tax charged on cellphones, cable television and video streaming services, a seven-day sales-tax holiday on hurricane supplies to be held in May and a three-day sales-tax holiday on clothing and school supplies to be held in August. The broad package (HB 7097) would also make a number of other changes, but a number of more controversial tax breaks were pulled out of the bill.

Judge delivers final blow to troubled domestic violence coalition, orders dissolution” via Mary Ellen Klas of the Miami Herald — A Leon County circuit court judge took little time to order the dissolution of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, dismantling the final piece of the organization that is under fire for misusing millions in state and federal money. Circuit Court Judge Ron Flury agreed to the request by Attorney General Ashley Moody to put the accounts, property and assets of the nonprofit coalition under the control of Mark Healy, a bankruptcy expert in the Jacksonville-based firm of Michael Moecker and Associates. Moody’s office sued former CEO Carr and the coalition board members after evidence mounted that the coalition spent more than $7.5 million over three years to compensate Carr.

A step toward improving foster care in Florida” via the Tampa Bay Times editorial board — It takes special legislation in these partisan times for a bill to unanimously pass both chambers of the Florida Legislature. But this legislation, SB 1326, is a strong step toward improving the state’s child welfare system. It strengthens the child protection safety net, holds service providers more accountable and sets the stage for better pairing resources with the children who need them. DeSantis should follow through with his support by signing the bill into law, and lawmakers should provide enough money to make these goals achievable. The legislation is aimed at filling critical gaps in the foster care system that all too often result in tragedy.

League of Women Voters urges veto of ballot initiative bill” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — The LWVF is urging DeSantis to immediately veto a bill that would make it more difficult for some citizen initiatives to reach the ballot. The House approved the bill, sending it to DeSantis’ desk. It passed both chambers along party lines, 23-17 in the Senate Monday and 73-45 in the House. “The League is extremely disappointed in the Florida legislators who voted up on this bill. Time after time, citizens utilized this process when our elected officials refused to act,” League President Patricia Brigham said in a written statement. “We call on Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto SB 1794 immediately.”

Budget notes
Legislature puts $300M toward coronavirus — Lawmakers will put another $300 million into reserves to fund the state response to the coronavirus and its impact on the economy, Matt Dixon of POLITICO Florida reports. The announcement comes in the closing days of the Legislative Session, which was originally scheduled to end Friday before the threat of coronavirus swept the state. “We are going to make sure we have enough resources for the coming months,” House Appropriations Chairman Travis Cummings said at a Thursday night budget meeting. Where the $300 million will come from hasn’t been fully decided, and will likely get hammered out in negotiations between Senate President Galvano and House Speaker José Oliva. What’s clear: lawmakers won’t dip into funds set aside for teacher and state employee pay raises.

Rob Bradley: Chambers ‘very, very close’ on health care spending” via the News Service of Florida — Senate Appropriations Chairman Bradley said it’s not uncommon for legislators to reach accord on smaller areas of the budget before finalizing funding for state health care agencies. “Health care is usually the last silo to wrap up, but we are very, very close on health care,” Bradley told reporters. Bradley refused to disclose the details of the compromise the chambers have been discussing about the health care budget, which includes funds for the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Elder Affairs, the Department of Health and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. One area of contention has been spending on hospitals.

Rob Bradley says the two chambers are ‘very, very close’ on health care spending. Image via Twitter/@FLSenate.

Legislature approves $354 million in PECO spending” via Florida Politics — The Legislature will spend about $354 million on public education capital outlay projects in the 2020-21 state budget. The biggest winners are charter schools, which will receive nearly half the funding — about $170 million. The allocation is a 7% uptick from last year when lawmakers set aside $158 million for charters. Projects at state universities account for another $106 million in PECO spending, while state colleges are set to receive nearly $13 million. The University of Florida gets the largest slice of the pie, with $35 million to fund the university’s Data Science Research (DSR) Lab. Of the remaining cash, $41 million will pay for projects in Gilchrist, Baker, Levy and Bradford counties.

Agreement reached on funding of state hemp program” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics — The House and Senate have agreed to a $4.36 million funding agreement for a state industrial hemp program. That’s movement on the part of the House, which a few days ago was not yet ready to accept the Senate budget for the program. But considering Senate Appropriations Chair Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican, served as the chief architect of the program, it remained a high priority for the upper chamber in negotiations. Bradley serves on the industrial hemp advisory council. Bradley said in a statement there is “a great deal of opportunity, both for Florida’s agricultural community and our economy, that comes with the production of industrial hemp in our state.”

House, Senate still apart on money for Straz Center” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics — The latest committee chair budget offer from the Senate includes $1 million while the House offer includes just $250,000. Both offers are far less than the Straz Center had hoped. The downtown Tampa performing arts center requested $4 million as a complement to a $4.6 million match from private and local contributions. The nonprofit is planning a $70 million major renovation. The proposed funding would help cover project design and engineering for architectural design, planning and engineering and construction for renovations, new community space, and other additions to the entire Straz campus. The proposed project would add three floors to the facility, new dance studios, classrooms, expanded student theater, family spaces, restrooms, faculty and administrative offices.

— “House, Senate $3M apart on emergency preparedness budget” via Florida Politics

—”Dunedin scores in budget with funding for an EOC and fire training facility” via Florida Politics

Legislation
Legislature votes to send weakened E-Verify bill to DeSantis” via Samantha Gross of the Miami Herald — A bill that would require employers to verify new hires’ immigration status passed the Senate Thursday night, sending DeSantis a fairly dialed-back version of a legislative priority and key 2018 campaign promise. The Senate passed SB 664 23-17, along party lines. In typical end-of-session fashion, the bill has bounced back and forth between the Senate and House, which stripped Sen. Tom Lee’s bill language of much of its enforcement “teeth.” The Senate bill also would have required employers with 50 employees or more to register and use the I-9 system. The bill no longer cuts business off at 50 employees. SB 664 has been one of the most politically contentious issues this Legislative Session.

Tom Lee’s watered-down E-Verify bill is headed to Ron DeSantis.

No sunset for VISIT FLORIDA as agency is reauthorized for three more years” via AG Gancarski of Florida Politics — VISIT FLORIDA got three more years out of the House. And the Senate moved from the position of wanting eight years. SB 362, filed by Sen. Ed Hooper, was modified in the House to extend VISIT FLORIDA’s mission until October 2023. The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Associated Industries of Florida, American Advertising Federation Florida TaxWatch, Florida Association of Counties and Florida Chamber have all gone on record supporting reauthorization. The Senate budgeted $52.5 million to VISIT FLORIDA. House leaders wanted to let it expire last year, but DeSantis’ support for the agency bought it an extension through June. DeSantis proposed spending $76 million on VISIT FLORIDA during the current year but accepted a Senate compromise of $50 million.

Senators decline to bring more transparency to voucher programs” via Sarah Mueller of Florida Politics — Republican Sen. Lee introduced an amendment to outgoing House Education Committee Chair Jennifer Sullivan‘s HB 7067 that would require private schools to provide more information about voucher programs. Defeated by a 16-21 vote, it would have required private schools to report to the Department of Education how many students are enrolled, how many are participating in the voucher programs, how many are also participating in dual enrollment or virtual school programs, and the number of students who withdrew from the school by grade level or transferred to another school and the reason why.

Bill reforming troubled guardianship program heads to Governor” via Monivette Cordeiro of the Orlando Sentinel — The proposal by Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Passidomo would require guardians to get a judge’s approval before signing “do not resuscitate” orders on behalf of incapacitated clients, prohibit them from seeking their own appointment to specific cases and revise provisions related to conflicts of interest. “The bad actors — the bad apples — are making a bad name for all of the guardians,” Passidomo said. “But when I learned there were a number of professional guardians who had been charged with caring for others in need but used their responsibility to prey on these innocent people, I knew the Legislature needed to step in and protect them.” If signed, it would go into effect July 1.

Holocaust, Ocoee Riots education bill awaits Ron DeSantis’ pen” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — That bill (HB 1213), by Rep. Randy Fine, originally just addressed the Holocaust education. But Fine implored the House to accept Sen. Randolph Bracy‘s amendment, folded in from one of his bills (SB 1262), after learning about the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Riots. That adopted amendment would call on the Education Commissioner’s African American History Task Force to recommend ways the history of the Ocoee Massacre can be taught in schools. The bill also mandates that every school district and charter school teach students about the state’s policy against anti-Semitism. The Department of Education would have to create a process for schools to annually certify and provide evidence of compliance with Holocaust instructional requirements.

Randy Fine’s Holocaust education bill — with the Ocoee Election Day Riot attached — is on its way to the Governor.

Legislation to raise smoking, vaping ages await DeSantis’ signature” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — House members approved a version punting the start date of the age hike three months to the start of next year. Republicans and Democrats dissented as it passed 27-9 in the Senate and 99-17 in the House. The House language also ensures permitted store employees below 21 years old can sell tobacco and vape products and clarifies that vape product permits don’t carry a $50 fee, an original intent of the bill. Foods like tomatoes and potatoes, which contain trace nicotine, were carved out of the bill. Reps. Jackie Toledo and Nicholas Duran carried the bill (SB 810) through the House. They and Simmons believe youth vaping has become an epidemic and a crisis in middle and high schools.

—“Chris Sprowls’ DNA protection bill heads to DeSantis” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics

Bear poaching ban passes Senate and House, ready for Governor’s signoff” via AG Gancarski of Florida Politics — Sen. Tom Wright and Rep. David Smith‘s legislation cracking down on bear poaching cleared the Legislature. It’s now ready for DeSantis after a unanimous vote and the House’s approval to a Senate tweak. The legislation (HB 327) would increase the severity of criminal charges associated with bear poaching to a first-degree misdemeanor. The minimum fine would increase from $500 to $750 and increase hunting license suspensions for violators from one year to three years. That suspension would extend to 47 other states. The law “will put bears on an equal footing, equal hoof,” Wright previously said of the bill, noting that other poaching laws have been more stringent than bear poaching.

End of telegraph era brings question: What’s a telegraph?” via Brendan Farrington of The Associated Press — The Senate sent DeSantis a bill that removes an entire chapter of state law regulating the telegraph industry, including $50 penalties for not promptly delivering messages. In the days before hashtags, texts and FaceTime chats, telegraphs were a big deal. Western Union completed the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, dealing a death blow to the struggling Pony Express, which began operations the year before. Florida laws regarding telegraphs haven’t had any substantial changes since 1913, and there haven’t been any court opinions involving the statutes since 1945, according to a legislative staff analysis.

Farewells
The Senate send-off to outgoing President Galvano — a man many see as both a statesman and leader — began with a video kicked off with a snippet of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man,” before fading into a photo montage set to “My Way” by Frank Sinatra.

Galvano, term-limited after this Session, kept his remarks brief, recognizing family, staff, and fellow Senators, with tributes to virtually everyone who has helped him, becoming audibly emotional more than once.

“Relationships matter,” Galvano told the assembled chamber. “The more you build on, the more you bank, it’s like deposits of goodwill.”

It was an emotional farewell for Bill Galvano. Image via Twitter/@FLSenate.

It’s not just politicians that matter, he said. “The Lobby Corps matters. The press corps matters.”

While Galvano measured his words, his sentiment was real. As was self-effacement. He credited everyone before calling himself a “traffic cop.”

Senate President Pro Tempore David Simmons extolled the “wonderful, wonderful President,” noting that he fulfilled every promise he made.

Namechecking Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, Simmons called Galvano a “statesman.”

Senate budget chief Bradley seconded the Reagan reference, introducing his photo.

“The great ones, the best of the best … their names aren’t listed on a plaque in this building,” Bradley said, “their names are repeated as a standard by which others are measured.”

__

House members bid an early farewell House Speaker Oliva, a man his colleagues frequently describe as principled.

Speaker Pro Tempore MaryLynn Magar offered the House’s thanks to the Speaker, who led the body through the 2019 and 2020 Sessions. Complimenting his principled nature, she said there is no question that the Bible guides him.

“In this chamber, we also believe you are guided by another good book, a book from the economic prophet Milton Friedman,” Magar said.

She noted that Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, was among the first to write about the elimination of medical licensure and the creation of school choice in his 1962 book “Capitalism and Freedom.” The House gifted him with a first edition of the book.

José Oliva says the gavel wasn’t his, but everyone’s in the House.

This week, DeSantis fast-tracked his signature on two of the Speaker’s scope of practice priorities for pharmacists (HB 389) and advanced practice registered nurses (HB 607).

Speaking not from his usual post on the rostrum but from the podium on the floor, Oliva thanked his constituents, his staff, House staff, friends in the process and his predecessor, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. Corcoran’s changes in policy and House culture “made an indelible mark” that influenced his tenure, too, Oliva said.

His gift back to each House member was gavels of their own, calling them pieces of his larger gavel back on the rostrum.

“I’ve never seen that as my gavel,” Oliva said. “I’ve always seen it as an extension of all of yours. And I’ve tried to make sure that this House is run in a way that is dignified, and that is representative of that.”

Today in Capitol
The Revenue Estimating Conference meets for an “impact” conference, to examine the potential cost of legislation, 9 a.m., Room 117, Knott Building.

The House Will hold a floor session, 10:30 a.m., House Chamber.

The Senate will hold a floor session, 11 a.m., Senate Chamber.

TallyMadness
TallyMadness 2020 kicked off with 64 bracketed contenders three weeks ago and after six rounds and 135,000 votes, the final match came down to Corinne Mixon and Justin Thames

The championship was a matchup for the ages: SEC versus ACC, male versus female, in-house counsel versus law firm. The prize: The right to call themselves the best young (under 40) lobbyist in The Process.

Like an all-time classic, the bout went down to the wire. On Thursday afternoon, just 16 votes separated Mixon, a government consultant for Rutledge Ecenia, and Thames, director of governmental affairs for FICPA.

Then there were two.

Thames came out of the gate strong and continued to flood his Twitter feed with pictures of a cute puppy and an adorable toddler, who turned out to be his two-year-old daughter, Eliza Mae.

Mixon was more reserved in her calls for support, but backers showed up in full force throughout her run. On the last day of voting, she almost posted a photo of herself and Thames to show this was a competition between friends — almost. “I was worried all my Facebook friends would vote for him based on his cute looks and his adorable bow tie,” she said.

Thames said he was nervous going one-on-one against the popular Mixon, but felt the contest wasn’t nearly as cutthroat as the advocacy biz. “Everybody that was in the competition, the majority, we’re all friends,” he said.

And the winner of TallyMadness 2020 is …

Govs. Club buffet menu
She crab bisque; mixed garden salad with dressings; seafood pasta salad; spicy watermelon and tomato salad; deli board, lettuce, tomatoes, cheeses and bread; crispy fried oysters, shoestring french fries, tartar, Cajun rémoulade and cocktail sauces; smoked beef brisket with BBQ sauces; chicken Oscar; hoppin’ john; kickin’ collard greens; roasted Brussels sprouts; Krispy Kreme bread pudding for dessert.
Coronavirus
Coronavirus in Florida: One more case confirmed, bringing total to 35” via Mario Ariza, Cindy Krischer Goodman, Juan Ortega, Brooke Baitinger and Victoria Ballard of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — The Florida Department of Health on Thursday afternoon confirmed an additional case of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 35 cases. The patient is a 68-year-old man from Seminole County with a travel-related infection associated with a cruise taken on the Nile River, the health department said. Broward County leads the state, having at least seven confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. The state’s total number of cases has more than doubled in recent days, increasing from 14 on Tuesday night to the 35 on Thursday.

CDC will notify passengers who may have interacted with Port Everglades coronavirus patients” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — Health officials say they will work to contact cruise ship passengers who may have been in contact with any of the four individuals connected to Port Everglades who have tested positive for the new coronavirus. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says his agency will work with the Florida Department of Health to ensure those passengers are notified. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, who represents parts of Broward County, including Port Everglades, questioned Redfield. She said officials have not confirmed that passengers who had offloaded at the port in recent days had been notified of potential contact.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the CDC’s budget. Image via AP.

Coronavirus pandemic tests clout of cruise industry and its long-standing ties to Donald Trump” via Josh Dawsey, Jonathan O’Connell, Ashley Parker and Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post — The administration’s whipsawing posture has led to an intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying effort by cruise executives to mitigate the financial fallout from the virus, which has infected passengers and crew members on at least two Carnival-owned Princess Cruise ships. The coming days will test the clout of the industry, which has long-standing connections to Trump, including through Carnival Corp. Chairman Micky Arison, a friend whose company helped sponsor Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice” over the years. But stock value of cruise companies has plummeted as the industry struggled to deal with the infections on the two ships and warnings from health experts about the risks of such travel. Trump appears sympathetic and has said he wants to help the cruise lines.

Even before coronavirus, Princess Cruises had a spotted record on outbreaks” via Ron Hurtibise of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — As it shuts down its global operations for 60 days, officials of Princess Cruises will no doubt have to examine why it has so far been the only major cruise line to contend with coronavirus outbreaks on board. The cruise line’s history of gastrointestinal illness, as tracked by the CDC, might hold some clues. Since 2011, Princess Cruises has reported more outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness — 26 — than any other cruise line that docks in the United States. The recent coronavirus outbreaks came just weeks after significant flare-ups of norovirus on Princess Cruises ships. Two of the first three in 2020 occurred aboard the Caribbean Princess ship, based in Fort Lauderdale.

U.S. stocks sink in worst day since Black Monday” via Claire Ballentine, Vildana Hajric, and Sarah Ponczek of Bloomberg — In a week that brought the wildest market swings since the financial crisis, Thursday hammered investors with something crazier — a 10% drop in the Dow, the end of the longest bull market on record and the most significant sell-off since 1987’s Black Monday. At the end of the day, the S&P 500 smoldered 27% below records set barely three weeks ago and wiped out all its gains since the end of 2018. The news was even worse overseas: Europe’s benchmark index suffered its worst day in history. Brazil’s Ibovespa tumbled as much as 20%, extending this year’s loss to almost 50% in dollar terms. Canada’s main gauge was off more than 12%, its worst day since 1940.

More corona
Disney World closes theme parks for rest of March as coronavirus concerns swell” via Dewayne Bevil and Gabrielle Russon of the Orlando Sentinel — Throughout its nearly 50-year history, Walt Disney World has closed a handful of times briefly from looming hurricanes and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but the company announced it would shut down for nearly two weeks starting Sunday because of the coronavirus pandemic — an unprecedented move, which happened four hours after Disney said it would also shut down Disneyland. At Disney World, the four theme parks will shut down, although the hotels and the Disney Springs shopping center will remain open. “In an abundance of caution and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the closure of our theme parks,” Disney said in a statement.

Disney World is closing for two weeks, in response to coronavirus.

Disney delays Mulan due to coronavirus” via Aja Romano of Vox — Disney delayed not only Mulan, which would have been released March 27, but also two other upcoming films: the teen X-Men movie New Mutants (previously scheduled for April 3), and the horror film Antlers, which Disney acquired when it acquired Fox Searchlight (previously scheduled for April 17). New release dates for the films have not yet been announced. “As you know, this has been a rapidly evolving situation,” a Disney spokesperson stated in a press email. Press screenings of Mulan have been delayed until further notice, and some premieres for the film were also unscheduled in Europe and China, where theaters have already been closed for over a month.

NCAA cancels March Madness tournament due to coronavirus” via Axios — The NCAA announced it would cancel its annual men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments, set to begin with Selection Sunday on March 15, due to the coronavirus outbreak. March Madness is a cultural phenomenon, and one of the most significant sporting events in America. The NCAA was initially planning to play games without fans but faced pressure to cancel after top-ranked teams Duke and the University of Kansas suspended all athletic activities. A string of major sports cancellations began with the NBA, which announced it would suspend its season indefinitely after a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus. The NHL and MLS suspended their seasons, and the MLB postponed spring training games.

MLB delays opening day at least 2 weeks because of virus” via Ronald Blum of The Associated Press — Opening day had been scheduled for March 26. The decision announced by Commissioner Rob Manfred left open whether each team would still play 162 games. “It’s unfortunate, but I think it’s the proper measure we need to take now given the situation the country’s in and the world’s in,” New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton said. “It’s important to know that some things are bigger than baseball, bigger than sports at the moment.” The announcement came while some spring training games in Florida were still in progress. The minor league baseball season, which was to start April 9, also will be delayed.

NFL teams curtail or stop scouting; main owners meeting off” via Barry Wilner of The Associated Press — The Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets are among those that have ordered their scouts and assistant coaches to return home in what typically is a busy time for evaluating college players. The NFL draft is scheduled for April 23-25 in Las Vegas. Many teams have told employees to work remotely. “Due to health and travel concerns surrounding COVID-19, we have informed all of our scouts and coaches that they must return to their home bases and travel will be suspended until further notice,” Redskins owner Daniel Snyder said in a statement.

PGA Tour to carry on without spectators for the next month” via Doug Ferguson of The Associated Press — Commissioner Jay Monahan said fans would not be allowed at the final three days of The Players Championship or three other tournaments — one in Florida, two in Texas — leading up to the Masters. Monahan leaned on golf not being a contact sport and being played outdoors across sprawling acreage as a reason not to shut down entirely. “Our players are making their way over 400 acres,” Monahan said. “Because of the nature of that … and over the course of a round our players generally do socially distance themselves, we felt like by taking this step to address the problem with our fans, we’re in a position where we can continue to operate the events as of right now.

IndyCar, NASCAR closed to fans amid COVID-19 pandemic” via Jenna Fryer of The Associated Press — IndyCar pushed forward with Sunday’s season-opening race after the Mayor of St. Petersburg said fans would not be permitted to attend. Only essential personnel can enter the fenced area surrounding the temporary street course through downtown St. Petersburg. Competitors will have to answer a questionnaire for health screening before entry. Practice sessions, the driver’s autograph session, and other events were canceled. NASCAR said it will run its next two races without fans, starting this weekend in Atlanta and continuing at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez said the county was under a state of emergency and NASCAR racing would be postponed unless officials chose to run the race without fans.

ATP, ITF tennis tours halted 6 weeks because of coronavirus” via Howard Fendrich and Steven Wine of The Associated Press — The ATP called off all men’s professional tennis tournaments for six weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a WTA spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the women’s tour was not immediately prepared to do the same. Amy Binder wrote in an email that the WTA would announce information about upcoming events “shortly.” “At this point in time,” Binder wrote, “we are not looking to put in a 6-week suspension.” Hours earlier, the men’s tour announced it was doing just that for the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour, while the International Tennis Federation halted its lower-tier events.

Far from the coronavirus epicenter, Caribbean tourism starts to get sick” via Kate Chappell, Anthony Faiola and Jasper Ward via The Washington Post — The cruise-heavy and visitor-dependent Caribbean is faring significantly better than other tourism hot spots. Cruise passenger traffic on some islands is down by the tens of thousands. But guest numbers at hotels and resorts, far larger generators of local revenue, are dipping less or holding steady — albeit with serious signs of trouble ahead. The islands are in the final weeks of high season and counting their blessings that the virus did not strike earlier. Yet even on these coconut-laden shores, tourism in a sudden era of social distancing is facing an escalating challenge — with the impact of a global outbreak threatening to derail the recovery of a region hammered in recent years by a run of earthquakes and killer storms.

After encouraging staff to mislead cruise customers about COVID-19, Norwegian reverses” via Jimena Tavel and Taylor Dolven of the Miami Herald — After encouraging sales employees to mislead concerned customers about the risks of taking cruises during the COVID-19 outbreak, Norwegian Cruise Line has backpedaled. As first reported by the Miami New Times, company managers downplayed the threat of the virus internally and directed salespeople to do the same with customers. After the New Times story published the canned sales responses Wednesday morning, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Farkas told sales staff to abandon the phrases about coronavirus in an email Wednesday afternoon.

Royal Caribbean passengers who tried to cancel trip decide to board anyway” via Sara DiNatale of the Tampa Bay Times — Ana Trevino’s family trip for 13 shrank to six people by the time she arrived at Port Tampa Bay Thursday to board a cruise to Cozumel. With coronavirus on their minds, some of the remaining travelers had tried to cancel their tickets in exchange for a credit. After hours on hold, they said they couldn’t get to through to Royal Caribbean within the required 48-hour notice period. The options became: Go on the cruise now or spend hundreds of dollars on nothing. “I’m excited, but also terrified,” said 30-year-old Claudy Berrios, before boarding Brilliance of the Seas at the Port of Tampa Bay on Thursday. “I really tried canceling.”

[

People who tried to cancel their cruise could not. Image via AP.

The Fair has been shut down. What happens to the food, the rides and the farm animals?” via Michelle Marchante of the Miami Herald — Fifth-grader Marcos Andujar was looking forward to showing off his lambs at the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair on Friday. Then his family received a phone call. The fair was canceled. Miami-Dade County Mayor Giménez announced the decision early Thursday, only hours before the fair was set to open at 3 p.m. Concern over the novel coronavirus led to the cancellation, like other big events. Fair President and CEO Eddie Cora says he’s “shocked” by the carnival’s shutdown but that he understands why the decision was made. Cora says the fair will take the next few weeks to review options. Vendors are discussing the possibility of donating their 21-day supply of food to community organizations. The CEO hopes the fair could come back later this year.

Local response to corona
2 Florida schools closed as coronavirus spreads” via Andrew Atterbury of POLITICO Florida — Rocky Bayou Christian School in Niceville is closed after a 61-year-old woman who attends church with many of the school’s students and faculty members was diagnosed with COVID-19. And a person regularly on the Farnell Middle School campus in Hillsborough County had recent contact with someone positive for coronavirus. Officials decided to close the school for a cleaning. The College of the Florida Keys is closing for 21 days after spring break. Miami Dade College closed its medical campus and canceled school events after a visitor who attended a recent event there tested positive for COVID-19.

Miami-Dade, Broward public schools to remain open amid coronavirus pandemic” via Colleen Wright of the Miami Herald — The Miami-Dade and Broward school districts plan to remain open with normal operations despite a growing number of positive coronavirus cases in South Florida. The respective fourth- and sixth-largest school districts in the nation held back-to-back news conferences Thursday. It was the first scheduled presser for Broward, where seven people have confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, more than any other county in Florida. Broward’s announcements lacked much detail. Superintendent Robert Runcie announced that all after-school activities are canceled. He also put a moratorium on all travel — academic, athletic, extracurricular — within the state, effective Monday. In its third news conference on the issue, Miami-Dade County Public Schools broke from Broward in its approach to after-school activities.

Broward School Superintendent Robert Runcie cancels after school activities, but school itself is still in.

Miami-Dade police suspend evictions amid coronavirus spread” via Jessica Lipscomb of the Miami New Times — Miami-Dade Mayor Giménez declared a state of emergency for the county. Following that announcement, the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) said it had suspended eviction enforcement. “Due to @MayorGimenez declaring a state of emergency in #OurCounty, the #MDPD has temporarily suspended all eviction activities until further notice,” the police department tweeted. MDPD has not always been so considerate. Last year, as Hurricane Dorian threatened to hit South Florida, Miami-Dade police helped evict an elderly woman from her longtime apartment in South Beach. Giménez later said it had been a mistake to evict the 75-year-old resident.

Large events canceled across South Florida amid coronavirus concerns” via Andrew Boryga and Lisa J. Huriash of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — Officials on Thursday canceled many of the fun South Florida events that draw thousands of people each year, trying to stop the march of the coronavirus. Miami-Dade County postponed the Miami Open tennis tournament, Youth Fair, the MIA 5K run, as well as events at American Airlines Arena. Broward urged all cities to cancel events while it postponed Saturday’s Water Matters Day, which would’ve featured a plant and tree giveaway. Although Palm Beach County is not yet canceling gatherings, it could eventually. “These large events right now are not a good idea,” Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry said.

’We are all getting slaughtered.’ Coronavirus fallout forces Orlando layoffs” via Marco Santana of the Orlando Sentinel — An Orlando stage production company has laid off half its local workforce and more than 150 people nationwide after several shows canceled events because of fears over coronavirus. It is the first documented case of job losses in Central Florida directly related to the virus and could be a harbinger of things to come as more conferences pull out of Central Florida over the illness. Already, Orlando has seen more than 15 conferences cancel or reschedule, with those expecting to attract 100,000 visitors and $200 million in economic impact. “It’s brutal,” said Christie Lites, CEO Huntly Christie, whose company has let go of 30 of its 60 Orlando employees. “We (the industry) are all getting slaughtered.”

The cost of closing: Leon County schools actively monitoring coronavirus, weighs next steps” via CD Davidson-Hiers of the Tallahassee Democrat — As universities move to online classes, Leon County Schools officials are actively weighing the district’s next steps and deciding whether to take the “nuclear option” of closing schools, which immediately will send parents scrambling. Here are some sobering facts facing district officials: Roughly 14,300 students in Leon County public schools qualify for free or reduced-rate lunches; four schools with a high concentration of kids with Type 1 Diabetes have a pilot Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare telemedicine program; the roughly 34,000 students in Leon County public schools spend seven hours a day in a regular, supervised school program; most high school seniors are waiting on their final grades before securing their collegiate spots.

Springtime Tallahassee, Word of South officially canceled —” via TaMaryn Waters of the Tallahassee Democrat — The 52nd Annual Springtime Tallahassee and Word of South festivals have canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Organizers made the call after DeSantis and Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey urged the cancellation or postponement of mass-crowd events throughout the state for the next 30 days. Coordinators for both events said earlier this week they had planned to move forward with events unless they were shut down by authorities. Both events attract tens of thousands of residents and visitors to the capital city. Springtime Tallahassee was slated to take place on March 27 and March 28. Word of South, a music and literature festival, was scheduled for April 3 through April 5.

‘Very fluid’ situation: How Pensacola, Escambia County are bracing for pandemic” via Jim Little of the Pensacola News Journal — Officials with the city of Pensacola and Escambia County are bracing for the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as they await further guidance from state health officials. The county has stepped up the cleaning of public facilities and has been in communication with the Florida Department of Health to decide if further steps are needed, officials said at a news conference Thursday. So far, no cases of COVID-19 have been found in Escambia County. Last week, one case was identified in Santa Rosa County, a 71-year-old man who was treated in Escambia County at Baptist Hospital. The man later died and is one of two deaths recorded in Florida from the coronavirus.

Sarasota-Manatee anticipates tourism losses” via Laura Finaldi of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune — The Trump Administration’s restrictions on travel from Europe because of the coronavirus could potentially cause a slowdown in Sarasota-Manatee tourism. Still, that slowdown could come from more than just international travel, local officials say. About 2-3% of visitors in Sarasota County at this time of year are from Germany and central Europe, Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County, said. That percentage is usually a lot higher in the summer and fall, she said. But Haley said she thinks the travel ban will still affect travel in international and domestic markets. That might end up changing how Visit Sarasota spends its advertising money this summer, Haley said. She said it might end up spending for an advertising push in European markets this summer.

Not washing your hands? Seminole County wants public to report you” via Martin E. Comas of the Orlando Sentinel — If you see someone use the bathroom and leave without washing their hands, say something to them. That’s what Seminole County officials are urging the public to do with heightened fears about the coronavirus, which on Wednesday was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. A Facebook video titled “See something, say something” posted late Wednesday by Seminole County officials shows a man leave a bathroom stall and walk by a sink without washing his hands … “A reminder from Seminole County Office of Emergency Management: Wash hands for 20 seconds with warm water and soap,” the post reads. “If you know of someone who is not practicing personal hygiene, offer a gentle reminder to prevent the spread of viruses.”

Just wash your hands, please.

—“Pasco declares coronavirus emergency” via C.T. Bowen of the Tampa Bay Times

—“Palm Beach International Boat Show cancels” via Jeff Ostrowski of the Palm Beach Post

Sunshine State primary
Voters are voting — According to the Florida Division of Elections, as of Thursday morning, Supervisors of Elections have 1,175,780 and Republican vote-by-mail ballots; 628,039 have returned, 399,872 are outstanding, and 4,081 are unsent. There have been 143,851 early in-person votes cast. As for Democrats, Supervisors have 1,398,104 vote-by-mail ballots; 555,417 have returned 590,248 are outstanding, and 5,787 are unsent. There have been 246,652 early in-person votes cast. Those classified as “other,” 248,878 vote-by-mail ballots, 16,165 have returned, 32,635 are outstanding, and 198,106 are unsent. There have been 1,972 early in-person votes cast.

“‘Weird times.’ A global COVID-19 pandemic muddles the Florida primary. Will it matter?” via David Smiley of the Miami Herald — Presidential campaigns canceling events in Miami. Poll workers are packing extra rubber gloves. A debate without an audience. The Florida primary has entered the pandemic phase. After weeks of early voting, with only days to go until Florida’s March 17 presidential preference election, a global outbreak of novel coronavirus and a continuing surge by former Vice President Biden have dramatically changed the landscape of the presidential campaign both nationally and in the state. Now, at a time the campaign should be bustling, it’s unclear what the Florida campaign will look like — or if it will even matter. “These are weird times,” said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Peñalosa.

Florida poised to stamp out Bernie Sanders campaign” via Marc Caputo of POLITICO — No state accentuates Sanders’ weaknesses and Biden’s strengths quite like Florida, which votes Tuesday with a payload of 219 delegates, more than any other state left on the primary calendar besides New York. More than a quarter of the Democratic primary electorate is traditionally African American, Biden’s base. Two-thirds are typically 50 or older, also Biden’s stronghold. And about 60 percent in the polls consider themselves moderates or even conservatives — ditto, advantage Biden. But it gets worse for Sanders. Hispanic voters have been a bright spot for the Vermont Senator. But the opposite is true in Florida. A poll showed Florida Hispanics, by a 34-point margin, look unfavorably upon a candidate who describes himself as a “socialist.”

The Bernie Sanders campaign could get quashed in Florida.

Elections office taking steps to prevent coronavirus spread” via Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat — The Leon County Supervisor of Elections has implemented safeguards to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during early and Election Day voting in the Florida presidential primary. The office is also moving some voters from two precincts located at assisted living facilities to minimize possible exposure to vulnerable older people. Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley said his office is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including cleaning voting equipment, providing hand sanitizer at voting locations and giving additional training to poll workers. “I encourage voters with concerns to consider voting early or voting during off-peak hours (1-4 p.m.) as a way of minimizing contract with crowds on Election Day,” Earley said.

More 2020
Trump leaves open the possibility of a March 25 rally in Tampa amid coronavirus” via David Smiley and Francesca Chambers of the Miami Herald — Trump said in the White House that he had plans for a rally in Tampa later this month. Still, he’ll probably cancel the event due to concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus. “We had four or five [political rallies] that we were thinking about. We had a big one in Tampa all sold out. We had over 100,000 requests for tickets, but I think we’ll probably not do it because people will say it’s better not to do,” Trump said. “We’ll need a little separation until such time that this goes away.” He left open the possibility that the event will be held as planned.

Donald Trump is hinting that he will hold a Tampa rally in late March.

Dem debate moved to D.C. over coronavirus concerns” via Zach Montellaro of POLITICO — “Out of an abundance of caution and in order to reduce cross-country travel, all parties have decided that the best path forward is to hold Sunday’s debate at CNN’s studio in Washington, D.C., with no live audience,” DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement. The debate, the first one-on-one clash between Biden and Sanders, was initially scheduled to be held in Phoenix. The DNC and CNN, which is hosting the debate alongside Univision, announced earlier in the week that there would be no live audience, spin room, or media filing center as campaigns, media organizations and other groups take steps to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Biden, Sanders offer contrasts to Trump during outbreak” via The Associated Press — “This administration has left us woefully unprepared for the exact crisis we now face,” Biden said in a speech delivered from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, and tailored to draw sharp contrasts between the former vice president and the Republican incumbent. A short time later, Sanders said the outbreak might isolate Americans working from home and in quarantine, and he suggested the country needed to band together, not divide. “If there ever was a time in the modern history of our country when we were all in this together, this is the moment,” Sanders said. “We have an administration that is largely incompetent and whose incompetence and recklessness have threatened the lives of many, many people in this country.”

Tuesday’s primaries reveal it’s not just black voters whom Sanders is struggling with” via Eugene Scott of The Washington Post — The losses of Sanders this week with demographic groups and in states he won in 2016 are prompting questions about whether there ever was as much support for his revolutionary politics as some previously believed. Following the South Carolina primary, which former Vice President Biden won, much attention has been paid to how poorly Sanders is doing with black voters — particularly those older than 45. But as the 2020 election plays out in states outside those with large black Democratic electorates, like in the Midwest and West, it looks like Sanders is not as strong with white voters as his supporters thought.

Biden turns his focus from Sanders to Trump — and rebooting his own campaign” via Matt Viser and Michael Scherer of The Washington Post — A day after another string of dominant victories that moved him closer to the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden’s campaign was working to reboot amid broad concerns within the party that his current operation is ill-equipped to match Trump’s behemoth reelection effort. Biden pulled off the most stunningly swift turnaround in modern political history with a relatively small staff, underwhelming fundraising, and a campaign occasionally marked by dysfunction and turmoil. After he finished fifth in New Hampshire just four weeks ago, there were questions about how his campaign could gracefully end. But Biden now has won at least 15 of the last 21 voting states, making him the candidate likeliest to face Trump.

Biden appoints Jen O’Malley Dillon as new campaign manager” via Michael Scherer of The Washington Post — The move is intended to quell concerns raised in recent weeks by senior Democratic strategists about the leadership structure of the Biden campaign, which has been beset by underwhelming fundraising, scant staffing resources and organizational miscues during the early nominating contests. “She will be a tremendous asset to a campaign that is only growing and getting stronger as we prepare to take the fight to Donald Trump this fall,” Biden said in a statement. The campaign shuffle is an acknowledgment that while Biden has had a remarkable recent run of victories — at least 15 of the past 21 contests — his operation was not up to the challenge posed by Trump if Biden wins the nomination.

Trump’s reelection chances suddenly look shakier” via Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times — Trump faces the most significant challenge yet to his prospects of being reelected, with his advisers’ two major assumptions for the campaign — a booming economy and an opponent easily vilified as too far left — quickly evaporating. After a year in which Mr. Trump has told voters that they must support his reelection or risk watching the economic decline, the stock market is reeling, and economists are warning that a recession could be on the horizon because of the worsening spread of the coronavirus. And instead of elevating Sanders as Trump made clear was his hope, Democrats have suddenly and decisively swung from a flirtation with socialism to Biden.

D.C. matters
White House tours suspended and Capitol to close to public” via The Associated Press — Congress decided to shut the Capitol to the public until April. Congressional office buildings and the Congressional Visitor Center, through which tourists enter the Capitol, are also closing. Only lawmakers, staff, journalists, and visitors with official business will be permitted to enter. White House tours have been temporarily suspended. The closures come after Trump sharply restricted passenger travel from 26 European nations to the United States and trying to ease the economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic that’s upending financial markets and disrupting Americans’ lives.

For Trump, the coronavirus crisis is all about the numbers — and they don’t look good” via Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Yasmeen Abutaleb of The Washington Post — Trump’s obsession with numbers — both publicly and privately — has dominated and shaped the administration’s response to the coronavirus, as advisers and public health experts try to placate a leader who largely views the global pandemic through the political lens of how the statistics reflect on his presidency and hopes for reelection. He wants market numbers up, and he wants case numbers down. Trump is a man who has measured much of his life in numbers — first wealth, then crowd size and votes, and now unemployment and economic numbers — while saying relatively little about the human suffering caused by the coronavirus crisis.

President Donald Trump speaks before dinner with National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, right, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, left, at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, March 7. Image via AP.

Rick Scott to self-quarantine after Jair Bolsonaro aide tests positive for coronavirus” via Alex Daugherty of the Miami Herald — Scott will self-quarantine after having possible contact with Brazilian President Bolsonaro’s press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, during a meeting in Florida. “My office was alerted today by the Brazilian Embassy that a member of President Bolsonaro’s delegation tested positive for coronavirus,” Scott said in a statement. “On Monday, I met with the president in Miami, and while I do not believe I interacted with the infected person, that individual was in the same room as me. The embassy said the person had no symptoms leading up to or the day of the conference.” Scott said he is showing no symptoms of the novel coronavirus.

Charlie Crist calls for drive-thru coronavirus testing” via Mark Bergin of Florida Politics — Crist has called for drive-thru coronavirus testing in a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Redfield. It also asks for the agency to provide direction on who needs testing and to make use of every qualified lab available. “Floridians are seeing efficient, effective coronavirus tests around the world, while Americans experiencing symptoms cannot get tested here at home,” Crist wrote in a news release. “Tom Hanks was diagnosed with coronavirus in Australia where testing is free and widely available. He would not have met CDC criteria for a test in America. It’s outrageous. Every day we get this wrong is a day that Americans are less safe. Let’s get it right. Let people get tested.”

Rubio wants to increase scrutiny of foreign homebuyers in Miami with new legislation” via Alex Daugherty of the Miami Herald — Rubio is introducing a bill that would reduce foreign speculation of residential real estate in urban centers like Miami by increasing the tax rates of real estate sales by foreign investors. And Rubio would combat real estate transactions funded by illicit activity or money laundering by prompting the Treasury Department to report the natural identities of foreign buyers and the source of funds received by the seller. The bill authorizes the Treasury Department to require a report on behalf of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for each transaction of residential real estate to a foreign buyer within the top 15 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the country.

Statewide
State suspends prison visitation” via Ana Ceballos of the News Service of Florida — The Florida Department of Corrections has suspended visits at all state prisons, as the state attempts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. In-person visits with prisoners at all facilities have been stopped until April 5, corrections officials announced. “This decision has been made in close consultation with our partners at the Florida Department of Health and with correctional best practices being reviewed nationwide. We look forward to resuming normal visitation as soon as possible,” agency officials said in a prepared statement. Inmates will have “access to their loved ones through mail, phone calls and video visitations,” officials said.

He smuggled fentanyl into a Florida jail, cops say. Five inmates overdosed within a week” via C. Isaiah Smalls II of the Miami Herald — A Pasco County man will spend more than two decades behind bars for selling fentanyl inside a jail, which caused numerous inmates to overdose, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Timothy CathCart, 33, was sentenced Wednesday to 27 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. According to the DEA, CathCart was originally booked into a Pasco jail for a traffic violation on Jan. 24, 2019. Minutes before his arrest, however, he hid about 14 grams of fentanyl mixed with two other substances. This allowed him to smuggle the narcotics inside the jail. CathCart later confessed to intentionally sneaking the narcotics inside the jail.

Timothy CathCart smuggled fentanyl into a Pasco jail. Five inmates overdosed.

Keep Hollywood’s Hurricane Irma nursing home video from jury, defendants plead” via Rafael Olmeda of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — Hurricane Irma knocked out the air conditioning at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in September 2017, but 15 surveillance cameras kept working, recording what workers did and did not do for days as temperatures inside climbed to unbearable levels. Now, lawyers for the officials accused of letting the residents of the home die from heat exhaustion want a Broward judge to keep a jury from hearing expert testimony based on more than 1,000 hours of video evidence. The images they captured — and the inaction they allegedly revealed — led prosecutors to file charges against four employees. As of Thursday afternoon, there was no deadline for prosecutors to respond to the defense move to keep the information from the jury. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 17.

SpaceX moving ahead with sixth launch of Starlink internet satellites on Saturday” via Chabeli Carrazana of the Orlando Sentinel — Coronavirus is canceling most things on Earth except rocket launches (for now, anyway). SpaceX is moving forward with a launch on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s launch complex 39A carrying a set of the company’s own Starlink internet satellites to orbit. The satellites are designed to deliver high-speed broadband internet to even the most remote corners of the globe. Saturday’s launch, scheduled for 9:42 a.m., will be the sixth for Starlink and will carry 60 of the 570-pound satellites. That’ll take SpaceX’s total to about 360. The weather is 90% favorable for the launch, according to the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.

Fresh from Florida turns 30
In 2020, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Fresh From Florida program celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Established by the Legislature in 1990, “Fresh from Florida” — formally known as the Florida Agricultural Promotional Campaign (FAPC) — supports Florida’s farmers, ranchers, fishermen, aquaculturists, and horticulturists by helping market Florida-grown products around the world.

Through partnerships with retail grocery stores, trade shows, retailers like Subway, and more, Fresh From Florida reaches over 50 million consumers every year. Food producers meeting certain standards can use the “Fresh From Florida” logo on product packaging and signage to highlight locally-grown commodities.

The Fresh From Florida program turns 30.

“Fresh From Florida has built a worldwide brand that’s become a household name, known for farm-fresh, high-quality products,” said Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. “Fresh From Florida has created $7 billion in revenue for Florida’s hardworking farmers and ranchers, and keeps our state’s more than 300 commodities front-of-mind for consumers. For Florida’s taxpayers, it’s a return on investment like no other.”

Fried also touted the Fresh From Florida return on investment — $22 for every $1 invested — which helps fuel the state’s second-largest industry, generating an additional $137 million in cash receipts for Florida’s more than 47,000 farmers and ranchers. The program created $840 million in sales from trade shows since 2013.

Annually, the brand contributes 2,300 new jobs and $12.8 million in tax revenue to the state.

Fresh From Florida is also partnering with up to 70 national retailers in 25 different countries, making Florida one of the top states in agricultural exports. The Department’s 2020-21 budget asks state lawmakers for $10.8 million to fund this vital program.

For more information about Fresh From Florida with videos, tips, and email recipes direct from Fresh From Florida’s Chef Justin Timineri, visit the Fresh From Florida page.

Happening today — Fried and FDACS Chief Science Officer Dr. Lisa Conti will host a Facebook Live town hall to discuss what consumers, businesses, and agriculture should know about coronavirus, 1 p.m. at Facebook.com/FDACS.

Local
Caught on bodycam: FBI agent chasing Florida corruption complaint ends up locked in patrol car” via Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat — An FBI agent checking out a complaint about police corruption in rural northwest Florida ended up handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol car after running into deputies who doubted his true identity. The ordeal unfolded after Special Agent Alexis Hatten traveled from Panama City to the small town of Carrabelle to ask about a citation the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office gave to a prominent businesswoman but later pulled back from the courthouse. It escalated into a roadside confrontation — all caught on bodycam video — between Hatten and the deputies. During the six minutes Hatten spent locked in the cruiser, he cried out for cool air and demanded to be released.

Woman pleads guilty to hurricane disaster assistance fraud” via The Associated Press — Bernita Willette Carswell, 36, pleaded guilty in Jacksonville federal court to one count of disaster assistance fraud, according to court records. She faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as paying restitution. Carswell made an application for disaster assistance benefits to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in September 2017, according to court documents. She claimed that her primary residence in Jacksonville was damaged during Hurricane Irma, forcing her to stay in a nearby rental property. FEMA paid Carswell rental assistance totaling $15,024.80. Department of Homeland Security investigators determined that Carswell’s statements to FEMA were false, and her Jacksonville home was not damaged.

Kayser Enneking takes narrow lead in HD 21 money race” via Florida Politics — The HD 21 race is showing Republican incumbent Clemons out in front in overall fundraising. However, Democratic challenger Enneking now leads in cash on hand. Clemons reported about $165,100 in campaign contributions at the start of the 2020 Legislative Session when lawmakers are barred from raising money. Clemons also has substantial cash on hand in his reelection bid as his campaign has only spent about $26,000. That leaves about $139,200 in reserve in his bid for another term in the North Central Florida seat. As Clemons efforts paused, Enneking’s continued. She has now mustered about $153,000 in campaign contributions. The Gainesville Democrat has also been careful about spending so far, racking up only about $43,000 in expenditures.

Kayser Enneking is making fundraising headway in her bid for House District 21.

FSU basketball disappointed but understanding after ACC, NCAA Tournament cancellation” via Wayne McGahee III of the Tallahassee Democrat — It’s not the way Florida State wanted to take home another ACC trophy this week. The No. 4 Seminoles (26-5, 16-4 ACC) were crowned the ACC Champions after the ACC Tournament was canceled Thursday morning. The NCAA tournament was scrapped hours later. “Florida State University has had an absolutely tremendous basketball season to this point,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said after announcing the tournament was canceled. The Seminoles didn’t play a game in the tournament but won the regular-season ACC title, which now carries over due to the cancellation. FSU basketball coach Leonard Hamilton wanted to play this week but made it clear he thought the ACC made the right decision.

Top opinion
Trump’s Oval Office speech did the opposite of what it was supposed to do” via Dan Balz of The Washington Post — In times of national crisis, people look to the president for direction, reassurance and confidence. Trump’s Oval Office speech on Wednesday night provided precisely the opposite. From the misstatements to the omissions to his labored demeanor, the president sent a message that shook financial markets, disrupted relations with European allies, confused his many viewers and undermined the most precious commodity of any president, his credibility. With the stock markets plunging into bear territory, the health care system struggling to keep pace with the spreading novel coronavirus and Americans wondering what’s next, Trump is dealing unsteadily with the greatest crisis of his presidency. The pandemic is a physical and economic threat to the well-being of millions of Americans.
Opinions
The case for a coronavirus supply-side stimulus” via Marco Rubio for The National Review — America’s economy is at risk of seizing up. The reason is a collapse in demand stemming from fears of the coronavirus. Washington sees this collapse in demand and responds only with proposals to put more money in the pockets of consumers. But there is one side of the equation that we must also tackle aggressively: our productive capacity. After all, the coronavirus outbreak is not entirely a demand shock. It is creating significant demand for domestic medical services and manufacturing. The spread of the coronavirus abroad has also created a demand for domestic alternatives to key medical supplies now produced in China, including surgical masks, medical gowns, respirators, and pharmaceutical drugs.

Our state and nation were left at risk” via the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board — Science matters. History matters. No one claiming competence to govern other people should have been surprised at the emergence and worldwide spread of a new and especially dangerous disease. There have been pandemics throughout recorded history: Bubonic plague, cholera, the Spanish Flu, and HIV/AIDS to cite just a few. Scientists have warned for years there would inevitably be another. The only question was when. That has been answered. And yet, the coronavirus named COVID-19 has caught many of the world’s leaders, as well as the governors of Florida and some other American states, utterly unprepared to recognize it as a pandemic, much less to cope with it. There is a shocking lack of candor.

Will coronavirus jolt us into a new reality?” via Llewellyn King of the Tampa Bay Times — Now, in the time of COVID-19, we are enduring another great national jolt that will have consequences in the decades ahead. After this pandemic, we will be more inclined to believe the experts and to value medical science the same way we have worshipped computer technology. In addition, stock markets might come to be eclipsed by a more representative measure of the national well-being. Particularly, the indifference we have felt to predictions of existential calamity may be taken way more seriously than before COVID-19. Now we are struggling with an assault that will be seminal in its impact, personally frightening and economically devastating. We cannot buy or fight our way out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chaos, confusion of sports shutdown shows how ill-prepared we are for coronavirus” via Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel — If ever you wanted proof that we desperately need a national strategic preparedness and response plan for when a deadly virus spreads throughout our planet, then all you need to do is chronicle the chaotic, confusing, helter-skelter reaction of the sports world to the coronavirus. In a matter of two days, the NBA went from simply keeping the media out of its locker rooms to shutting down the league altogether. In one day, the NCAA went from playing conference tournament games in fan-filled arenas to playing games in empty arenas to pulling teams off the court at halftime, to canceling March Madness altogether. Question: Why were fans allowed in on Thursday and not Friday?

Amid coronavirus, play all MLB baseball in Florida” via Chris Anderson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune — Coronavirus has forced several sports to take unprecedented measures. The NBA, for example, has suspended its season. Major League Baseball — arguably our national pastime and essentially a constant in this country since 1876 — has yet to decide how to proceed. Here’s an idea: Start the regular season in Florida. The teams are already here for spring training, so just keep them here. Every team playing in the Grapefruit League stays until further developments warrant the next move. It would be just like spring, only the game would actually count. It’s important not everyone panic and let baseball, as it always has, lead the way.

Shark fin bill: A significant step in the right direction” via Rep. Kristin Jacobs for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — Today, it would be hard to find anyone who doesn’t think the Clean Water Act ranks among the most transformative pieces of environmental legislation in our nation’s history. But back in 1972, when this historic bill was being put to a vote, there were plenty of naysayers who urged a veto because they said the Act did not go far enough. Unfortunately, long-term institutional change does not happen in one fell swoop. It happens incrementally. Which brings us to SB 680, banning shark fin imports in Florida, among other notable gains. Amazingly, this bipartisan bill passed the combined membership of the Florida Senate and House with only a single dissenting vote. Why? Because it’s a good bill. SB 680 is not only good for the future of sharks; it’s good for divers, fishers, the environment, and our economy. It’s precisely why this environmentalist stands solidly in support and why I urge Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign it into law.

Listen up
Dishonorable Mention: State Rep. Chris Latvala, activist Becca TiederErnest Hooper, and communications expert Dr. Karla Mastracchio discuss politics and culture. State Sen. Lee of SD 20 joins the pod to discuss the 2020 Session and the relationship between the House and Senate. Lee also talks about the E-Verify bill he sponsored and any pushback on the proposal. He tells the hosts what it’s like being married to the Secretary of State.
Weekend TV
Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede on CBS 4 in Miami: The Sunday show provides viewers with an in-depth look at politics in South Florida, along with other issues affecting the region.

Florida This Week on Tampa Bay’s WEDU: Moderator Rob Lorei hosts a roundtable featuring Tampa Bay Times reporter Caitlin Johnson, Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch, Manatee County Democratic Party Past Chair Sheryl Wilson, and businesswoman and consultant Yvonne Fry.

In Focus with Allison Walker-Torres on Bay News 9: A discussion with women who are in prominent leadership positions throughout Florida and their message of empowerment. Joining the conversation are Secretary of State Laurel LeeDana Young, president and CEO, VISIT FLORIDA; and Jillian Hasner, president and CEO, Take Stock in Children.

Political Connections on CF 13 in Orlando and Bay News 9 in Tampa/St. Pete: A preview the Florida primary; a look at where the candidates stand; what local Supervisors of Elections are doing to ease concerns about voting and the coronavirus; and a one-on-one interview with Christina Diamond, senior adviser for the Florida Democratic Party on insight into how they prepare for a primary.

The Usual Suspects on WCTV-Tallahassee/Thomasville (CBS) and WJHG-Panama City (NBC): Host Gary Yordon talks with United Way of the Big Bend CEO Berneice Cox.

This Week in Jacksonville with Kent Justice on Channel 4 WJXT: Guests include Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute Director Rick Mullaney and Daniel Henry of the Duval County Democrats. City Council member Randy DeFoor talks about the special committee investigating JEA.

This Week in South Florida on WPLG-Local10 News (ABC): Co-hosts Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg will speak with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Christina White and Peter Antonacci, Broward County Supervisor of Elections.

Aloe
Rare right whale and her baby spotted in the Gulf near Pensacola Pass” via Jake Newby of the Pensacola News Journal — If you happened to peer into the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola Pass on Wednesday, you were treated to the extremely rare sight of a right whale mom and her right whale calf swimming together side by side. Biologists with NOAA Fisheries obtained a photo of the right whale mom, tagged by the organization as No. 3560, and her baby on Wednesday. NOAA tracks right whales through its Interactive North Atlantic Right Whale Sightings Map, as part of the organization’s marine telemetry efforts. NOAA Fisheries Communications Specialist Allison Garrett said Thursday that right whales — a North Atlantic-based, New England area species — tend to migrate to the eastern side of Florida in the winter months.

A rare right whale and her baby spotted in the Gulf near Pensacola Pass. Image via Pensacola News Journal.

Happy birthday
Happy birthday to Rep. Scott PlakonBob Asztalos of the FHCA, wunderkind Ryan Cohn of Sachs Media Group, Scott MaddoxChris Mitchell of Statecraft Digital, Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, Megan Sirjane-Samples and Jennifer Wilson of Schumaker Advisors. Celebrating on Saturday are Drew Heffley and Jeremy Susac.

JUST THE NEWS

THE FLIP SIDE

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Friday, March 13, 2020

Coronavirus Ruins Everything

“Schools shut down across much of Europe. Gatherings were canceled or banned from California to Germany. And the coronavirus reached directly into the world’s centers of power Thursday, with politicians in Canada, Brazil, Spain and elsewhere either testing positive for the new virus or putting themselves in quarantine.” AP News

“Leaders at all levels of sports, including the NCAA, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, golf, tennis and soccer, decided the risk of playing games with the threat of the virus hanging over them was too great” and suspended or cancelled upcoming games. AP News

“Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) will close its theme parks in California and Florida and its resort in Paris from this weekend through the end of the month due to the global outbreak of coronavirus, the company said on Thursday.” Reuters

See our prior coverage of coronavirus here and hereThe Flip Side

Both sides are optimistic about the public’s response and stress the importance of social distancing, even as they lament the absence of sports and other social events to entertain and bring us together:

“For all the foreboding about the novel coronavirus—foreboding that is justified—it is heartening to see the American people responding in ways reminiscent of the frontier spirit. Most people are doing what they have to do to survive a clear and immediate threat to their lives and communities… Given the scale and costs of voluntary mitigation underway, the moment has arrived for the relevant authorities in Washington to inform the American people more precisely about the purpose and parameters of social distancing…

“Mr. Trump should assemble his specialists prominently to describe the realities and goals of all these voluntary closures. They ought to explain the math behind minimizing person-to-person transmission of the virus—the so-called reproduction number. Or why it’s important to suppress infectious spread before the onset of detectable symptoms… We no longer live on the frontier. Science may not fully understand this virus yet, but it knows a lot about the reasons for dislocating a nation’s social and economic life. It’s time for leaders to explain this to a worried but resilient American public.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal

“The big dilemma in managing an epidemic is that if you wait until the caseload is massive, it’s too late. So it’s imperative to take action early, even if it may seem premature at the time… This isn’t a case of just the risk to an individual, as in when a person decides to do an extreme sport such as base jumping. If somebody goes to a large event and gets sick, he or she could then transmit that disease to somebody else. Because of the long 14 day incubation period and mild symptoms in a lot of people, those with coronavirus may walk around infecting other people without even knowing they have it

“Researchers estimated the potential growth of coronavirus in the coming weeks in two Washington counties that have been hardest hit by the virus. What they found was that if business continued on, as usual, there would be 25,000 cases and 400 deaths by April 7. With a 25% reduction in contacts among people, those numbers drop to 9,700 infections and 160 deaths. If contacts are cut in half, infections drop to 4,800 and deaths to 100. And if there were a more dramatic 75% reduction, there would be 1,700 infections and 30 deaths.”
Philip Klein, Washington Examiner

“In 1918, in Philadelphia, health officials ignored calls for social distancing and allowed a World War I victory parade to proceed. Within three days, all the hospital beds in the city were filled. Within a week, roughly 45,000 people were infected. Within six weeks, 12,000 were dead. The prospect of a repeat of that kind of mass manslaughter is frightening — especially when you consider that the 1918 influenza had a fatality rate of about 2.5 percent, compared to the 3.4 percent fatality rate for the coronavirus estimated by the World Health Organization…

“We can learn a lot from history’s tragedies, but also from its triumphs. The plague that terrorized my generation, AIDS, was subdued by the same kind of public education, cultural flexibility and medical advances we need today. Back in the 1980s, when AIDS awareness tipped from denial to panic, our salvation didn’t come from a lab, but from a pamphlet. That piece of paper, ‘Understanding AIDS,’ was mailed to almost every American home in 1988. Thanks to the pamphlet, along with a nationwide education offensive on safe sex, my generation learned that nothing, including love, was free. We adapted then. We can adapt now.”
Max Brooks, New York Times

“When the sun is shining, and kids are at the park, and no one you know is sick, it can be hard to imagine how one sick person becomes seventy sick people, let alone a thousand, or tens of thousands, or millions. It can be hard to grasp why something that may only be experienced as a mild illness by many people must be treated with such drastic measures. But this is how epidemics work, and—short of a vaccine or a cure, which will not be here very soon—social distancing is how they are slowed down…

“It is among the best of human impulses to unify in times of trouble, and sports are a powerful mechanism for bringing people together, sustaining and strengthening weary spirits. It is one of the worst aspects of this crisis that coming together can itself be a source of harm.”
Louisa Thomas, New Yorker

“I can deal with postponed work events, limited social gatherings, and work-from-home mandates. But depriving me of baseball? Absolutely not… Obviously, MLB is making health and safety a priority, and it’s the right decision. But for we poor souls who start the countdown to opening day as soon as the World Series ends, there’s no respite. Every other sport is canceled or suspended. Even the Japanese and Korean leagues are postponed, so we can’t look to foreign leagues for our fix.There are no good options. Should we simply rewatch the glory days of the Washington Nationals’s World Series run? Do we get a video game version of baseball and pretend it’s the real thing? Is there a way to play fantasy baseball that fantasizes as if the season has gone on uninterrupted?”
Nicole Tieman, Washington Examiner

Sports, at their best, are a miracle of collective imagination. They are a miracle of joint hysteria… For many of us, millions of us, sports are a sort of natural frame of reference—a mutually agreed on alternative calendar. We can divide our lives in the context of Vince Carters and Tom Bradys and Ken Griffey Jrs. At a time when we are becoming increasingly isolated, both physically and spiritually, sports are something we can share, even when it means yelling at each other from opposite sides of a rivalry or a debate about how elite Joe Flacco is, or whatever dumb thing. And I guess to me, that is the greatest thing about sports and sports fandom: The dumbness is shared…

“In the absence of sports, I am going to try to channel the energy I would have spent watching and thinking about, say, LeBron’s first title as a Laker, into my community. I am going to try to focus on helping. I am going to try to appreciate the miracle of the internet as a means for us to mutually support one another and express our solidarity, instead of whining about how it brings out the worst in us. Sports only matter because we give them meaning. And in their absence, and in the midst of a perilous global moment, we can give meaning to something else. We can give it to one another.”
Eric Nusbaum, Slate

“Economists and politicians worry about the economic costs as everything shuts down… But the coronavirus shutdown will hurt America on a far deeper level. It will exacerbate our most acute preexisting condition: the cancer of loneliness and alienation. We do not belong to as many things as we used to. We go to church less, we join fewer clubs, we volunteer less. We also know our neighbors less, get married less, and have children less…

“Tough times usually bring us together. Trial, catastrophe, or tragedy make it most clear that we need others, that we need to belong to little platoons, that we need to reinforce our understanding of ourselves through our relations with others. That’s what makes the coronavirus doubly cruel. While most crises require us to come together, this one seems to require us to go apart.”
Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner

“[According to former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy] ‘Loneliness causes stress, and long-term or chronic stress leads to more frequent elevations of a key stress hormone, cortisol. It is also linked to higher levels of inflammation in the body. This in turn damages blood vessels and other tissues, increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint disease, depression, obesity, and premature death.’…

“No one quite knows how the isolation enforced by an epidemic disease will affect those at the highest risk, but even those who avoid the worst consequences will see their quality of life degrade. Local clubs, religious services, and time with family bring social structure and joy to many of our lives, but they are particularly important touchpoints for those who don’t work or can’t go out on their own, due to age or health conditions. If older and sick people have to refrain from these activities for months on end, their lives will be worse, and the rhythms and relationships that once sustained them may prove hard to rebuild… As with so much else in the coronavirus pandemic, the response here will depend on the level of social solidarity we feel, and the degree to which we’re willing to look out for each other.”
Ezra Klein, Vox

On the bright side…

Here’s how families can self-quarantine without going insaneRuth Margolis, The Week

Netflix shows to watch during self-quarantineMadeline Fry, Washington Examiner

The art of Skype set-dressing: how to video-call the office when in quarantineImogen West-Knights, The Guardian

The Gen X Guide To QuarantineDavid Marcus, The Federalist

And finally, “If you like to lean in to your apocalyptic anxieties like I do, [the board game Pandemic is] a great way to pass a long stretch of time spent indoors. And if you already know Pandemic backward and forward (or at least know it well enough to have developed a strategy that helps you win most games), Pandemic Legacy might be your jam.” Emily Todd VanDerWerff, Vox

The Flip Side team spends hours each night scanning the news, fact-checking, and debating one another, so your 5 minutes each morning can be well spent. If you’ve found value in our work, we welcome you to help sustain our efforts and expand our reach. Any support you can provide is greatly appreciated!
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THE WASHINGTON POST MORNING HEADLINES

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MORNING EDITION
Friday, March 13, 2020
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A street performer sits alone at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, Thursday, March 12, 2020. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that sweeping guidance for Californians to avoid unnecessary gatherings to avoid the spread of the new coronavirus will likely extend beyond March. The statewide guidance applies to sporting events, concerts and even smaller social gatherings in places where people can't remain at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
‘Social distancing’: Americans scatter as coronavirus spreads without treatment or vaccineDrugmakers are racing to land a vaccine or treatment for the new coronavirus, but the science takes time, meaning Americans … more
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Another bloodbath on Wall Street as coronavirus spreads alarm through economy
A pair of traders work in their booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, March 12, 2020. The deepening coronavirus crisis is sending stocks into another alarming slide on Wall Street, triggering a brief, automatic shutdown in trading for the second time this week. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Coronavirus leads to mass sports cancellations; many events ‘can’t be replaced’
Chinese Foreign Ministry suggests U.S. Army sent coronavirus to Wuhan
Medical workers in protective gear talk with a woman suspected of being ill with a coronavirus at a community health station in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. China on Monday expanded sweeping efforts to contain a viral disease by extending the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home and avoid spreading infection. (Chinatopix via AP)
‘Precision’ U.S. airstrikes target Iran-backed militia group in Iraq
In this Nov. 1, 2018, file photo U.S. Air Force F-35 A-fighter jets from 31st Test Evaluation Squadron at Edwards AFB fly over Levi's Stadium before an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders in Santa Clara, Calif. Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. are merging in a deal that creates one of the world's largest defense companies. The merger was announced Sunday, June 9, 2019. United Technologies makes engines for Lockheed Marti Corp.'s F-35 stealth fighter. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
Mark Meadows: From ‘fat nerd’ to Trump’s chief of staff
FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2020, file photo, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., speaks with reporters during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Donald Trump has named Meadows as his chief of staff, replacing Mick Mulvaney, who had been acting in the role. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Saudi Arabia-Russia oil price war pushes industry to tipping point
A man stands at an exchange office screen showing the currency exchange rates of U.S. Dollar and Euro to Russian Rubles in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Oil prices are plunging after Saudi Arabia started a price war against Russia. The Saudis tried to get the Russians to cut oil production to keep prices from falling even more due to the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Opinion  Read More >
It’s Beltway wishful thinking — Joe’s no fighter
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
What the mainstream media isn’t telling you about Trump’s reelection bid
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, March 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)
If Trump targets the debt-riddled Sanders’ base, he can beat Biden
How Trump could beat Biden illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times
Politics  Read More >
Coronavirus price tag expected to be staggering
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Senate cancels recess to work on coronavirus deal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, bump elbows as they attend a lunch with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Bipartisan Senate bill curbing child sex exploitation online faces opposition
In this Feb. 29, 2019, photo, Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) **FILE**
Special Reports for Times Readers
Security  Read More >
Air Force aims high with AI: DARPA developing tech that would automate dogfights
F-35C Lightning IIs, attached to the Grim Reapers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets attached to the Naval Aviation Warfighter Development Center (NAWDC) fly over Naval Air Station Fallon's (NASF) Range Training Complex near Fallon, Nevada, Sept. 3, 2015. (Lt. Cmdr. Darin Russell/U.S. Navy via AP) ** FILE **
British identify female soldier killed in Camp Taji rocket attack
This photo released by the government-affiliated Media Security Cell on Thursday, March 12, 2020, shows a rocket-rigged truck launcher after a rocket attack on Camp Taji, a few miles north of Baghdad, in Rashidiya, Iraq. Iraq's military on Thursday said it opened an investigation into the rocket attack that hours earlier killed three servicemen, including two Americans, at an Iraqi base housing coalition forces that has been used as a training base for a number of years. (Media Security Cell via AP)
U.S. troops deployed to Europe must stay there as DoD enacts travel freeze amid coronavirus fears
U.S. Air Force pilots based in England look on a Japan Kawasaki C-2 tactical military transport aircraft at Paris Air Show, in Le Bourget, north east of Paris, France, Tuesday, June 18, 2019. The world's aviation elite are gathering at the Paris Air Show with safety concerns on many minds after two crashes of the popular Boeing 737 Max. (AP Photo/ Francois Mori)
Sports  Read More >
Gobert apologizes, LeBron urges fans to stay safe: NBA reacts to coronavirus upending season
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) talks with guard Donovan Mitchell, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
NCAA cancels March Madness over coronavirus concerns
In this March 19, 2019, photo, Fairleigh Dickinson's Kaleb Bishop (12) and Prairie View A&M's Iwin Ellis (13) leap for the opening tip-off in the first half of a First Four game of the NCAA college basketball tournament in Dayton, Ohio. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) **FILE**
XFL cancels remainder of season, says it will return in 2021
In the XFL's second weekend of action, DC Defenders quarterback Cardale Jones scrambles away from pressure at Audi Field. Jones led the now-2-0 Defenders to a 27-0 rout of the New York Guardians. (All-Pro Reels photo/Brian Murphy) ** FILE **
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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

 

Washington Examiner’s Examiner Today Newsletter View this as website
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HIGHLIGHTS

Pandemic accelerates push to move supply chains out of China

Pandemic accelerates push to move supply chains out of China

The coronavirus pandemic has businesses and lawmakers intensifying efforts to move their supply chains out of China.

‘The most Catholic administration we’ve had’: Boosters look to capitalize on Trump social issues record

'The most Catholic administration we've had': Boosters look to capitalize on Trump social issues record

President Trump’s campaign is increasing its efforts to court Catholic voters with a new campaign coalition, Catholics for Trump, by focusing on the president’s support for such issues as religious freedom and opposition to abortion.

Biden virtual campaigning limits exposure to coronavirus — and gaffes

The coronavirus pandemic is providing a political boost to Joe Biden, enabling him to avoid campaign rallies and other public gatherings where he is prone to verbal miscues that could hamper his bid to oust President Trump.

Editorial: Any economic stimulus must be focused on slowing spread of the coronavirus

Editorial: Any economic stimulus must be focused on slowing spread of the coronavirus

As lawmakers and President Trump debate whether to pass a stimulus package to address the economic disruption already being caused by the coronavirus, it’s important that they consider policies that will simultaneously help slow the spread of the virus itself.

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Coronavirus: What the global economy is up against

Coronavirus: What the global economy is up against

And why it’s time for President Trump to put ‘America First’ on hold and lean in to multilateral institutions.

Trump zigs and zags as he tries to balance coronavirus demands

Trump zigs and zags as he tries to balance coronavirus demands

The visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters was a move straight from the presidential playbook for a public health emergency. It was a chance to show a panicking nation that the commander in chief was on top of the coronavirus crisis, working closely with medical experts and confident enough to make the trip to Atlanta just as some areas were considering quarantine measures.

The goal of a 355-ship Navy is elusive, especially when the world keeps changing

The goal of a 355-ship Navy is elusive, especially when the world keeps changing

The U.S. Navy has a vision for the future of a much bigger fleet with much different ships to meet a much different threat, which will require a much bigger budget.

Ron Johnson to subpoena consulting firm over work for Ukrainian gas company that employed Hunter Biden

Ron Johnson to subpoena consulting firm over work for Ukrainian gas company that employed Hunter Biden

Sen. Ron Johnson announced his intent to subpoena Blue Star Strategies executives and produce records as part of an investigation into Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm that once employed Hunter Biden.

Outgoing top GOP aide defends Trump tax cuts for keeping businesses in US

Jay Khosla, the outgoing top policy aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, argues that the best defense of the 2017 GOP tax cuts that he helped shape is not what has happened since they were enacted. Instead, it’s what didn’t happen: The country didn’t see the exodus of businesses that many feared back when the U.S. corporate tax rate was the highest in the developed world.

The healthcare system isn’t prepared for the coming surge in dementia patients

The healthcare system isn't prepared for the coming surge in dementia patients

When Dr. Margot Savoy notices memory loss in patients, she knows she has to rule out a few possibilities before she can issue a diagnosis.

‘Don’t give me that crap!’: Geraldo Rivera erupts when Dan Bongino accuses him of spreading ‘Chinese propaganda’

'Don't give me that crap!': Geraldo Rivera erupts when Dan Bongino accuses him of spreading 'Chinese propaganda'

A Fox News segment went ballistic after conservative commentator Dan Bongino accused Geraldo Rivera of repeating Chinese propaganda.

THE ROUNDUP

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CHICAGO TRIBUNE

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VIEW IN BROWSER MARCH 13, 2020 CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM

DAYWATCH

Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other stories you need to know to start your day.

1

Gov. J.B. Pritzker orders shutdown of public events of more than 1,000 people, urges private and public gatherings of more than 250 to be called off

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday ordered the cancellation of all public events with more than 1,000 people for 30 days and urged organizers to call off private and public gatherings of more than 250 people in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago Public Schools will remain open “at this time” but any school with a confirmed case will be ordered closed for the short term, she said. The schools will scale back large-scale events, Lightfoot said.

2

NCAA Tournament canceled because of the ‘public health threat’ from coronavirus

The NCAA canceled its men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments amid coronavirus fears on Thursday. The annual March Madness event was scheduled to tip off with First Four games Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, and run through the Final Four in Atlanta on April 4 and 6.

Several leagues on Thursday also canceled their conference tournaments, including the Big Ten, ACC, SEC and Big 12.

 

 

3

Kim Foxx’s race for reelection has faced Smollett criticism, opponent with deeper pockets

While officeholders seeking reelection usually enjoy the advantages of incumbency — name recognition, a generally easier time fundraising and an established work record — Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has faced an unusual uphill climb. Facing an opponent with far deeper pockets, Foxx often has found herself on defense ahead of the state’s March 17 primary.

4

Struggling to afford basic needs: 24% of Illinois households are above the poverty line but can’t afford the cost of living

 Many families in Chicago live above the federal poverty line, but below the basic cost of living in Illinois. Findings from a recent financial hardship study by the United Way show that of Illinois’ 4.8 million households, 36% of households cannot afford their basic needs. That number is 43% in Chicago.

 

 

5

Complete Mitsuwa dining guide: 13 sweet and savory Japanese eats and drinks at Chicago’s best food hall

Mitsuwa Marketplace is no luxury destination. Nor is it like a Tokyo depachika, the department store basement culinary wonderlands. You will find flickers, though, of dining experiences as beautiful as those I’ve had traveling across Japan, dining reporter Louisa Chu writes.

Promoting Subscriotions

PRO TRUMP NEWS

THE HILL

The Hill's Morning Report

© Getty Images

 

 

Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. TGIF! We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the daily co-creators, so find us @asimendinger and @alweaver22 on Twitter and recommend the Morning Report to your friends. CLICK HERE to subscribe!

On Thursday, the coronavirus injected a grim-faced anxiety to daily life in America while undercutting trust that government, the financial system and the medical community will be powerful enough to hold things together for however long it takes.

 

By any measure in modern American history, it was a bad day. And experts and analysts predicted things will get worse, perhaps for three or more months.

 

It began in the morning with the kind of panic the financial markets have not seen in more than a decade. Investors rushed to dump holdings at any price and the uncertainty fed on itself until the trading day ended in exhaustion.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average racked up its worst day since 1987’s Black Monday, plunging 10 percent (The Wall Street Journal). The New York Federal Reserve Bank and the European Central Bank both attempted to calm markets, with little success. Wall Street analysts began to change their tune: A public health crisis was becoming a financial crisis, some warned, and to keep the system from freezing up, the central banks had to open the spigots and offer trillions of dollars in short-term loans to banks (The New York Times).

 

President Trump’s Wednesday night address to the nation earned poor reviews on Wall Street and abroad. In the Oval Office the morning after, Trump defended his decision to ban foreign travelers from Europe for a month. “I don’t want people dying. That’s what I’m all about,” he told reporters.

 

His remarks, combined with his opposition to an evolving coronavirus bill backed by House Democrats to be unveiled today, heightened public anxiety that a needed fiscal rescue out of Washington might not be enacted at all. Market analysts practically screeched at politicians during TV and radio interviews to work together to wield “a club, not a scalpel.”

 

At the same time, news about the pandemic around the country was not encouraging. Cities and states announced dramatic new mitigation efforts to try to stop the continued spread of COVID-19. Schools and universities closed, Broadway went dark, Disney World and Disneyland both shuttered and sporting events were canceled everywhere. Major companies sent their employees home. Mayors and governors declared emergencies and improvised responses as the virus raced ahead of them.

 

Canada’s prime minister, professional basketball players, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) were among the VIPs on Thursday who found themselves waiting for coronavirus test results because of concerns they could be infected, and potentially pose risks to others.

 

Trump shrugged off the possibility that he, too, might be in that category after being in close proximity at Mar-a-Lago last weekend with an aide to Brazil’s president who tested positive for the virus (Reuters).

 

On Capitol Hill, Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top expert on infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told Congress that weeks of difficulty distributing enough coronavirus test kits around the country allowed the respiratory virus to defeat the nation’s containment efforts. He called the public’s often futile efforts to get tested a federal “failing.”

 

“The system is not really geared to what we need right now — what you are asking for,” he told a lawmaker at a hearing on Thursday. “That is a failing. It is a failing. Let’s admit it,” he said (The Hill).

 

© Getty Images

 

LEADING THE DAY
> CORONAVIRUS & CONGRESS:  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday night that House Democrats are on the verge of striking a deal with the Trump administration to provide added benefits for workers who are affected by COVID-19, are quarantined or cannot work or become sick and require testing.

 

“It’s fair to say we’re close to an agreement, subject to the exchange of paper, and hope to have an agreement tomorrow,” Pelosi told reporters just outside her office in the Capitol (The Hill).

 

Assuming the package passes today, the Senate will take up the measure next week, having canceled its planned recess in order to deal with the pandemic.

 

The United States has tallied at least 1,701 cases of the infection and recorded 40 deaths from COVID-19, the majority in Washington state. The virus has been detected in every state except Idaho, West Virginia and Alabama, according to state news accounts and tracking maps maintained by The New York Times and Johns Hopkins University.

 

Two more lawmakers revealed on Thursday that they are in self-quarantine. Graham and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) both said that they are restricting their movements after being at Mar-a-lago over the weekend and spending time near an aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who tested positive for the virus

 

The New York Times: Pelosi says the House will vote today on one measure to help workers affected by coronavirus while working toward a future measure “that will take further effective action that protects the health, economic security and well-being of the American people.

 

The New York Times: U.S. hospitals prepare for coronavirus, with the worst still to come.

 

© Getty Images

 

 

*** 

 

> AMERICAN LIFE: The lights went out on Broadway Thursday after New York City announced new restrictions on mass gatherings of more than 500 people as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to climb in America’s most populous city.

 

The ban on Broadway shows began Thursday at 5 p.m. and will last until April 12 at least. Along with Broadway, the new rules also forced many high profile locations to temporarily shut its doors, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall.

 

“I’ve said the same thing to you every day for the past three weeks, I think. You are going to see these numbers are going to go up,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said at a press conference.

 

“What makes you think that the virus in China, the virus in South Korea, the virus in Italy wasn’t going to react any differently than the virus here?” Cuomo asked rhetorically. “You are going to see the same trajectory that you saw in China, South Korea and Italy, and it is going to happen here as the virus spreads because of the way it is actually contagious” (CNBC).

 

The New York ban, however, does not apply to schools, hospitals, nursing homes and mass transit, with the governor saying it would be “tremendously disruptive” to close schools completely. The  Archdiocese of New York said that it will close elementary schools for a week at minimum starting Monday (The Associated Press).

 

CNN: Disney World, Disneyland close because of the coronavirus outbreak.

 

The Atlantic: The Dos and Don’ts of “Social Distancing.”

 

In Washington, the White House and U.S. Capitol building announced that tours of both grounds will be closed. Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, said in a statement that tours of the White House have been canceled “until further notice.”

 

At the Capitol, the only individuals who will be able to access the building are members, staff, credentialed press and those  on official business, according to a statement from the sergeants-at-arms of the Senate and House of Representatives. The ban is scheduled to end the morning of April 1 (Bloomberg News).

 

The National Archives and Library of Congress also announced Thursday that they will shut their doors for the foreseeable future. The Archives will be closed until May 3, while the Library of Congress will be shuttered until April 1.

 

WTOP: Metro considering COVID-19-related service cuts, but no changes yet.

 

NBC4 Washington: Loudoun County announces extended school closure amid pandemic, first in DC area.

 

USA Today: Princess Cruises suspends operations for 60 days; Viking Cruises cancels all cruises due to coronavirus.

 

***

 

> CORONAVIRUS & SPORTS: For a second consecutive day, the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the sports world as the NCAA canceled March Madness, and the MLB, NHL and multiple soccer leagues across the globe suspended their seasons until further notice.

 

The NCAA’s decision came a day after it decided to hold the tournament without fans. However, the tide turned on Thursday as leagues across the country cancelled their conference tournaments, with top schools such as Duke University and Kansas University announcing that they would not take part in any further athletic competitions or proceed with any travel. The NCAA shortly after announced the cancellation of the tournament and all other winter or spring sports championships.

 

“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the NCAA said in a statement Thursday.

 

The New York Times: Twenty-four hours when sports hit the halt button.

 

Major League Baseball suspended the remainder of spring training and cancelled the first two weeks of the regular season at least. Opening Day was set for March 26.

 

“MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible,” the league said in its statement.

 

© Getty Images

 

 

All of the decisions came a day after the NBA suspended its season until further notice after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. The NBA was rocked once again on Thursday as Donovan Mitchell, a teammate of Gobert, also tested positive for the virus.

 

According to ESPN, players the Jazz have faced in the past 10 days are self-isolating. Those teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors. The Oklahoma City Thunder are as well after almost taking the court versus Utah on Wednesday.

 

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday that NBA owners are encouraging commissioner Adam Silver to reevaluate the suspension in 30 days.

 

One notable NBA fan spoke up in favor of the moves by the various sports leagues: former President Obama, who argued that the decisions were not an “overreaction” in any way.

 

“If you’re wondering whether it’s an overreaction to cancel large gatherings and public events (and I love basketball), here’s a useful primer as to why these measures can slow the spread of the virus and save lives. We have to look out for each other,” Obama tweeted.

 

The PGA Tour announced late Thursday that the The Players Championship this weekend and all other events through April 5 have been canceled due to the virus. The tournament was expected to continue through Sunday without fans present, but the PGA decided against it. Earlier in the day, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan consulted with Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) about how to proceed.

 

Notably, the next event on the PGA Tour schedule is The Masters. The famed tournament at Augusta National Golf Club is expected to start on April 9.

 

In Europe, different leagues are taking different actions in the coming weeks in response to the virus. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) postponed a pair of Champions League matches set for Tuesday, with a potential cancellation of the remaining Champions League and Europa League slate also being discussed. UEFA is also looking into potentially delaying this summer’s Euro 2020 tournament.

 

Real Madrid’s squad is under self-isolation after one of the club’s basketball players tested positive for the virus. La Liga, the top Spanish soccer league, also suspended its season.

 

However, the English Premier League (EPL) is moving forward with its slate of matches this weekend, in contrast to most other top leagues. The decision continued to stand on Friday morning despite multiple EPL figures testing positive for the virus, including Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and a member of Everton, putting the entire team in self-isolation. Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy and three Leicester City players are also in self-isolation, with the three Leicester City teammates are all showing symptoms.

 

Reid Wilson, The Hill: Why canceling events makes sense in the age of COVID-19.

 

***

 

> CORONAVIRUS & INTERNATIONAL: France will close all schools and universities in the country in response to the virus, President Emmanuel Macron announced during a televised address on Thursday.

 

“It is one of the most serious health crises France has ever faced,” he said. “In spite of our efforts to stop it, the virus is still spreading” (The Independent). France has 2,284 confirmed cases and has reported 48 deaths.

 

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced similar measures and said teaching will be done online or remotely until March 29 in Ireland (BBC).

 

In Italy, the coronavirus continued to inflict a heavy toll on a nation of 60 million people living under draconian restrictions to limit all but the most basic elements of daily life. COVID-19 is blamed for the deaths of 827 Italians as of this morning, even as the government maintains its mitigation efforts are working. Italy has reported the largest number of confirmed cases outside of China.

 

As of this morning, the death toll from COVID-19 worldwide is 4,728, and confirmed cases globally number at least 128,392 in 116 countries, according to the latest information.

 

CNN: All Catholic churches across Rome are to completely close because of the coronavirus.

 

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau disclosed he is self-quarantining as a precaution. His wife came down with flu-like symptoms after a trip to the United Kingdom and has tested positive for COVID-19 (The New York Times).

 

The European Central Bank on Thursday left interest rates unchanged but announced a new credit program aimed at the private sector as a modest form of stimulus in response to the coronavirus. ECB President Christine Lagarde suggested the bank may have limited firepower (The Wall Street Journal).

 

The European Union on Thursday expressed its displeasure with Trump’s partial travel ban for foreigners flying from European countries, which the president announced on Wednesday. European officials complained there was no coordination by the United States in advance of the announcement and no discussion about the rationale. They argued the policy sparked confusion among travelers and pandemonium at major European airports and for international air carriers.

 

The Trump policy, which does not impact foreign travelers from the United Kingdom, goes into effect on Friday at midnight (NBC News and BBC). Trump said he announced his decision on Wednesday when the policy was ready and did not have “time” to coordinate with allies.

 

BBC: Five mistakes in Trump’s speech.

 

In the United Kingdom, an election panel on Thursday recommended postponing planned May 7 local elections until the fall because of coronavirus risks (The Hill).

 

The Washington Post: In Iran, the coronavirus burial pits are so large, they’re visible from space.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
POLITICS: Former Vice President Joe Biden rolled out his plan to combat COVID-19 on Thursday, which includes the establishment of an effective national response to the virus through making testing free and widely available, as well as the establishment of 10 mobile sites and drive-thru facilities per state.

 

The former vice president rolled out his plan during a speech in Wilmington, Del., less than 24 hours after the president addressed the nation and announced a ban on travel from European nations, sans the United Kingdom.

 

As Julia Manchester writes, the former vice president also called for the White House to be more transparent about the number individuals who have been tested. The plan also called for an economic response to the outbreak, including emergency paid leave for all affected by the outbreak and aid for workers’ families and small businesses that are impacted.

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also issued a rebuke of the Trump administration’s handling of the situation. In a speech of his own, the Vermont Independent likened the ongoing “meltdown” to the one experienced World War II (Politico).

 

“The crisis we face from the coronavirus is on a scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly,” he said. “The number of casualties may actually be even higher than what the armed forces experienced in World War II. In other words, we have a major, major crisis and we must act accordingly.”

 

Niall Stanage: The Memo: Virus crisis upends political world.

 

The Hill: Biden campaign staff to work from home amid coronavirus outbreak.

 

The Washington Post: Biden appoints Jen O’Malley Dillon as new campaign manager.

 

© Getty Images

 

 

> Debate: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced that Sunday’s debate between Biden and Sanders will now take place in Washington, D.C., instead of Phoenix in an effort to cut down on travel for the campaigns and combat the virus.

 

According to the DNC, the debate will be held without an audience at CNN’s studio near Capitol Hill. The committee also revealed that Univision anchor Jorge Ramos will no longer serve as one of the moderators as he recently had been “in proximity with someone who was in direct contact with a person that tested positive for coronavirus.” He is symptom free. (The Hill).

 

CNN: Biden campaign takes first significant step to formally ask for Secret Service protection.

 

Jonathan Easley, The Hill: GOP views next few weeks as critical for Trump.

 

> California: Multiple outlets projected that Sanders officially has won the California primary more than a week after the primary took place. According to The New York Times, with 95 percent of delegates allocated, Sanders won 210 delegates, while Biden took home 162.

 

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland officials considering preparations for election by mail in response to coronavirus outbreak.

OPINION
White House payroll tax cut would counteract coronavirus downturn, by Alfredo Ortiz, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/38NjMX0

 

There are reasons to be optimistic regarding the coronavirus, by Megan McArdle, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/2TKxmGm

WHERE AND WHEN
The House will meet at 9 a.m.

 

The Senate convenes on Monday at 3 p.m.

 

The president meets at 1:30 p.m. with industry executives about COVID-19 responses.

 

Economic indicator: The University of Michigan’s gauge of consumer confidence will offer an early look at household reactions to the coronavirus. The report on U.S. consumer sentiment this month will be released at 10 a.m.

 

Catch The Hill’s Campaign Report newsletter, with the latest from The Hill’s politics team. Sign up to receive evening updates, polling data and insights about the 2020 elections.

 

📺 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv or on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. ET at Rising on YouTube.

ELSEWHERE
 Iran-backed militia in Iraq: The U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq on Thursday against  the Iranian-backed Shiite militia members considered responsible for killing and wounding American and British troops at a base north of Baghdad, according to the Pentagon. The Department of Defense said that multiple strikes by U.S. fighter jets hit five locations, with the Kataib Hezbollah weapons facilities serving as the main target (The Associated Press).

➔ Courts: A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered former Army private Chelsea Manning released from jail following her Wednesday suicide attempt while in custody. She had been incarcerated for 11 months on civil contempt charges for her refusal to testify in the government’s probe of WikiLeaks. While serving as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2010, Manning shared thousands of classified State and Defense department cables with WikiLeaks. The judge said he ordered Manning freed because the grand jury in that case is no longer active (The Washington Post).

 

➔ More Congress: Senators say they expect authorization for federal surveillance programs to lapse on Sunday. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are playing hardball as they drive a legislative battle in the Senate down to the wire. McConnell took a veiled shot at the two for forcing a temporary gap in U.S. intelligence for what he said are “political reasons” (The Hill). …Here’s a look at the GOP lawmakers who are vying to replace Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) as the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee following his decision to become Trump’s next White House chief of staff (The Hill).

 

➔ State watch: The bygone era of telegraphs ended in Florida on Thursday with something other than a flicker, perhaps a snicker, The Associated Press reports. Tackling some legislative house cleaning, the Florida Senate sent the governor a bill to remove a dusty chapter from state statutes dealing with telegraphs, including $50 fines for not promptly delivering messages.

THE CLOSER
And finally …  👏👏👏  Morning Report readers are on top of the latest news of the day, especially about non-coronavirus topics (admittedly few and far between this week).

 

Here’s who aced Thursday’s quiz: Luther Berg, Daniel Bachhuber, Candi Cee, Austin Sanders, William Chittam, John Donato and Patrick Kavanagh.

 

Quizzers knew that Bernie Sanders didn’t win a single county in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries in Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi.

 

Meadows will become Trump’s fourth White House chief of staff.

 

Hannah Ann got engaged to Peter Weber on Tuesday’s finale of “The Bachelor” before breaking up with him.

 

Jack Dorsey will remain as CEO of Twitter after a pair of billion-dollar investment deals were struck.

 

Finally, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was eliminated from Fox’s “The Masked Singer” on Wednesday night.

 

© Getty Images

 

The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@thehill.com and aweaver@thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!
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ROLL CALL

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Morning Headlines

ImageSpeaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were nearing agreement on an economic stimulus package to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic but weren’t close enough to be ready for a vote Thursday night. Read More…

ImageDespite widespread cancellations of campaign events and everyday activities across the nation amid the new coronavirus pandemic, four states with primaries next week are sending the message: Voting will go on, but with an extra dose of hand sanitizer. Read More…

Tommy Thompson: The new coronavirus has no partisan preference

 

ImageOPINION — Rather than casting aspersions on those who are in the arena, let’s be supportive of the great team working to address this crisis and see how we as a country can come together, former HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson writes. Read More…

Click here to subscribe to Fintech Beat for the latest market and regulatory developmentsin finance and financial technology.

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‘I hope we don’t have an attack this weekend’ — FISA tools to expire before Senate takes up renewal

 

ImageThree intelligence surveillance tools are set to expire on Sunday with the Senate leaving for the weekend without acting on a stopgap extension. Read More…

Presidential candidates argue over coronavirus response

 

ImageThe two leading Democratic presidential candidates and President Donald Trump traded barbs Thursday over the administration’s handling of the coronavirus-based pandemic, opening an election-year fight over a public health issue with deep economic and personal consequences for American voters. Read More…

Big talk, little walk from Sanders in the Senate

 

ImageBernie Sanders and his supporters have taken pains to rebut the charge from Democrats that he won’t make a good president because he hasn’t been a good senator. But the record shows that Sanders is not among the noted legislative craftsmen of his generation. Read More…

How lawmakers are spending their coronavirus self-quarantines

 

ImagePoliticians are by nature social animals. After all, they win their jobs by meeting with thousands of people. So what happens when they have to enter isolation? Musings on life and death, for one thing, plus discussions of toilet seats. Read More…

‘They aren’t American’ — Democrats aim to block aid to struggling cruise companies

 

ImageAs the travel industry reels from the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump has suggested some sort of federal help for the travel industry, specifically singling out the cruise line industry as one that might need help. But multiple Democratic lawmakers are cool to the idea. Read More…

Senators remind colleagues about Capitol contractors amid coronavirus

 

ImageThree lawmakers are urging protections for contract workers who serve the Capitol in food service, custodial and other roles from burdens the coronavirus epidemic may pose, as Congress takes steps to protect themselves and their salaried staff. Read More…

How do you restore the budget process in Congress? Eliminate the Budget committees

 

ImageOPINION — To the extent Congress’ complex and cumbersome budget procedures are contributing to our fiscal problems, incremental adjustments around the edges of the budget process are no longer good enough. A more fundamental change is needed, former House Budget Chairman Tom Price writes. Read More…

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POLITICO PLAYBOOK

POLITICO Playbook: Is the coronavirus TARP 2.0?

Presented by

DRIVING THE DAY

YOU THOUGHT TARP WAS BAD? The federal response to the coronavirus is shaping up to be a monthslong legislative slog that will almost certainly have a bigger price tag than the bank bailouts of 2008. By all indications, it will be broader, too, and will come amid the heat of a presidential election with the incumbent — DONALD TRUMP — atop the ballot.

THE WARM-UP ACT COMES TODAY: LATER THIS MORNING, Speaker NANCY PELOSI is set to announce that she has a deal with Treasury Secretary STEVEN MNUCHIN to institute free coronavirus testing, put in place two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family leave, bolster unemployment benefits, ensure school lunches for those who need them and boost Medicaid funding. This legislation is coming to the House floor under a fast-track process that requires a two-thirds majority — in other words, it’s expected to pass with big margins.

BUT IN ANNOUNCING THIS PACKAGE to her colleagues Thursday night, PELOSI let it be known that this is far from the last bout of legislating for Congress this year. The speaker wrote in a letter to her colleagues that the House would immediately “get to work on a third emergency response package that will take further effective action that protects the health, economic security and well-being of the American people.”

“WELL, HOPEFULLY, we will be able to take inventory, find out the extent of the crisis in our country,” PELOSI said, when we asked her if she anticipated the Congress would be dealing with this for the foreseeable future.

PART OF CONGRESS’ CHALLENGE, at this point, is that the United States has no actual idea how many Americans will ultimately be diagnosed with the deadly COVID-19 virus. The fatality estimates alone range from the low hundreds to more than 1 million, to say nothing of total cases. But while there’s no way to gauge the total scope of the crisis, it’s obvious the federal government will require massive resources to cushion the economic blow and manage the outbreak.

THERE’S ALREADY TALK OF A SWEEPING, MULTI-INDUSTRY response. The administration seems intent on rescuing airlines, hotels and cruise lines — the White House thinks tax credits are going to be enough, but administration officials also thought they’d be able to get a payroll tax cut this week, so take their view with a heap of salt.

INSURERS MIGHT END UP NEEDING federal support, if they are required to pay an unusual number of claims for large-scale events that get canceled. CONGRESS might have to give Americans mortgage relief and student debt relief. Democrats are pushing for direct cash payments.

WHAT WILL CONGRESS HAVE TO DO if airlines are grounded and entire regions of the country suffer unusually large outbreaks? Lawmakers are talking about this right now.

THIS CRISIS WILL TEST THE RESILIENCE of Congress and the presidency like never before. Lawmakers and insiders still talk about the scars from the 2008 TARP vote, and how it came to define the career of some lawmakers — House Minority Whip STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) speaks with pride about his “no” vote. These types of votes could be more frequent.

THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS — TRUMP’S handling of it and Congress’ stewardship — could also come to define the 2020 election. JOE BIDEN had already premised his candidacy on the notion that TRUMP was unfit for office and could not govern. Is this proving him right? And will Republicans down the ballot start to suffer politically, too? Or will the president, however implausible it might seem right now, come out looking good in the end?

SCOOP … THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION will announce this morning a series of steps they believe will increase the capacity for tests across the country:

— THE FDA WILL ALLOW New York state to authorize public and private labs to begin testing.

— THE FDA will authorize labs to run tests on Roche’s high-volume platform.

— HHS will put Adm. Brett Giroir in charge of testing efforts among public health service agencies.

— THE FDA will create an around-the-clock hotline for labs if they can’t get authorized tests, need to process tests or have issues validating a test.

BTW: On Capitol Hill, the crisis talks are creating a new level of appreciation for MNUCHIN, at least for now. TRUMP can barely speak to PELOSI — the last we checked, they hadn’t spoken this entire crisis. The man who prides himself on cutting deals had absolutely nothing to do with this deal in the middle of a massive crisis. MNUCHIN and PELOSI spoke eight times Thursday.

… TO WIT — NYT’S PETER BAKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN, with a “News Analysis” bug: “The President as Bystander: Trump Struggles to Unify a Nation on Edge”: “After feeling besieged by enemies for three years, Mr. Trump and some of his advisers view so many issues through the lens of political warfare — assuming that criticism is all about point scoring — that it has become hard to see what is real and what is not, according to people around the president. Even when others with Mr. Trump’s best interests at heart disagree, they find it hard to penetrate what they see as the bubble around him. …

“Among the advisers who share the president’s more jaundiced view is his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who considers the problem more about public psychology than a health reality, according to people who have spoken with him. Mr. Kushner has gotten more involved in the response in recent days, according to three White House advisers. A person close to Mr. Kushner said his views were being misinterpreted, and that he was focused on trying to find answers to the most immediate measures to mitigate the virus’s spread.”

— “Ten minutes at the teleprompter: Inside Trump’s failed attempt to calm coronavirus fears,” by WaPo’s Phil Rucker, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW … READ: John Bresnahan, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle

WSJ’S MIKE BENDER: “Coronavirus Crisis Tests Trump’s Unusual Governing Style”

NEW … AUSTRALIA’S SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: “Prime Minister Scott Morrison will not be tested for coronavirus despite spending hours behind closed doors this week with Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who was in a Brisbane hospital on Friday night after testing positive for the disease. …

“The home affairs minister flew to the United States earlier this month to meet security ministers from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance in Washington on Thursday, March 5. He met with US Attorney-General William Barr and Ivanka Trump during the trip.” With pic: SMH

BRUTAL DAY ON WALL STREET — “Stocks Plunge 10% in Dow’s Worst Day Since 1987,” by WSJ’s Caitlin McCabe and Caitlin Ostroff: “U.S. stocks plunged Thursday in their worst day since the 1987 crash. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq tumbled nearly as much to join the Dow in a bear market.

“The furious falls in share prices on rising fears of a global slowdown due to the rapid spread of coronavirus occurred despite a $1.5 trillion intervention in short-term funding markets by the Federal Reserve.” WSJ

AND THIS MORNING — AP: “Asian shares dive, then trim losses after Wall St sell-off,” by Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok

Good Friday morning. HEY, REMEMBER IMPEACHMENT? Seems like a million years ago, and feels so irrelevant at this point.

WHAT’S ON TRUMP’S MIND — @realDonaldTrump at 10:20 p.m.: “Sleepy Joe Biden was in charge of the H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic which killed thousands of people. The response was one of the worst on record. Our response is one of the best, with fast action of border closings & a 78% Approval Rating, the highest on record. His was lowest!”

ALEX ISENSTADT and NATASHA KORECKI: “Coronavirus consumes Trump’s reelection bid”: “When Donald Trump’s top campaign advisers met with the president in the White House Wednesday, they came prepared with reams of polling data on his standing with voters eight months out from the election. But Trump was focused on something else: The coronavirus.

“Before the group could begin their long-planned presentation on the 2020 race, the president launched into a commentary about how travel from Europe was ‘a mess’ and needed to be shut down. He ordered White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and chief economist Larry Kudlow into the room to talk about ideas for addressing the pandemic. And he sent two other top aides, Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks, outside to draft a to-do list.

“The episode illustrated how the coronavirus crisis has upended the election for both parties. Nearly every element of the presidential campaign is being adjusted or put on hold, from rallies to fundraising to staff work. Advertising campaigns are being paused and both parties are trying to gauge how to reach voters online.

“‘You could make a strong argument that the only thing that matters to the president’s reelection now is getting the response correct,’ said Scott Jennings, who served as a top political aide in the George W. Bush White House. ‘No rally is going to save you if you are judged as having failed as the president.’” POLITICO

— “Trump officials did sound the coronavirus alarm. They just don’t work there anymore,” by Meridith McGraw

NEW … PAGING IVANKA AND JARED … THE LINCOLN PROJECT is going up with its first ad this morning on MSNBC, Fox News and CNN. “Grifters: Episode One” features a woman speaking as if she is IVANKA TRUMP bragging about how her family has been enriched by the White House and Republican politics. The group counts George Conway, Steve Schmidt and John Weaver among its advisers. The ad

MEANWHILE, ON THE TRAIL — “Biden and Sanders aim to project presidential stature on coronavirus after Trump’s shaky address,” by WaPo’s Matt Viser and Jenna Johnson

— “A ‘Never Biden’ movement vows not to vote for Joe,” by David Siders and Holly Otterbein: “On Tuesday night, Joe Biden’s campaign was celebrating his latest primary night triumph. By Wednesday morning, #NeverBiden, #WriteinBernie and #DemExit2020 hashtags began trending on Twitter.

“There’s no question it’s been a banner two weeks for Biden. But lurking in the background of his sudden ascension to all-but-presumptive nominee is evidence that at least some Bernie Sanders supporters might not migrate to him in November, weakening him in the general election. The significance of the problem became apparent in the same string of primaries that put Biden on the cusp of the nomination.

“In Michigan — a state critical to Democrats’ efforts to reclaim their general election footing in the Rust Belt — just 2 of 5 Sanders backers said they would vote Democratic in November, regardless of who became the nominee, according to exit polls. Four in five said they’d be dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic standard-bearer.

“Though it’s unclear how widespread or adamant the #NeverBiden contingent is — will they really stay home when the alternative is another four years of President Donald Trump? — the misgivings at least put the Biden campaign on notice that it has significant work to do to bring along Sanders’ base.” POLITICO

TRUMP’S FRIDAY — The president will meet with industry executives on the COVID-19 response in the Cabinet Room at 1:30 p.m.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

  • FOX

    “Fox News Sunday”: Anthony Fauci … Steven Mnuchin. Panel: Josh Holmes, Julie Pace, Gillian Turner and Charles Lane. Power Player of the Week: Vanilla Beane.

  • CBS

    “Face the Nation”: Anthony Fauci … Scott Gottlieb.

  • ABC

    “This Week”: Anthony Fauci. Panel: Julie Pace, Rick Klein, Jonah Goldberg and Stefanie Brown James.

  • CNN

    “State of the Union”: Anthony Fauci. Panel: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Mia Love, Jennifer Granholm and Scott Jennings.

  • NBC

    “Meet the Press”: Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, Peter Baker, Lanhee Chen and Amy Walter.

  • CNN

    “Inside Politics”: Seung Min Kim, Lisa Lerer and Kaitlan Collins.

  • Gray TV

    “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren”: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) … Kevin Cirilli.

  • Sinclair TV

    “America This Week with Eric Bolling”: Anthony Fauci … Surgeon General Jerome Adams … Charlie Kirk … Andrew Pollack. Panel: Sebastian Gorka and Ameshia Cross.

PLAYBOOK READS

POLITICO MAGAZINE’S FRIDAY COVER … ANNA GRONEWOLD in Albany, N.Y.: “Andrew Cuomo, a Man Alone”

REMEMBER THIS? — “U.S. strikes back at militia group after 2 American troops killed in Iraq,” by Lara Seligman: “U.S. and coalition aircraft conducted retaliatory airstrikes on Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group locations in Iraq on Thursday after two U.S. troops were killed in a rocket attack a day earlier, the Defense Department announced.

“The strikes come just hours after Pentagon leaders blamed Iranian-backed Shia militia groups and warned that the United States would respond to the deadly attack, which also killed a British service member and wounded 14 others. The airstrikes targeted five Kataib Hezbollah weapons facilities and were aimed at hurting their ability to conduct future attacks against U.S. and coalition forces, according to a Defense Department statement.” POLITICO

GRENELL UPDATE … NYT’S JULIAN BARNES and ADAM GOLDMAN: “Acting Intelligence Chief Freezes Hiring and Looks to Cut Office”: “The acting director of national intelligence imposed a hiring freeze and ordered a review of the agency’s personnel and mission, officials announced Thursday, an effort that some intelligence officers viewed as politically motivated.

“Though some Republicans have viewed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence skeptically and sought to scale it back, the timing of the review by the acting director, Richard Grenell — after President Trump’s downsizing of the National Security Council staff — caused concern inside the nation’s intelligence agencies. Some current and former officials said they saw the effort as an attempt to oust intelligence officers who disagreed politically with Mr. Trump.

“Those officials questioned why Mr. Grenell, in the job temporarily, would undertake a large-scale reorganization, particularly one that previous directors had considered but put aside.” NYT

TRUMP, INC. — “Cancellations hit Trump’s hotels and clubs amid coronavirus outbreak,” by WaPo’s Joshua Partlow, David Fahrenthold and Jonathan O’Connell: “Mar-a-Lago this week has been setting up for a massive, 700-person charity luncheon — the ‘Wine, Women and Shoes’ bash to raise money for Big Dog Ranch Rescue, an animal shelter. The chairs of the event include Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Lea Trump, and the daughter of Trump’s former presidential rival, Georgina Bloomberg.

“The organizers said Thursday they planned to proceed despite the Brazilian official’s positive test.” WaPo

DATA DU JOUR … THE UPSHOT’S AARON CAROLL: “A crucial thing to understand about the coronavirus threat — and it’s playing out grimly in Italy — is the difference between the total number of people who might get sick and the number who might get sick at the same time. Our country has only 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. That’s fewer than in Italy (3.2), China (4.3) and South Korea (12.3), all of which have had struggles. More important, there are only so many intensive care beds and ventilators.

“It’s estimated that we have about 45,000 intensive care unit beds in the United States. In a moderate outbreak, about 200,000 Americans would need one.” NYT

POLL … USA TODAY’S SUSAN PAGE and JOEL SHANNON: “Women were more likely to report washing their hands more often than men were, 58% compared with 50%. The gap was much larger between Democrats and Republicans: 63% of Democrats were washing their hands more often, but just 48% of Republicans were doing so.” USA Today

NEWS YOU CAN USE — “The Dos and Don’ts of Social Distancing,” by The Atlantic’s Kaityln Tiffany

VALLEY TALK … THE VERGE’S CASEY NEWTON: “If Wednesday was the day where the full magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis became clear to many Americans, Thursday was the day that the country seemed to enter shock. …

“One question you could ask, if you were desperate to turn your attention away from the public health implications of the crisis, is how spending a month or two mostly indoors will affect American life — both in the moment and afterward. We are social creatures, and we’re about to be deprived of much of that socialization.” The Interface

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

TRANSITION — Jordan Markwith is now head of external affairs at Lyft. He most recently was managing director at Capital Strategies.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Katelyn Polantz, CNN justice and courts reporter. How she’s celebrating: “I was born on a Friday the 13th, so this is an extra special birthday since it’s a Friday. I was planning on spending the weekend with my dear friend (USC journalist and professor) Christina Bellantoni and her family in sunny Los Angeles. But because the public health crisis has put a damper on travel, I may be looking forward to catching up with friends and family this weekend far and wide instead — over the phone.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) is 63 … Sarah Makin … Ari Rabin-Havt, Bernie Sanders’ deputy campaign manager, is 41 … Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is 64 … Madeline Seaman … Jeff Weiss … Nancy Soderberg … Kiki McLean (h/ts Jon Haber) … Steven Hurst … Laurel Touby … POLITICO’s David Lim (h/t Joanne Kenen) … Sarah Mulcahy … Ashley Hoy, partner at Monument Advocacy … Shawn Turner … Erin Billings of Global Strategy Group … James Wesolek of Texas Values (h/t dad Tim) … Matt Butler … Eddie Wytkind … former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) is 62 … former Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) is 53 … former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) is 62 … Joe Rubin … Mike Dovilla is 45 … Steve Rochlin … Erin Harbaugh … WSJ’s Ryan Tracy is 36 … Yelda Altalef, booking producer at MSNBC (h/t Brian Latimer) …

… Kalen Pruss, DNC policy director … Mark McNulty … Jennifer Morgan, co-CEO at SAP … John Kelly, VP for exec comms at SAP … POLITICO’s Tamar Barsamian … James Carr … Facebook’s Caroline Chalmers … Doug Sachtleben … Scott Fear … DeJuana L. Thompson … Hannah Chatalas … Dan Milich … James Russell, associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, is 62 … Allie Banwell … Lauren Smith … Erik Greathouse is 48 … Edelman’s Kristy Schmidt … Lauren Inouye, VP for public policy and government affairs at the Council of Graduate Schools … Georgetown’s Christina Roberts … Brian Gaston … Theresa Zagnoli … Natalie McLaughlin … Diamond Naga Siu … Microsoft’s David Pryor Jr. … Jonathan Bing … Tony Newman … Chris Gaspar … Joshua Phoebus … Rich Ransom … Mark Kitchens … Sabrina Fendrick

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“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst,’” (John‬ ‭6:35‬, ‭ESV‬‬).

For Now, Iowa Dept. of Public Health Is Not Recommending Suspending Mass Gatherings

By Caffeinated Thoughts on Mar 12, 2020 03:26 pm
With no evidence of community spread, the Iowa Department of Public Health is not currently recommending canceling events or mass gatherings due to COVID-19.
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The FAMiLY Leader Postpones Pompeo Dinner Over COVID-19 Concerns

By Caffeinated Thoughts on Mar 12, 2020 02:16 pm
Bob Vander Plaats said the decision to postpone the March 21st Dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is a precaution against the spread of COVID-19.
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Let’s Each Do Our Part to Protect Our Seniors and Fellow Iowans

By Joni Ernst on Mar 12, 2020 12:23 pm
Joni Ernst: Taking calm, commonsense steps to limit the spread of COVID-19 is the least we can do to help ensure that our loved ones live their lives fully.
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Scholten Says He’ll Reach Out to Republicans, Independents

By Shane Vander Hart on Mar 12, 2020 11:44 am
J.D. Scholten: “Doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat, independent, Republican, we’re going out there to try to earn your vote.”
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CONSERVATIVE DAILY NEWS

 

CDN’s Daily News Blast delivers the day’s news first!
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CDN Daily News Blast

03/13/2020

Excerpts:

President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Friday, March 13, 2020

By R. Mitchell –

President Donald Trump will meet industry executives on COVID-19 response. Keep up with Trump on Our President’s Schedule Page. President Trump’s Itinerary for 3/13/20 – note: this  page will be updated during the day if events warrant Keep up with Trump on Our President’s Schedule Page. All Times EST 1:30 …

President Donald Trump’s Schedule for Friday, March 13, 2020 is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Democrat COVID-19 Strategy – A.F. Branco Cartoon

By A.F. Branco –

Democrats look to benefit from the Coronavirus, by not letting this crisis go to waste. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2020.

Democrat COVID-19 Strategy – A.F. Branco Cartoon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Senate To Remain In Session To Fight Coronavirus

By Mary Margaret Olohan –

The U.S. Senate will remain in session next week to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday afternoon that the Senate will cancel the scheduled recess and remain in session to focus on combating coronavirus. The announcement came as Congress attempts to pass legislation mitigating the …

Senate To Remain In Session To Fight Coronavirus is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Proclamation From Democrats: We’re All Gonna Die!

By Dave King –

Whether the subject is the lie of global warming, the danger of the coronavirus, the stock market loss, or the Democrat hoped-for incompetence and removal from office of President Trump, the response of Democrats is that the danger is so great that the entire world is about to perish. The …

Proclamation From Democrats: We’re All Gonna Die! is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Coronavirus (COVID-19/2019-nCoV) Daily Update

By R. Mitchell –

This page will be constantly updated with the most up-to-date information available. Last Updated: 3/12/20 TimelineStatisticsEconomic Impact2020 Election ImpactOther Impacts Coronavirus History and Timeline Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged from the Wuhan Province of China on December 1, 2019.The virus’ genome was completely sequenced on Jan 3, 2020, and named ‘2019-nCoV’ …

Coronavirus (COVID-19/2019-nCoV) Daily Update is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Make America Well Again

By Ben Garrison –

We think the hype about the coronavirus is overblown. Sure, it’s more dangerous than the average flu bug because nobody has had a chance to build immunity. The old and infirmed can die from it, but that has always been the case. Deaths caused by the flu have always happened.

Make America Well Again is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Chinese Official Blames US For Introducing Coronavirus To Wuhan, Says US ‘Owes Us An Explanation’

By Chris White –

A Chinese official suggested Thursday that the United States officials introduced the coronavirus into China’s Wuhan region as the virus makes its way to the West from the communist nation. “The director of the US Centers for Disease Control was arrested,” Lijian Zhao, deputy director of China’s Foreign Ministry Information …

Chinese Official Blames US For Introducing Coronavirus To Wuhan, Says US ‘Owes Us An Explanation’ is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Trump And Big Tech Put Their Differences Aside, Brainstorm Ways Google, Facebook Can Confront Coronavirus

By Chris White –

Google, Facebook, and other tech companies met with members of the Trump administration Wednesday with the purpose of hammering out a strategy to confront the coronavirus outbreak. Microsoft, IBM, and Facebook had a phone-to-video meeting with top officials in the Office of Science and Technology Policy regarding ways artificial intelligence …

Trump And Big Tech Put Their Differences Aside, Brainstorm Ways Google, Facebook Can Confront Coronavirus is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Sanctuary Hell: Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Accused Of Rape In Montgomery County

By Jason Hopkins –

An illegal alien, who has already been deported twice from the U.S. and is believed to associated with MS-13, is accused of forcibly raping a woman in Montgomery County, Maryland. A police officer was forced to pry Jose Lopez-Gonzalez, a 35-year-old man from El Salvador, off a half-naked, semi-conscious woman, Montgomery …

Sanctuary Hell: Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Accused Of Rape In Montgomery County is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Creepy for President – A.F. Branco Cartoon

By A.F. Branco –

Never Trumper Republicans are willing to ignore Biden’s gaffs and embarrassments and vote for him over Trump. Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2020.

Creepy for President – A.F. Branco Cartoon is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

Sasse Calls on Senate to Cancel Recess And Work Against Coronavirus: ‘The Senate Has Work To Do’

By Mary Margaret Olohan –

Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse called on the United States senate to cancel their upcoming recess in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The Nebraska senator issued a Thursday morning statement in which he warned that the Senate has work to do to help Americans deal with the coronavirus. “Nursing home …

Sasse Calls on Senate to Cancel Recess And Work Against Coronavirus: ‘The Senate Has Work To Do’ is original content from Conservative Daily News – Where Americans go for news, current events and commentary they can trust – Conservative News Website for U.S. News, Political Cartoons and more.

Read on »

See all breaking news, conservative commentary, political cartoons and more posted to CDN at our Home Page.
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PJ MEDIA

The Morning Briefing: Screw It America, I’m Beer Blogging

(Image: Me)

I Hate You, Coronavirus

The coronavirus finally broke me a little bit on Thursday. I am forever grateful that I have you, my dear readers, to talk me off of the ledge from all of this madness.

A few days ago I wrote that I might just turn this into a beer blog if the news kept being about nothing but THE PLAGUE. I was mostly, but not entirely, joking.

I woke up Thursday to a series of texts that ended up cancelling the trip I had scheduled to see my daughter and our family in Michigan.

An hour or so later, the NCAA issued a statement that cancelled all Division I winter and spring championships, thus ending my child’s collegiate athletic career.

She is heartbroken, which makes me hate the panic-mongers even more.

As you are all aware, I have been writing about being personally responsible while dealing with this coronavirus scare. I’m still in a self-induced quarantine because I may have been exposed to someone who had the virus two weeks ago. I’m all for being cautious.

Cancelling everything on Earth isn’t being cautious, it’s insane.

There is no end game to any of the cancellation madness. If there were, it would all make more sense. Put some metrics in place that would trigger the end of the postponements and cancellations. What we’ve seen in the last two days is all-out panic, which is never useful.

By the time Monday’s briefing rolls around there is a real possibility that most the public school districts in America will have cancelled classes for an indefinite period of time. This is madness.

Give us some parameters. Give us an end game. Let us know when the STAY AWAY FROM EVERYONE is supposed to stop.

That’s all we want.

As for the beer…

The Flagstaff stuff was disappointing. Flat and tired is the best way I can describe it.

The Citrazona is one of my favorites though. Just a hint of citrus in it, and it still packs a bit of a punch.

Have a great weekend, my friends.

PJM Linktank

RAAAAAACISM. OK, maybe not. [WATCH] 35 Times the Media Said ‘Wuhan Coronavirus’ or ‘Chinese Coronavirus’

Slow Kid on the Block: Joe Biden Blasts Trump’s Coronavirus Response, Then Plagiarizes Trump’s Plan

Smollett Case Roils the Race for Cook County State’s Attorney

Mark Levin Takes Aim at the New York Times’ 1619 Project

Wait, did she divorce her brother? Ilhan Omar Announces Marriage to Political Consultant She Previously Denied Having Affair With

Globalization May Be the Greatest Victim of the Coronavirus

Visible From Space, Iran’s Coronavirus Mass Graves Give the Lie to the Mullahs’ Propaganda

Chilling Testimony Reveals U.S. Medical Supply Chain Vulnerable to China Amid Coronavirus

I’m out. Is There Anything Worse Than Sarah Palin Rapping ‘Baby Got Back’ Dressed as a Furry?

Death Panels Update: Elderly Will Be Denied Intensive Care as Coronavirus Overwhelms Italy’s National Health System, Experts Warn

WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE and stuff: Brazilian Official Who Met With Trump and Pence at Mar-a-Lago Diagnosed with Coronavirus

VIP

Biden’s Coronavirus Advisor Explains Why Joe Biden Shouldn’t Be President

VIP Gold

Politico: Will A Biden Blowout In Florida Mean Trump’s In Trouble At Home?

From the Mothership and Beyond

Gun Company Now Offering ‘ANGRYJOE-14’ Lower Receiver

Breaking: NRA Cancels Annual Meeting Set For Nashville In April

Theater Company Claims To Want Conversation On “Gun Violence,” But Do They?

Watch Infected NBA Player Rudy Gobert Mock Coronavirus Precautions By Touching A Bunch Of Stuff Before He Realized He Was Sick

How Are Brick And Mortar Stores Coping With COVID-19 Precautions?

The NY Times Issues A Long-Overdue Correction To The 1619 Project

Disneyland Is Closing Over Coronavirus Concerns

Iran: Satellite Images Show Massive Burial Pits For Coronavirus Victims

Oh. A tearful Alyssa Milano thanks God for Joe Biden’s leadership during the COVID-19 crisis

The irony: Climate change alarmists cancel museum die-in because of the coronavirus

Hot take: Journo seeking flights to Italy because she’d rather be there during the coronavirus outbreak

Fake news: Teen Vogue columnist enraged by ICE’s ‘jackbooted jackals’ barging into hospitals to arrest people

Starbucks stores may go drive-thru only or limit seating

Pure Evil: First, Pelosi Delayed Vote on a Wuhan Virus Funding Bill, Now She’s Allegedly Trying to Slip in Loophole to Help Abortion in Virus Stimulus Package

Joe Biden’s ‘Plan’ for Dealing With Wuhan Virus Was Mostly Plagiarized From the Most Amazing Source

Hillary Clinton Tells President Trump How to Deal With Wuhan Virus Crisis, It Doesn’t Go Well

The Border Emergency Continues to Be an Emergency, New Shocking Stats Show

Biden’s Latest Campaign Hire Shows Joey Boy Is Putting The Second Amendment in the Crosshairs

U.S. Launches Retaliatory Strikes After Two U.S. Soldiers Are Killed in Rocket Attack

Race For A Vaccine (The Earliest Availability Appears To Be November)

Bee Me

The Kruiser Kabana

We’re not canceling anything here, my friends.

___

Kruiser Twitter

Kruiser Facebook

PJ Media Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.”

THE DISPATCH

The Morning Dispatch: Thursday Was One for the History Books

Plus, Sunday’s Democratic debate is dangerous for Biden.

Happy Friday. It’s been a tough few days for coronavirus news, and we hope you’re all staying safe out there. As a note of encouragement, we’ll remind you that the best thing you can do for yourself, your community, and your country as we fight this thing is to be diligent with the basic precautions of keeping up scrupulous hygiene and practicing social distancing. If we all pull together, we can all stay apart! Let’s get on to the news.

Just a reminder: You are getting this version of the Morning Dispatch as one our non-paying members. To get the full version, please join now!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

Coronavirus Response Goes Into Overdrive

In yesterday’s Morning Dispatch, we covered President Trump’s Wednesday night address to the nation. The speech itself was riddled with serious errors. Trump said the new travel restrictions on Europe would apply to trade and cargo; he later had to clarify that they wouldn’t. He promised health insurance companies would “waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments;” they had only agreed to do so for testing. Bloomberg News has an excellent look at how the speech came together.

But policy pronouncements aside, the address served an important purpose: Trump finally seemed to get serious about the threat COVID-19 poses and the importance of Americans taking basic precautions to slow the spread of the virus, beyond just the economic effects.

The Pitfalls of Sunday’s Debate for Joe Biden

Amidst the wave of COVID-19 closures and cancellations, CNN announced that it was moving Sunday’s Democratic Primary debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders—previously scheduled in Arizona—to its Washington, D.C., studios without a live audience. With almost all sporting events cancelled for the foreseeable future, viewership may actually tick up as a result.

Another round of big primaries are scheduled for Tuesday—Florida, Illinois, Arizona, and Ohio—with nearly 600 delegates at stake. Notably, three of those four are swing states that Democrats lost in 2016, along with a top-tier senate race in Arizona.

Worth Your Time

  • There’s been a lot of talk lately about the importance of “flattening the curve,” or slowing the spread of COVID-19 to avoid overburdening our existing medical infrastructure. Aaron Carroll, a pediatrics professor at Indiana University school of medicine, writes in The Upshot that the biggest thing to worry about regarding the coronavirus is “the ability of the American health care system to absorb a shock.” He continues: “It’s estimated that we have about 45,000 intensive care unit beds in the United States. In a moderate outbreak, about 200,000 Americans would need one.”
  • Foreign Policy gives an overview of the latest coronavirus news from China, where people are returning to work in Wuhan and the government is now pushing propaganda claiming the virus didn’t originate in mainland China.
  • The prepping industry was, ironically, not prepared for the level of demand for its products that coronavirus has brought. People across the country are making bulk purchases of medical supplies, canned food, and “bug out” kits—including those made by Preppi, a luxury doomsday prep brand that is carried by Nordstrom and at one time offered a $10,000 package that included real gold bars. Kate Knibbs has the full, fascinating story at Wired.

Presented Without Comment

Adam Rubenstein@RubensteinAdam

Life comes at you fast.

Toeing the Company Line

  • You’d hardly know it from this newsletter the last few days, but we’ve got some good non-coronavirus stuff up on the site this week too. Be sure to check out Tom Joscelyn’s latest Vital Interests newsletter(🔒), which examines Iran’s ongoing attempts to shield their nuclear program from foreign transparency and takes a close look at how the mullahs’ chummy relationship with China helps to shield them from accountability.
  • Meanwhile, our podcast cup runneth over: In this week’s The Remnant, Jonah has an interesting interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat about his recent book The Decadent Society. And on the latest episode of Advisory Opinions, David and Sarah discuss President Trump’s coronavirus address, the 23-year sentence handed down to disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and Hulu’s new docuseries on Hillary Clinton. Give it a listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
  • Speaking of David: his latest French Press (🔒) takes a look back over our nation at large’s response so far to the coronavirus outbreak, discusses the ongoing proxy conflict with Iran in Iraq, and fires off a bittersweet salute to the NBA season, cut down in its prime.
  • Up on the site today, Danielle Pletka has a piece walking through China and Iran’s botched coronavirus responses and arguing that “the epidemic itself is yet another piece of evidence that the United States should be in the business of exporting democracy, rule of law, and transparency.”

Reporting by Declan Garvey (@declanpgarvey), Andrew Egger (@EggerDC), Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons), and Steve Hayes (@stephenfhayes).

LEGAL INSURRECTION

Share This

Students and Activists Suing University of California System Over Use of SAT and ACT Exams

VIDEO: Students at U. Dayton Fill Street After School Announces Housing Closure Over Coronavirus

Harvard Tells Students to Move Out of Dorms by Sunday Due to Coronavirus

 

  • William Jacobson: “NY Times reporter: “disdain for and distrust of the media right now is worse than I’ve seen at any point throughout this presidency” – What did you expect from exploiting a public health crisis to help Democrats, and using false accusations of racism as a cudgel?
  • Kemberlee Kaye: “A pre-emptive thanks to Mary and the LI crew for covering while I’m offline with the family next week for Spring Break. So love the blog life but love uninterrupted time with our kids even more. Y’all stay safe and wash your hands real good.”
  • Mary Chastain: “It’s disgusting how people treat those who pray peacefully outside of Planned Parenthood, especially young students. A group of college students faced some of the worst harassment. For example, a man masturbated in front of them.”
  • Leslie Eastman: “The press-induced panic related to the coronavirus has now directly impacted my family.  My son’s Junior ROTC Cadet Ball was cancelled, and he will not be able to have the memories of that dance as part of his senior year.  I have never been so disgusted with our press as I am today. “
  • David Gerstman: “Vijeta Uniyal blogged that Hossein Sheikholeslam, an Iranian official who, in 1979, interrogated U.S. hostages at the embassy died of the coronavirus. It seems that an awful lot of Iran’s ruling hierarchy has been infected – usually these are the privileged ones in Iran. And Hezbollah’s leadership including its leader Sheikh Nasrallah may have been infected. Iran is very protective of its leaders but it seems that its blundering approach to the infection – which has it anticipating a huge number of deaths – may have doomed many of them. I will grant that Iran may have some top scientists working on its nuclear program, but given the recklessness with the regime operates – as evident to its response to the coronavirus – would you want them developing any dangerous technologies even if they weren’t intent on building nuclear weapons?”
  • Stacey Matthews: “On ‘The Masked Singer’ Wednesday night, former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was revealed to be the pink furry bear.  Palin sang Sir Mix-a-Lot ‘s ‘Baby Got Back’ rap song.  The video of her performance was … something.”
Legal Insurrection Foundation is a Rhode Island tax-exempt corporation established exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code to educate and inform the public on legal, historical, economic, academic, and cultural issues related to the Constitution, liberty, and world events.

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DESERET NEWS

 

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Friday, March 13, 2020

The coronavirus crisis is growing in Utah and across the country. Who can get tested?

Lawmakers take on tax reform, other tough issues, but now facing financial fallout from pandemic

For Utah State and BYU, canceling Big Dance is going to hurt big time

Can the basketball success of Yeshiva University take a page from BYU?

First Presidency: All church meetings temporarily canceled worldwide

From school breakfast to vaping, bevy of education-related bills pass on final day

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BRIGHT

 

Share with a friend you think would love this! Share with a friend you think would love this!
Friday, March 13, 2020

Every Single Thing is Cancelled 
We are living in unprecedented times. As of Thursday evening, all professional sports had been postponed, festivals, races, and conferences were also either delayed or cancelled across the country. Disneyland, Disney World, and theme parks closed for the remainder of the month and the country saw its first transatlantic flight ban since 9/11.

Both New York and California instituted bans of large gatherings and Broadway went dark. Airports and train stations sit eerily empty as a few stragglers with masks and gloves make their way to various destinations. A cloud of gloom sits over the entire world as we all brace for…well we don’t know what we’re bracing for. All we can do is be safe, monitor symptoms, and follow protocol.

So, what should we do now that we are officially living in a pandemic and we have no idea what lays before us or how long this panic will last?

Number 1) DON’T PANIC. There are fewer than 60,000 active cases of the Wuhan virus WORLDWIDE. The mortality rate is similar to the flu, and most deadly cases in the western world (who knows what happened in China) have been in people over 85. Wash your hands. Stay healthy and be mindful and we should all be fine.

Number 2) DO stock up. I’m sure everyone has seen all the pictures of empty toilet paper aisles from across the country but if you still can, grab that TP. Buy more food than you need, particularly canned things and things that you can freeze. Bottled water is important in case, for whatever reason, the taps go out. This is particularly high-level panic stuff but because this is something we haven’t been through for 100 years, it’s good to take precautions. This may seem extreme but I never thought I’d see the day that professional sports were canceled because of a viral pandemic, so *shrug.*

Number 3) Now for the fun part. Being stuck in your house forever is pretty beat but the good news is, the liquor stores are still open for now. So, before the looting begins (haha kidding!) go ahead and build up that bar of your dreams you’ve been meaning to. It’s also a great time to catch up on spring cleaning so when we can finally break free, you’ll have a beautiful house to enjoy post-pandemic.

Dave Marcus at The Federalist has some other fantastic ideas for Gen X quarantine fun:

“Let’s be honest, this Wuhan Flu thing now sweeping the world is exactly the kind of drastically awful event all of us in Gen X knew was coming. Though we aren’t quite as gloomy as the concerned boomers or confused millennials think we are. Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana could get a little dark — end of the world as we know it type stuff.  

So we are uniquely, if oddly prepared for just this kind of crisis. We know that since we started becoming adults, we haven’t exactly exhibited a ton of leadership in the world. That kind of thing takes a lot of effort and, ultimately, I mean, who cares, right? But now in the time of coronavirus, we are ready to give back. Here are some Gen X tips to make your pandemic experience as pleasant as possible.

Ignore It

When I say ignore it, I mean, take all the prescribed health advice from officials, but after that, stop thinking about it. One of the basic tenets of Gen X is, “We really don’t matter much anyway.” We came home as kids to empty houses opened with latchkeys, a television set, and a granola bar — the only things that cared about us. We got the message. So after washing you hands for 20 seconds, just go about your day knowing how little control you actually have over the world.

Organize Your Music

Whether you have digital music or CDs, or you’re a pretentious record person, nothing soothes the soul and spends a few hours of quarantine like organizing your music. And there’s all kinds of ways to do it. Straight alphabetical, alphabetical by genre, by mood, in order of Library of Congress numbers — the world is your oyster, and you’ll listen to that Depeche Mode album again just in time for illness and misery.

Social Distancing 

Gen X has been social distancing since the Nixon administration. It’s good the rest of you are coming to see its advantages. Millennials pay $10,000 a month to sleep on bunk beds in San Francisco and share communal space. The happiest day of every Gen Xer’s life was the one where they didn’t have to have any roommates anymore.”

Now For What to Drink
Rethinking Tiki: How to Do Tropical Escapism Better (Liquor.com)

The Best Cheap Tequilas Under $25 Right Now (VinePair)

11 Essential Cocktails for Your March Parties (Liquor.com)

Wine recommendations of the week: Washington riesling, Italian red (Houston Chronicle)

For the Love of Champagne —Major Trivia You Don’t Probably Know (Yes Weekly)

And What to Watch!
100 Wonderful Movies You Can Stream Online for Free (Rotten Tomatoes)

‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’ May, Or May Not, Be Your Jam (NPR)

Here’s Everything New on Netflix in March 2020 — and What’s Leaving (Time)

BRIGHT is brought to you by The Federalist.
Today’s BRIGHT Editor

Ellie Bufkin is a staff writer at Townhall and a senior contributor to The Federalist. Originally from northern Virginia, Ellie grew up in Baltimore, and worked in the wine industry as a journalist and sommelier, living in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. A fanatic for movies and TV shows since childhood, she currently reviews movies and writes about many aspects of popular culture for The Federalist. She is an avid home cook, cocktail enthusiast, and still happy to make wine recommendations. Ellie currently lives in Washington D.C. You can follow her on Twitter @ellie_bufkin.
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AMERICAN THINKER

 

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THE BLAZE

THE FEDERALIST

 

Your daily update of new content from The Federalist
Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray

March 13, 2020

Why It’s Reasonable To Act Like Coronavirus Will Be Worse Than The Flu In The U.S.
By Jessica Hardin
This isn’t time for panic or excess worry, but calm awareness and preparedness. Stay tuned and, if necessary, be willing to make some changes to help slow the outbreak.
Full article
Didn’t Go To College? You Still Have To Pay $207 Billion To Bail Out People Who Did
By Helen Raleigh
The federal student loan program has enriched Sallie Mae, private banks, and colleges, but exposed U.S. taxpayers to enormous financial risk.
Full article
Communist Chinese Propagandists Now Claim U.S. Military Made Wuhan Virus
By Ben Weingarten
China threatened by way of its leading propaganda publication to impose pharmaceutical export controls that ‘plunge[] [America] into the mighty sea of coronavirus.’
Full article
This List Shows How The Wuhan Virus Is Disrupting The Entertainment Industry
By Emily Jashinsky
Major release dates have been pushed. Productions have been suspended. Broadway is closed.
Full article
Yes, Bernie Sanders Should Apologize For Praising Communism
By Elad Vaida
The fact that people are besmirching America’s proud history of fighting Communism and even calling for ‘anti-anti-communism’ should outrage us all.
Full article
Did Spygate Source Stefan Halper Work For The Hillary Clinton Campaign?
By Margot Cleveland
While it may not be the government’s business to inquire whether a political party is paying for propaganda, it sure the heck is its business to ensure the CIA and FBI aren’t.
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5 Ways To Help Vulnerable Loved Ones Stay Safe From Wuhan Flu
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The ‘CDC has recommended that at-risk populations stay in their homes to avoid exposure, and that communities put in place social distancing practices to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus.’
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Joe Biden complained Thursday about President Donald Trump calling the Wuhan coronavirus ‘a foreign virus’ in Wednesday’s Oval Office address.
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This is going to be far, far, worse economically than almost anyone has said up until now, even as the virus inevitably spreads out from Italy.
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March Madness Is Turning Into March Silence Amid Wuhan Virus Shutdowns
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Due to the Wuhan virus, March Madness fans will have to stay home from stadiums and watch the games on TV — if there’s even anything left to watch at all.
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Trump’s Oval Office Address Was What The Country Needed
By Tristan Justice
Calm, cool, collected, yet urgent, Trump’s Oval Office remarks were an illustration in the kind of leadership Americans crave in moments of crisis.
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Assistant editor Kylee Zempel and staff writer Chrissy Clark join culture editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss ABC’s ‘The Bachelor’ finale and wrap up the season.
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3 ways the coronavirus is being exploited by bad actors

Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:38 AM PDT

The Wuhan coronavirus is an opportunity. At least it is for opportunistic types who generally see the world as a playground for their machinations and a way to advance their agendas. The rest of us are sheep following where they point, but some of us try to step back from the flock to see what’s really going on.

There are three major ways plus dozens of minor ways bad actors are using the coronavirus as a platform for their version of progress. Before I get into those, let’s look at a couple of ways it’s being used but not necessarily by bad actors.

Smart players on Wall Street are going to make a killing off the coronavirus when the markets rebound, but that’s not because of some nefarious plan or bad actions on their part. They see the panic. They know prices will drop dramatically as they continue to do. They know there’s a bottom, and when that bottom is reached it’s clear skies for them to launch their money rockets. The vast majority of them can’t be blamed. The world gave them a way to make a ton of money, so they’re going to do it. That’s not them being bad actors. It’s just them being smart. Despite this, I’m seeing a lot of fingers pointed in their direction as if they’re pulling the strings to make the market drop. That’s just not happening. They don’t have that much influence.

Another conspiracy theory I’ve heard is that the coronavirus is being pushed by insurance companies as a way to prevent Medicare-for-All or its less-potent little brother, Joe Biden’s Obamacare 2.0, from being taken seriously. This is a ludicrous take and I won’t put much energy into it other than to say this: The health insurance industry will use its brute political force to stop bad legislation, but they won’t do so in a way that will harm them. They are not profiting off the coronavirus. It’s harming their bottom line tremendously right now and will continue to do so until it subsides.

The last big false finger-pointing is at Chinese scientists. No, I’m not suggesting the Chinese Communist Party was not completely in the wrong for keeping information back or manipulating the World Health Organization to save face. They’ve done plenty wrong, but one thing they didn’t do wrong was to have scientists engineer the coronavirus and unleash it on their population for… whatever reasons some are claiming. This is an absurd and dangerous perspective to spread. When this is over, China will be crippled economically and politically for years, even decades as a result. They didn’t do this on purpose. They were just stupid to cover it up when they had the opportunity to contain it.

With those out of the way, here are three examples in which bad actors are exploiting the coronavirus:

Mainstream media and Democrats hitting President Trump

This is the obvious one and anyone with ears to hear should be able to recognize this prima facie.

Fake news exposed their dishonesty with the Russia hoax.
They exposed their treachery with the impeachment hoax.
How will the public view them when they understand that the media crashed the stock market simply to get rid of POTUS?

Year of the Boomerang

— Praying Medic (@prayingmedic) March 13, 2020

The left has been trying for two years to crash the economy. Seriously. They’ve predicted dozens of downturns that are “just around the corner” and it never happened. With the coronavirus, they finally found a chaos factor to exploit, and judging by the lines in the toilet paper aisle and the direction of the stock market, it’s finally working.

Their timing may have been off, though. If the threat of the coronavirus subsides relatively quickly, perhaps by the middle of summer, the economy will have time to boom again before the election.

Leftists pressing their agenda through coronavirus legislation

Of the three ways bad actors are using the coronavirus, this is the most putrid. Washington DC’s response to the coronavirus needs to be sensible and streamlined. Yet there are those, particularly on the left, who are seeing this as a way to sneak in horrible components of legislation that would otherwise never see the light of day with a Republican-controlled Senate and President Trump in the Oval Office.

Can they be any more putrid examples of pure evil than they already are? https://t.co/puVhu71qw0

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) March 13, 2020

If reports that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is trying to push an abortion “slush fund” into coronavirus legislation turns out to be accurate, it would be the most heinous example. If not, there are plenty of other examples of bad actors using the coronavirus to plug in terrible and unrelated legislation. This needs to stop.

Vaccine rushing and normalization

No, I’m not an “anti-vaxxer.” With that said, I’m one who is skeptical about information given to the public about vaccines. On top of being a strong proponent of vaccine transparency, I’m also one who believes vaccines must be thoroughly tested before they’re administered to the masses.

BREAKING: Moderna’s anti-COVID-19 vaccine bypassing normal testing on mice and going straight to human clinical trials

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) March 13, 2020

The coronavirus scare is a way to cut through safety protocols and standard best practices to ram a lightly tested vaccine through. It will receive no pushback as the masses will line up to be test subjects if there’s a reasonable expectation that it will work. A disease that is no more deadly than the flu for people under age 50 should not force bypassing full-scale testing. The risks are simply too high.

Whenever a minor chaos factor is introduced into a large-scale situation, bad actors will figure out ways to exploit it. The coronavirus may be the ultimate chaos factor in modern times and bad actors are licking their chops at the opportunities it presents.



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The Jefferson View

Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:34 AM PDT

Ever since the rise of the modern conservatism movement, there has been an open wound of conflict between what we can term neoconservatism and paleoconservatism.

On the one side are those who advocate for American leadership and engagement in the world. On the other are those who support disengagement and avoidance of global entanglements. When the Berlin Wall fell and the threat of global communism vanished from geopolitical reality, this discord only widened.

Neoconservatism has generally been espoused by conservatives who are traditionalists, centrists, and moderates open to some progressive government. Paleoconservatives have usually been libertarians or nationalists.

It, therefore, is quite a shock to some when they find liberty-minded conservatives like myself advocating for America’s energetic role in the world and sometimes even for military intervention.

The connection between isolationist and libertarian tendencies is so ingrained in people’s minds, their reaction to me when I take “unusual” stances often assumes some underlying hypocrisy or intellectual inconsistency. And yet, I see myself as entirely consistent in how I follow the traditions of Jefferson and Madison.

It may be difficult for some to shed the mechanics of our modern politics and grasp the factions and issues of the early American Republic.

Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist Party were the advocates for more extensive and more involved government in that period. It was Hamilton who established a national bank and argued for an increase in the debt to establish credit for the new nation.

It was John Adams, also a federalist, who signed the alien and sedition acts, one of the worst violations of rights passed by Congress. And yet, it was the Federalist Party and its greatest ally, George Washington, who stood most solidly in favor of isolationism.

On the other end of the spectrum were Jefferson, Madison, and their Republican Party. The early Republican Party was the party of limited government and the rights of individuals.

When Jefferson ran against Adams for the presidency, he called it the second revolution, believing his election would solidify the values of the first revolution in the young republic. And yet, it was Jefferson who advocated for American involvement and support for the French Revolution. It was Madison and his supporters who were termed the original War Hawks as they advocated for war against the British.

At the heart of the question between an energetic foreign policy and isolationism isn’t support for liberty or openness to big government. It is whether we should view liberty as a global concern or only a national concern.
Modern conservatives who deride their opponents as globalists may be surprised to realize that much of Jefferson’s rhetoric in the Declaration of Independence was “globalist.” He didn’t write to King George, declaring their duty to fight for their rights as Englishmen. He wrote about the rights of all men.

One of Jefferson’s famous quotes is, “I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

In fact, Jefferson was so supportive of the French Revolution that Washington’s position on the matter was a significant part of Jefferson’s decision to resign as Secretary of State. Jefferson never spoke to Washington again and became an enemy of John Adams for many years.

Liberty-minded conservatives such as myself get a lot of flack for advocating for strong American leadership and a decisive role in the world’s affairs. Yet, our stance remains grounded in liberty with pragmatic consideration of the world’s realities.

I leave you with two final points.

First, I see myself as an inheritor of the Jefferson view: that liberty threatened anywhere is liberty threatened everywhere. Divorced from a purely nationalist consideration of liberty, I see the American Revolution as one that continues, both within and without America’s shores.

I find common cause with freedom fighters the world over. The Hong Kongers, the Venezuelans, the Kurdish Peshmerga; they are not Americans, but they are just as much my brothers and sisters in the fight for liberty.

Second, I recognize the realities of the modern era. The globalist/nationalist debate is largely abstract and divorced from reality. The world is smaller than it used to be. The vast and intricate interconnection of nations and peoples is a geopolitical fact.

The butterfly effect is very real. Instability in any region of the world threatens America’s interests. Pretending that we can retreat from the world without significant consequences reaching our own shores is to put our head in the sand.



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The death rate for coronavirus for people under 50 is 0.1%, or 1 out of 1000 infections

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:09 PM PDT

Now that more data about the Wuhan Coronavirus is coming out from a reliable source, namely South Korea, irrational fears should subside. Of course, that likely won’t be the case since so many Americans are being irrational about the manufactured terror stimulated by a mainstream media industrial complex that is bent on doing harm to America for the sake of November election considerations.

This is why good news out of South Korea is barely being reported by American mainstream media. The government there is adjusting their strategies now that they understand the severity of the disease has been overblown by the World Health Organization and others. Much of what was originally reported was based on data from China, but now that Italy and South Korea have enough cases for statistical significance, we can start getting a better picture of what we’re dealing with. Thankfully, the picture is looking better than most expected.

We can trust the data coming out of South Korea for two reasons. First, they are testing so many people that they’re getting an accurate understanding of the scope of the infection. Second, they are not a nation known for propaganda; their government and press work hard to make the available truth known.

This is why it’s so important to understand the motivations of American media outlets when they report on the coronavirus. Left-leaning Business Insider reported the same numbers we’re getting, yet they spun them so badly to turn the legend of the coronavirus (as compared to the reality of it) into one of devastation. It was a display of Propaganda 101: Make good news seem bad by framing it unfairly.

Here’s the reality based on data from South Korea:

  • Infected people age 50-59 are at a 0.4% death rate.
  • It drops dramatically to 0.09% for those 40-49 and 0.12% for those 30-39.
  • Currently, the death rate for those under 30 is at 0.00%; meaning no more than 1 or 2 young people have died out of nearly 8,000 infected.

To put it into perspective, that translates to one person dying out of 1000 infected among people under 50, and four deaths out of 1000 people between 50-59. The death rate for people under 50 is effectively the same whether they contract the coronavirus or the flu.

Does that mean shouldn’t be concerned? Of course not. Once we add in older Americans, the death rate goes up dramatically. In South Korea, infected people 60-69 have a 1.44% death rate. 70-79 age range jumps to 4.83%. Those over 80-years-old who were infected died 8.23% of the time. The disease is clearly very dangerous to the elderly.

The elderly or those who come in contact with the elderly must take major precautions. The disease is exponentially more deadly to them than people under age 50. Everyone else needs to calm down. Catching it is very likely not the end of your world.



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Chris Murphy demands President Trump take over all coronavirus decision-making

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 06:05 PM PDT

Arguably the best news that has come out of the whole Wuhan coronavirus mess is state, county, city, and local government, plus private sector organizations, stepping up to make decisions on how to protect the people they serve. As limited-government federalists have known for centuries, the best way to address government’s influence on a majority of issues is at the most localized level possible. What a community decides about a local event supersedes what the federal government recommends when it comes to something like the coronavirus because local government knows better what’s entailed with their decisions.

Unfortunately, Democrats and mainstream media are so busy trying to lay all of the blame on the shoulders of the President, they often make unhinged arguments about how to handle the situation. Case-in-point: Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut. He Tweeted out one of the most asinine complaints against the President of the entire coronavirus saga.

Why have an executive branch if it isn’t willing lead at a time like this?

All of these decisions to cancel events, close schools or postpone opening days have been made by state, local and private sector leaders.

Why is everyone else leading, except for our President?

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 12, 2020

The decisions to close down schools and cancel events have been made by state, local, and private sector leaders because it is undeniably their responsibility to do so. Period. This is not a dictatorship and we are not ruled by a totalitarian regime. The President shouldn’t tell any school districts to close as he nor anyone in the federal government understands the needs of and risks for a community better than the community. The President should not tell the NBA to cancel the season because that’s their call.

Murphy’s and the Democrats’ love of authoritarianism demands they look to the highest levels of government to decree what everyone else in the country must do. It’s part of their base ideology to consolidate power in one office and rule with an iron fist over local officials who are just too unimportant in the eyes of the left. Power bleeds from the top down for radical progressives. To hyper-leftists, government must be the source of all wisdom, and the higher the level, the more wise the government officials allegedly are. This is all completely wrong and unconstitutional, and Twitter let Murphy have it.

Federalism and private enterprise, how do they work?https://t.co/xbPiQ3ktH3

— Peter Cook (@_Peter_Cook) March 13, 2020

Senator Einstein thinks a President is all knowing and all seeing, and must be aware of everything going on in Sheboygan as well as 150,000 other towns, cities, and localities around the country.
Dunking is more effective if you have a point other than the one on your head. https://t.co/SDpdYQK1ac

— GregEsq (@GregEsq) March 12, 2020

“Why don’t we just have one all-powerful person in charge of everything to make these decisions as opposed to local officials at the state level, which are united…This isn’t even America as it was founded right now” https://t.co/1wPSkCMDgO

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 13, 2020

a US senator: Trump is an ebil dictator
also US senator: Why doesn’t Trump take over everything and lock people in their homes?

— 🏳️‍🌈Miro🇧🇬Slav. Soon🇺🇸 (@gaydraka) March 12, 2020

This is the worst take about the #WuhanVirus, and that’s saying a lot considering how bad most takes have been.

Canceling events, closing schools, postponing openings—in America, these decisions are made at state, local, private sector, and individual levels.#Federalism. Duh. https://t.co/AhthUwzUru

— JD Rucker (@JDRucker) March 13, 2020

Does federalism really bother you that much?

It may be a national crisis, but it’s affecting different states disproportionately. State and local leaders calling many of the shots is actually a good thing.

— MIKE BRESLIN’S POINTLESS TWEETS 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️ (@mikebreslin815) March 13, 2020

That’s… how the Constitution is designed. https://t.co/wY3S3THTX7

— Sleepy Joe (@sleeepyjoseph) March 12, 2020

You’re serious? Are you aware of the roles and responsibilities of state government? pic.twitter.com/G8DcWLxGmY

— Roxie Joyce (@RoxieCorleone) March 12, 2020

“All of these decisions…have been made by state, local and private sector leaders”.

As the founders intended. https://t.co/g99gfEyv87

— blue (@blue_prop) March 13, 2020

“Trump is evil. Why isn’t he in charge of EVERYTHING?” https://t.co/jbYvXd0OQB

— It’s still 2016 apparently (@jtLOL) March 13, 2020

The level of “government” most responsible for defending against the coronavirus is the individual/family level. It is incumbent on us, as American citizens, to do what is best for us and our families. From there, the responsibility works its way down (though most classify it as moving up) the government hierarchy to local, then city, county, and state, with the federal government having responsibilities surround only those things they are best suited to handle. From DC, we should be receiving information (we are), financial corrections (in the works), travel/border restrictions (started long ago), and guidance (as compared to decrees, or “leadership,” as Murphy calls it).

The irony is, of course, the massive contradictions constantly coming from Democrats like Murphy. They say President Trump is making bad decisions even when they’re proven to be correct, such as the travel ban the left lambasted before. Then, they say the President needs to be making more decisions even as good decisions are being made by local, city, county, and state officials. Democrats are lost in the maze of lies they’ve created for themselves.

There have been plenty of bad decisions made at every level regarding the coronavirus. As much as I’d love for every individual to properly handle their own responsibilities to keep themselves and their families protected, we’re still seeing long lines for toilet paper of all things. We’re going to stumble as nothing like this has happened in the modern era. We’ve had outbreaks worse than this, but we haven’t seen panic like this since the Spanish Flu, which was an exponentially more dangerous disease at the time.

We, as a nation, must come together and handle our individual responsibilities to fight the coronavirus. Despite Chris Murphy’s authoritarian, unconstitutional desires for supreme leadership, we must fight the left’s narrative and make better decisions.



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Short memory: Media turns breathless over term ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ after forgetting their own words

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 04:08 PM PDT

Today, many on the left and particularly in mainstream media are spreading the narrative that using the phrases “Wuhan coronavirus” or “Chinese coronavirus” is racist finger-pointing by the Trump administration and Republicans in general. There’s a major and obvious problem with this. Media outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and ABC have been using the phrases or variations of them for nearly two months.

It’s like a page out of 1984. What was once acceptable is now unacceptable because of who’s saying it. But just like in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the left is trying to rewrite history. In their view, “Wuhan coronavirus” is racist and always has been, and regardless of recordings of the left using the term in the past, they’re sticking with the story that they never said it. Damn our lying eyes and ears, they imply.

From the West Nile Virus to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), geographic location of origin or prominence has always been part of the naming protocol for diseases. The Wuhan coronavirus is the first disease to have social justice warriors at the World Health Organization act specifically against properly naming it. They even cited fears of xenophobia and racism as reasons for giving it the meaningless name “COVID-19.”

But this is actually more than just virtue signaling. WHO executives are in the pockets of the Chinese Communist Party. The odd naming of the disease was not a decision as much as a directive from Beijing. In their perpetual quest to save face, the CCP has invoked global influence for the sole purpose of propaganda that deflects blame for allowing this disease to spread to the rest of the world.

The folks over at MRCTV put together all the video proof we need to see the hypocrisy of people like Jim Acosta, Chris Cuomo, and other mainstream media talking heads who feel they must assign blame to President Trump at all costs to their credibility.



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President Trump: Democrats had rallies but nobody showed up even before the coronavirus

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 03:37 PM PDT

The overblown coronavirus panic is canceling events around the country. From the NBA and NCAA March Madness to closing down Disneyland, people are being asked to stop gathering in large groups to prevent further spread of the flu-like disease. There have been calls to stop political rallies as well.

When asked about Democrats halting their rallies, President Trump said something that has been infuriating the left. Unfortunately for them, he’s correct. “I think the Democrats won’t be having rallies but nobody showed up at their rallies anyway, so what difference does it make?”

President Trump: The Democrats won’t be having rallies but nobody showed up to their rallies anyway, so what difference does it make? 😂 pic.twitter.com/nkp2F0LpaU

— PolishPatriot™ (@PolishPatriotTM) March 12, 2020

The self-fulfilling coronavirus panic has paralyzed much of the United States. But this will pass, probably sooner than most expect, and those who are overreacting will feel a little silly when Armageddon doesn’t come from all of this.



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True liberals are leaving the left. It’s time to welcome them to the side conserving liberty.

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 02:14 PM PDT

The authoritarian left is at war with itself these days, going in many different directions in an orgy of self-destruction. It has run out of new ideas, trying to sell that which can be traced to ancient Greece.

Control is the only guiding principle for the left these days. Some are wanting to rip apart the economy because it’s unfair or simply because they want to use varying crises to control others merely for the sake of controlling others. Their desire for control is the only common principle they have left, the only thing that binds them together.

“Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” Robert A. Heinlein

While they go by varying labels, they are still on the “want people to be controlled” side of the political spectrum. Those who are on the side of liberty are beginning to take notice of this disturbing trend. Every ‘serious crisis’—global cooling, the non-existent gun violence epidemic and now the COVID-19 crisis—are incessantly exploited by the authoritarian left to empower themselves, never mind if it will actually do anything to solve the crisis.

The left values political power above everything else. The problem for them is that many are taking notice that their control obsession is antithetical to the cause of liberty. After all, these people still claim to be rooted in freedom, falsely implying with their exploitation of the term ‘liberal’.

“The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement.
They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty.
They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship.
They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent.
They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau. What an alluring utopia! What a noble cause to fight!”
Ludwig von Mises

[Emphasise added]

True liberals are leaving the authoritarian left in droves

We are witnessing a movement in real time of people who used to consider themselves to be part of the left leaving it and becoming politically homeless. They have varying reasons for this, but it’s primarily because the authoritarian left has lost the plot.

Many in the #WalkAway movement leaving the left find themselves politically homeless because they don’t see our side as any better. Focusing on pragmatic populism only works for a little while, then many start questioning where we are going. This is why we need to have a set of bedrock principles for ourselves and in contrast to the other side that merely craves power over the people.

This is exemplified by the case of Dr. Karlyn Borysenko who became an accidental political commentator who first became prominent in going to a rally for President Trump and writing about in medium.

She penned another article: This liberal went to CPAC. And it was nothing like I expected. As well as broadcasting a Live Stream: Why I became a Democrat and what ultimately made me walk away. While she still holds many views in disagreement with the pro-liberty right, she characterizes herself as a ‘classic liberal’ like many who have walked away from the authoritarian left.

Welcoming those who are leaving the authoritarian left

The main point in all of this is to contrast ourselves with the authoritarian left by standing up for the cause of liberty. There are many like ‘classic liberal’ Dave Rubin who used to consider themselves part of the far-left. Now many are leaving and they are politically homeless because we have failed to articulate a message of liberty and limited government.

This is why we of the pro-liberty right have to articulate a set of principles based in conservation of liberty, individual rights and economic freedom. That is not to say give up on some of our core beliefs just for the sake of having a ‘big tent’ but one of having a clear set of beliefs that are in common with true liberals.

This is a case of being forthright in what we believe and letting the chips fall where they may. Perhaps many of these politically homeless will join our ranks. Still others may form their own group that is on the pro-liberty side of the political spectrum and we can have respectful debate on a few of the issues on which we disagree.

The point is to offer those leaving the left with a clear choice in the matter. During the Steve Deace interview on the Glenn Beck program, he made the point that at present we offer only ‘goulash’ while the authoritarian left is offering steak. Howbeit, this is steak paid for with other people’s money taken by force and it is just the mere promise of steak. Given a choice, many will accept bad principles for no principles at all.

This is why we need to have a common set of principles, set in liberty and limited government instead of control and unlimited government. For far too long the left has been able to deceive many under the pretense being liberal or progressive, it’s time to show who they are and offer a home to those who do not share their authoritarian principles.



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Dr. Drew Pinsky takes on the media COVID-19 narrative

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 06:49 AM PDT

If you listen to the mainstream media, you would think our healthcare system was about to collapse under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled the virus outbreak a pandemic yesterday ratcheted the chorus up even more.

A Calmer Voice

At least one medical professional has been pointing this out on every platform that will let him. Dr. Drew Pinsky spoke with WMAL host Larry O’Connor yesterday and shared some important information with listeners. First and foremost, he told listeners in no uncertain terms to stop listening to journalists.

My God, their reporting is absolutely reprehensible. They should be ashamed of themselves. They are creating a panic that is far worse than the viral outbreak.”

Instead the public should be listening to Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC in going about their business. Wash your hands and get a flu shot. If you are in the high risk categories, especially those over 65 with special attention to those with a pre-existing condition or a smoker over over 50 avoid public events and practice social distancing.

For the vast majority of the population this virus will present as a cold or mild flu according to Dr. Drew. he points to the experience of South Korea as instructive. There the death rate from COVID-19 is 0.8% as of today and they have a medical delivery system and population over the age of 65 that is similar to the United States. He referred to the panic over healthcare resources in this country, such as the number of ventilators as “total BS”.

Dr. Drew also explained the difference between testing and screening. “You don’t test people willy-nilly,” he said. To administer a test there is medical criteria that the doctor evaluates the patient’s symptoms against. When the index of suspicion is high, you administer a test. If it is moderate you tell the patient to go home and isolate. Testing of asymptomatic people is called screening, which is not typically done during viral outbreaks in the U.S.

The U.S. Response

The host, O’Connor specifically questioned Dr. Drew on two items. First, he asked what if anything the administration and the agencies could have done better. Dr. Drew said the WHO, CDC and other agencies should be taking a bow. The virus has been identified, mapped and accurate test has been developed and work on treatment and vaccinations are underway. He noted other countries may have a faster practice to get them to market than the U.S. testing protocols allow, and this is something that should be looked at.

He reiterated numerous highly trained technical professionals like Dr. Fauci have been doing this work inside the NIH and CDC for decades. You could add they have managed these illnesses under multiple administrations, including the last one. To assume they have become sloppy or stupid all of a sudden as the media is positing is ridiculous and insulting. Dr. Drew added, “This is insanity. It is a level of insanity that is making me angry.”

How Viruses Act

O’Connor then asked why the doctor said that high risk populations should limit their exposure “for the next couple weeks” and if that was really what he expected. Dr. Drew responded:

That is not what I expect. I guarantee it. Viruses have a life. They come on, they grow, they plateau and they go away. There is a time course to the lifecycle of every influenza and every viral outbreak. We are in the uptick. We are about to hit the plateau, we will contain it and then it will start to die down. It hates heat, it hates humidity and it will go away.

Dr. Drew noted all the doctors he has spoken with across the medical community agree. You know who else supports this conclusion? The NIH. Here’s what they found with the SARS coronavirus:

The dried virus on smooth surfaces retained its viability for over 5 days at temperatures of 22–25°C and relative humidity of 40–50%, that is, typical air-conditioned environments. However, virus viability was rapidly lost (>3 log10) at higher temperatures and higher relative humidity.

If you would like some perspective on the unending cycle of doomsday coverage, I suggest you listen to the full segment. And remember the talking heads on cable news and in the print media are the same ones Obama Bro Ben Rhodes told you were uninformed  and easily manipulated.

Be Proactive

In the meantime, do something proactive. If you are healthy and outside the high risk population, offer to go shopping or pick up needed items like prescriptions for a senior in your community so they can more easily practice social distancing. Monitor the CDC guidance for updated information. take a walk in the fresh air and maintain your own physical health. And by all means avoid listening to any media segment that is not focused exclusively on information from a current agency professional involved in the management of the COVID outbreak.

The post Dr. Drew Pinsky takes on the media COVID-19 narrative appeared first on NOQ Report – Conservative Christian News, Opinions, and Quotes.

Watch: Steven Furtick’s modalism exposed

Posted: 11 Mar 2020 10:01 PM PDT

Steven Furtick is the pastor at Elevation Church, on of the biggest names in contemporary Christian music. Despite this worldly success, the man preaches a heretical understanding of the Trinity called modalism. This view of God is unfounded in Scripture. Jesus says he is the bread of life; the light of the world; the gate; the good shepherd; the Resurrection and the life; the way, the truth, and the life; and the true vine. Jesus claims to be God. He does not claim to be the Father nor the Holy Spirit.

For more information about Evangelical Dark Web

For further resources on Discernment



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Surgeon General: US Shifting Into ‘Mitigation Phase’; Communities Should Think About Canceling Large Gatherings

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:50 PM PDT

by Susan Jones: U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the coronavirus outbreak in the United States is spreading, “Absolutely,” and as that happens, life may change for people in affected communities.

“Initially, we had a posture of containment, so that we could give people time to prepare for where we are right now,” Adams said:

Now we’re shifting into a mitigation phase, which means that we’re helping communities understand, you’re going to see more cases. Unfortunately, you’re going to see more deaths.But that doesn’t mean that we should panic. It means that we should take the things that we know work for individuals to protect themselves and make sure everyone is doing those things, like washing your hands frequently, like covering your cough, like staying home if you’re sick, and not being around people who are sick.

But it also means communities need to be thinking about things like, should we be canceling large gatherings? What are our telework policies? Should we be closing schools? And that’s going to be different in Seattle than what it’s going to be in Jackson, Mississippi.

But communities need to have that conversation and prepare for more cases, so that we can prevent more deaths.


Host Jake Tapper complained about “confusing information” coming from administration officials who insist that the virus has been contained, “when it has not been contained,” Tapper said.

Adams responded that the messaging “is hard.”

“But here’s what I want the American people to know. From a public health point of view — and I am a public health expert — the first thing you want to try to do is contain the virus. And some parts of the country have contained it, meaning they’re preventing spread into their communities in the first place.”

Tapper noted that so far, there aren’t enough test kits to determine how many people may have the virus:

“Well, what we do know is that if we had massive numbers of cases, we would be seeing more deaths,” Adams said:

And so we actually feel pretty good that some parts of the country have contained it, just like when you look at the flu. And when we look at the flu tracker, some parts of the country are having much more severe flu seasons. Some are having very mild flu seasons.The same thing for coronavirus. So, you want to first try to keep it out of your community. Once you know it’s in your community, you want to take the steps to prevent spread within the community and to keep those most at risk safe.

And a very important point here, we now know more about who is at risk. Average age of death for people from coronavirus is 80. Average age of people who need medical attention is age 60.

We want people who are older people who have medical conditions to take steps to protect themselves, including avoiding crowded spaces, including thinking very carefully about whether or not now’s the time to get on that cruise ship, and whether now’s the time to take that long-haul flight.

For most people, you’re going to be fine. But if you have medical conditions, or you’re older, now’s the time to rethink that.Adams noted that in more than 80 percent of people infected, the symptoms are mild.
————————
Susan Jones (@SJonesCNS) writes for CNSNews a division of the Media Research Center, a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization.


Tags: Susan Jones, CNS News, Surgeon General, US Shifting, Into ‘Mitigation Phase’, Communities Should, Think About Canceling, Large Gatherings To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Church School Calls in the Fired Department

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:50 PM PDT

by Tony Perkins: Joshua Payne-Elliott had worked at Cathedral High for 13 years. He knew the rules. So when the social studies teacher married another man, he knew he was putting his Catholic employer in an impossible situation. For 22 months, the Indianapolis Archdiocese and Joshua tried to talk it out. But eventually, there was nothing left to say. If Cathedral kept him, the school would be turning its back on Catholic teaching. If they let him go, they’d be inviting a legal firestorm. In the end, the school chose its beliefs.

It was an agonizing decision, Archbishop Charles Thompson said soberly. But at the end of the day, if the church strives to be “Christ-centered,” then that means upholding Jesus’s teachings. “Every human being deserves respect and dignity,” he agreed, and the church will continue to “embrace, love and welcome all persons.” But the Bible’s “teaching on marriage as one man and one woman continues.” That doesn’t mean he or anyone else is perfect, Thompson was quick to add. “I’m a sinner too,” the archbishop pointed out. But he pointed people to an old poster he once saw on the door of a science lab. “[It] read, ‘Truth is not determined by majority opinion.’ The Church has taught for 2,000 years that marriage by nature is designed by God as one man and one woman… [That] doesn’t mean we don’t care,” he pointed out. But it does mean they won’t compromise.

When Joshua sued the school for letting him go, he said he hoped it would “put a stop to the targeting of LGBTQ employees and their families.” That’s a convenient argument, but a phony one. Cathedral High School isn’t discriminating against anyone. This teacher, like everyone else on staff, agreed to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church in their personal and professional lives. If Payne-Elliott didn’t like that, he didn’t have to teach there! Instead, he’s trying to make the Archdiocese look like a villain for upholding the faith he knew it subscribed to.

That’s not just unfair, the president’s Department of Justice is arguing, it’s dangerous. In fact, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband believes this case is so important that his team will be on hand in Indiana tomorrow to personally defend Cathedral High School in state court. “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to teach their faith, and to associate with others who share their faith. The First Amendment rightly protects the free exercise of religion.”

Payne-Elliott’s lawyer, Kathleen DeLaney, tried to shame the White House for getting involved in what she called “a local employment issue.” “What I take away from this is that the Trump administration is politicizing a legal dispute about an Indiana business tort,” she argued. But what the rest of us should take away from it is that the president will go to any lengths to protect religious liberty. That’s especially important after eight years of Barack Obama, whose DOJ openly sided against churches in these situations. Of course, the most famous example of that was the Hosanna-Tabor case, where all nine Supreme Court justices broke with Obama and agreed: the government shouldn’t meddle in the personnel decisions of faith-based groups.

Nothing’s changed since then. The courts still can’t “second-guess how religious institutions interpret and apply their own religious laws,” Trump’s attorneys argue. It’s true that the Left is trying. We’ve seen their outrage play out over and over again with private Christians schools, which they’re desperate to push into some sort of spiritual ghetto. Fortunately, liberals haven’t had the benefit of another radical president to implement their plans — but we don’t have to guess what they’ll do if they get one.

The leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, Joe Biden, has already said his very first priority in office is a bill that would destroy religious schools: the Equality Act. So while we’re grateful for everything President Trump has done, it’s important to remember that we’re just one election away from losing the freedom that schools like Cathedral enjoy.

“It’s a difficult time for the church,” Archbishop Thompson agreed. In fact, “It’s a difficult time for any institution of faith right now… I sometimes think,” he said, “[that] society has pushed the church to the margins and peripheries. But we must continue to engage the world, engage society, and engage culture with our message, with that Good News, with those teachings, and what we believe the word of God and the tradition of the church has revealed… [and take] that call to others.”
———————–
Tony Perkins (@tperkins) is President of the Family Research Council . Article on Tony Perkins’ Washington Update and written with the aid of FRC senior writers.


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Green New Deal Would Ruin America’s Dairyland, Study Warns

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:51 PM PDT

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., hold a Nov. 14 press conference outside the Capitol on the Green New Deal. A new study warns that the proposal
 would devastate the dairy industry. 

by M.D. Kittle: It’s been pretty clear that the Green New Deal would be a disaster for businesses and for consumers. Now a new study confirms just how disastrous the environmental and wealth-redistribution plan would be for Wisconsin.

Wisconsin families would be shackled with $40,000 in new costs, and the Dairy State’s struggling agricultural sector would be crippled, according to the multistate analysis authored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Power the Future.

The Green New Deal—as championed by liberals such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and many of the Democratic presidential candidates—calls for shifting energy consumption entirely to electric current from today’s primary sources, principally fossil fuels.

Doing so, the report finds, would cause $200 million in losses to Wisconsin farmers, while clobbering the state’s iconic dairy industry with $2.5 billion in additional costs.

Estimates say the dramatic carbon-free shift alone would cost trillions of dollars. The report notes that energy research firm Wood Mackenzie estimates that the greening of the U.S. power sector would come with a $4.7 trillion price tag, including around $1.5 trillion to add 1,600 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity and $2.5 trillion of investments in 900 gigawatts of storage.

An additional $700 billion is estimated for new high-transmission power lines to move that electricity from sun-drenched deserts and windswept plains to the urban areas where it would be used.

Competitive Enterprise Institute President Kent Lassman said the Green New Deal is not a serious proposal.

“At best, being most generous, it is simply negligent in getting its arms around the transition costs to the American life,” he said at a press conference at a Milwaukee-area manufacturing center. “At worst, it is political malpractice.”

The broader research looks at the Green New Deal’s impact on 11 states. It measures additional electricity demand, costs associated with shipping and logistics, new vehicles, building retrofits, decreased crop yields, and the carbon tax on farmers.

In Wisconsin, households in the first year of implementation would face $75,000 in additional costs on the Green New Deal’s expensive ride to zero carbon dioxide emissions within a decade. The increased costs would top $40,000 every year thereafter.

Alaska would face the highest costs of implementation, at north of $84,000 in the first year, and nearly $52,000 after six years of the green plan in operation. That’s more than $10,000 higher per year than the other 10 states measured in the study.

Will Flanders, research director for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, contributed to the study.

Flanders said the Green New Deal may play well in Washington, D.C., but it doesn’t cut it in “get real” places such as the Midwest, which rely on affordable, reliable energy. The climate-change alarmist plan would “drive middle-class families into poverty by imposing staggering annual costs,” he said.

For Green New Deal-backing Democrats who have talked so much about the plight of the U.S. farmer, the sweeping carbon dioxide reductions would be a liberal-inflicted blow on the agriculture industry.

Wisconsin’s dairy farmers have slogged through a four-year milk price recession, protracted trade wars, anti-animal agriculture activists, and a punitive regulatory climate, said Cindy Leitner, president of the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance.

The study finds the Green New Deal would force dairy farmers to pay an additional $500 to $2,000 per cow per year in compliance costs.

“How does that translate? That means an average farmer in Wisconsin of 150 cows will pay between $75,000 and $300,000 per year in addition to what they are doing now,” Leitner said, adding:

And if we think that we have seen a high exit of farms in Wisconsin in the past several years, this policy will close the door on any dairy surviving. It will be gone. This is very serious. This should not even be considered as a policy.The study tracks only the costs of the Green New Deal’s constraints on energy generation. It does not delve into the plan’s myriad “social justice” programs, such as federally guaranteed jobs with “family-sustaining” wages, paid vacations, and “retirement security” for every American.

“Most provisions of the [Green New Deal] are so broad and open-ended,” the report notes, “that the list of potential programs necessary to implement the program is only limited by the capacity of legislators to imagine new government programs. Therefore, it is impossible to calculate the maximum cost of the GND.”
——————–
Josh Waldoch of Empower Wisconsin contributed to this article to The Daily Signal.


Tags: Josh Waldoch, Empower Wisconsin , Green New Deal, would ruin, America’s Dairyland, study warns, The Daily Signal To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

California Is A Cruel Medieval State

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:51 PM PDT

Dr. Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis HansonThe Golden State has become a cruel and unusual place because callousness and narcissism were redefined as caring and compassion.

One way of understanding California is simply to invert traditional morality. What for centuries would be considered selfish, callous, and greedy is now recalibrated as caring, empathetic, and generous.

The current ethos of evaluating someone by his or her superficial appearance—gender or race—has returned to the premodern values of 19th-century California when race and gender calibrated careers.

We don’t pay medieval priests for indulgences of our past and ongoing sin, but we do tweet out displays of our goodness as the penance price of acting amoral.

A paradox ensues that Californians both have a high, indeed smug, view of themselves and yet do a lot of damage to their fellow human beings. Their haughtiness is based largely on the reality that Silicon Valley, sandwiched between Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley, became the birthplace of the global computer, internet, social media, and a high-tech revolution.

For progressives who deprecate the capitalist lifestyle, having a lot of money still allows one to say one thing and live out the opposite.

The state’s multi-trillion-dollar companies have hired tens of thousands of seven-figure, mid-level executives and computer experts who assume that life in the California coastal corridor is a birthright paradise.

The resulting tax revenue bonanza to the state allows one-party-rule to rid California of the old bothersome Reagan-Deukmejian-Wilson working- and middle-classes by embracing not-in-my-backyard zoning, identity politics, anal-retentive regulations, steep tax rates, utopian green agendas, open borders, and decriminalization of things that used to be felony offenses.

Indeed, the bigger and wealthier California became, the more the rich sought to privatize their lives and to give up on public services, the more the middle classes left the state, the more the poor from Mexico and Latin America crossed the southern border illegally, the more its schools deteriorated, and the more its infrastructure ossified and became decrepit, from century-old power transmission towers to pot-holed and jammed highways.

The resulting medieval society is now one of a few thousand millionaires and millions of lower-middle-class wage earners as well as millions of abject peasants and poor serfs. Those on the bottom receive relatively generous subsidies to just get by. Over a quarter of the state’s population was not born in the United States. A fifth lives below the poverty line. One-third of welfare recipients in the United States live in California. These are statistics of which our moralists in Malibu or Mill Valley either are ignorant, or simply shrug that they don’t care.

In a paradoxical way, California would have to become much more impoverished than it is now to seem a far worse abode than the birthplace of most of its current immigrants from southern Mexico, Central America, China, and Southeast Asia. That is, while the middle class has been leaving in droves, given the abject decline of their beloved native state, the even poorer newcomers have a quite different benchmark of comparison. Compared, to say, Oaxaca, or rural China, California’s is rich, free, and eager to subsidize even illegal arrivals.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The coastal rich and professional classes make so much that they are willing to put up with the state’s high taxes and poor services on three assumed premises.

First, state redistribution of some of their vast incomes doesn’t hurt all that much, while offering atheists, agnostics, and secularists generous medieval penance and fides as true-blue progressives. As long as the coastal tech economy, financial services, entertainment, tourism, and blue-chip research universities keep booming, the state within a state doesn’t worry about the funding-to-benefit relationship between soaring California taxes and commensurately declining public services.

Second, the coastal enclaves have enough money to navigate around the ramifications of their own ideology, whether by avoiding much of the state’s interior, putting their kids in private schools, living in tony gated communities, buying concierge private healthcare, and ensuring that the Other, who daily ventures into their neighborhoods to do domestic and outdoor chores, leaves by nightfall. Buying a Range Rover or Mercedes SUV or even a Gulfstream is a good way to ease the burden of fighting climate change, just as one’s concierge doctor can galvanize his support for Medicare for All.

Third, our blessed lords and earls envision California not as a single state. Indeed, most coastal dwellers have never visited the small towns of the Central Valley or the Sierra foothills or the northern third of the state. Instead, they see these areas the way Manhattanites look at Rochester, or Chicago looks at southern Illinois. In their view, freakish 19th-century mapping created California, and so they have no concern what Outer Californians think of the way they govern the state.

The result is abject cruelty. How can state leaders impose the highest gasoline taxes in the country, and then allow sections of their main longitudinal freeways—large swaths of the 99, the central coastal 101, or most of the West Side I-5—to become gory 4-lane motorized gladiatorial arenas?

As traffic quadrupled over the last half-century, the state’s freeways necessary to drive across California remained calcified. And the result was that lots of people simply died, and that calculation was always baked into California governance as tolerable. By that, I mean, our masters of the universe couldn’t care less that the 99 “freeway” has become, by most metrics, the most lethal major thoroughfare in the United States. Out of sight, out of mind.

“Winners” and “Losers”
Much of the state is a natural desert—ironically in some of the toniest places where the rich dwell, from Montecito to Carmel.

Yet no major reservoir has been built in nearly 40 years, a period during which the population doubled. No doubt, 19th-century California was a paradise—Hetch Hetchy undammed, the lush delta flooding over millions of acres, upstream salmon fighting the San Joaquin River white water from the Bay to the Sierra Nevada.

But such fantasies are no way to run a 21st-century state with open borders, 40 million people, and a population that to survive and eat needs daily vast transfers of irrigation and municipal water from the wet north and east to the parched center and west.

Releasing to the sea millions of acre-feet of reservoir water or never allowing it to be banked in established manmade lakes means that millions of struggling rural residents drill new, multi-thousand-dollar domestic wells to survive, farmers idle land, and the poor lose jobs.

The elite response is that there is no mental connection for them between what is sold at Whole Foods and what is grown outside of Bakersfield or Salinas. They muse why do such exploiters of nature have to drain our state’s aquifer? And they assume that while Hetch Hetchy and the Owens Valley are critical to bring the anointed water, all other such huge water transfer projects should become negotiable.

One of the strangest sights in California is the horde of trailers, ratty cars, and dilapidated Winnebagos parked throughout moralistic Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Sunnyvale, juxtaposed with gleaming high-tech corporate campuses. The most empathetic and caring people in the world, as they remind us hourly, turn out to be pretty callous about the “losers” in their midst who live in mobile and makeshift quarters on the street to keep Silicon Valley humming.

At least 19th-century company mining towns did not have the percentages of transients and homeless as does the richest, most caring landscape in the world. Those who can afford $1,000-a-square-foot coastal cottages assume that the losers who can’t code just couldn’t cut it. If you insist on driving a semi, or welding tanks, and you are not willing to program, then why in the world should you dare imagine that you deserve to live within 50 miles of the California coast?

To walk in areas of downtown San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno, or Sacramento is to venture into the pages of Boccaccio or Dickens, as thousands defecate, inject, eat, drink, and urinate on the sidewalks.

Should the coronavirus ever incubate there among California’s hundreds of thousands on the street, the result would make the current nationwide caseload look like the common cold. Indeed, an epidemic among the tents and grocery carts of the state’s main cities would become hideous and terrifying—and right out of the accounts of Thucydides or Procopius.

These ebbs and flows of homeless villages often lap up near the commuting corridors of the hyper-wealthy pedestrians and commuters. The former appeared bothered and so play the role of mounted knights that rode on by beggars outside the walls of the keep.

Truth and Consequences
In California’s upside-down morality, what is ethical is allowing thousands to live in fetid filth and to endanger their own health and that of an entire city, or waving in millions of foreign nationals without health audits, background checks, or legal permission. The Silicon Valley moralist at coffee seethes that Trump “put people in cages,” while in private is relieved that there are not caravans of tens of thousands headed his way from Central America—in the age of the coronavirus.

What is now considered unethical would be either to provide planned suburban or rural homeless campuses with sanitation, clean food, and dormitory shelters, or to ask illegal immigrants in their home countries first to apply for U.S. residence through legal channels, to undergo legal, health, and job audits, and in the interval to learn English and the customs and laws of their desired new home.

Instead, opening the southern border to millions of destitute Central Americans and southern Mexican nationals is proof of one’s morality among the wealthy of La Jolla, Santa Barbara, Pacific Heights, and Sausalito—again at least in the abstract. Few of them venture to a Merced, Sanger, Madera, or Firebaugh school to see the impact of tens of thousands of immigrant youths, without English, money, or skills suddenly overwhelming local school districts.

Fewer experience the effects on driving and law enforcement when millions of foreign immigrants navigate without prior experience of U.S. traffic laws, and without licenses, insurance, and registration.

No moralist seems to worry that tens of thousands of Americans, among them Mexican-American citizens in particular, depend on access to state and federal dialysis centers and hospital emergency rooms, many of which are now overwhelmed with non-citizen new patients.

To write the above is proof of one’s callousness, to be its architect evidence of one’s caring.

So those who craft sanctuary cities never venture into the Reedley emergency room, or know what a rural Tulare County sheriff encounters on a Saturday night, or what it is like to drive late on a Saturday night on a rural road in Central California, or would dare put their children in the Delano public schools, or to live outside of Mendota with the house pump sputtering sand.

Those who insisted on continuing with a money-draining, high-speed rail boondoggle rarely try to drive east on Highway 152 outside Gilroy and thereby learn the consequences of allowing roads to become Road Warrior death zones.

Those legislators and executives who dreamed up decriminalizing thefts under $950 never worried about how the lost inventory of a family-owned store destroys middle-class aspirations. They certainly are careful about where not to shop, especially not where hordes of teens swarm and walk out each with mysteriously less than $950 in loot.

California has become a cruel and unusual state because callousness and narcissism were redefined as caring and compassion.
————————
Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) is a senior fellow, classicist and historian and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution where many of his articles are found; his focus is classics and military history. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush. H/T McIntosh Enterprises link to American Greatness.


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Coronavirus Update, Purim

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:51 PM PDT

by Gary Bauer, Contributing AuthorCoronavirus Update
While this is the End of Day report, I’m actually writing early on Monday as I head into Washington for a day-long meeting of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Things may change dramatically by the time you receive this, but as of early this morning, it was apparent that the world’s financial markets are in the grips of a panic.

American stock futures plummeted and world oil prices dropped 25 percent amid a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and growing uncertainty over the COVID-19 coronavirus.

This means that if oil prices continue to decline, one of the strongest areas of the U.S. economy over the last decade – our oil and gas industries – will suffer a major shake-up that will likely drive many small and medium-sized drillers out of business. That may very well lead to significant job losses in states like Pennsylvania and Texas and could, in turn, affect the elections this November.

The Green New Deal crowd on the left has been demanding a shutdown of America’s energy industry for years. Some leftists on social media are even celebrating the panic in our energy sector this morning.

Meanwhile, we conservatives have warned that such a shock to our energy industry could cost millions of jobs and cause untold human suffering.

If the coronavirus crisis plays out the way it looks, it will provide a window into what it would look like if we got rid of our oil and gas industries. It won’t be a pretty picture.

The markets seem to be panicking at the moment, but there’s no reason for the public to follow suit. While there is still a lot we don’t know about coronavirus, much of what we do know is reassuring.

  • Children seem to be particularly protected from the virus. There have been virtually no deaths among kids under the age of 10.
  • It appears that more than 80 percent of people who are infected with the coronavirus either make a full recovery or don’t even realize they have had it to begin with. People over the age of 70 and people who have underlying health conditions such as diabetes or congestive heart failure seem to be most at risk.
  • The media are breathlessly reporting each new case and every death. But virtually no outlets are reporting the number of people every day who are pronounced fully recovered from the virus. More than 62,000 people worldwide have fully recovered after contracting the virus. Scientists at Johns Hopkins have put together a helpful map showing how many people have been infected in different regions and how many have recovered.
  • While it has not been proven yet, there is some evidence that as temperatures warm, the coronavirus will have a much more difficult time spreading and may die out the way the flu virus does each season. Given its proximity to Asia, you might think Hawaii would have seen many cases of coronavirus. But apparently it has not, and it might be because of the warmer temperatures there.

Even in a best-case scenario, it is going to take at least another 30 to 45 days to know with greater certainty the degree of damage done to the economy and to those infected by this virus.

But there’s one thing we know for certain right now. President Trump has been warning for years about the dangers of rampant globalism and the risks of transferring our manufacturing base to other countries like China. Trump was right, and coronavirus is proving that once again.

This virus could deal a body blow to globalism. Let’s hope it hastens the return of U.S. companies who decades ago left for China, even if it means slightly higher prices or lower corporate profits here. I think this virus will bolster political populism on both the right and the left.

It’s hard to sort out what any of this might mean for a Trump-Biden presidential campaign. But consider this: In Trump, you have a president who was ahead of the curve in warning about the dangers of unbridled globalism. His entire presidency was predicated on growing the economy and withdrawing from our engagement with China. Trump wants to make the economic pie bigger so that all Americans can benefit. He wants less regulation and lower taxes. We’ve seen the fruits of those policies throughout Trump’s three years in office. Just last Friday, the government reported that 273,000 new jobs were created in February, smashing economists’ predictions of 175,000 new jobs.

On the other side you have Joe Biden, who’s been soft on China and who’s running for the nomination of a party that’s been all in on globalism, that’s at war with the energy industry and that’s completely devoid of ideas for growing the economy. Their only ideas involve more government regulation, higher taxes and a slippery slope to government control of virtually every aspect of America’s economy. They’ve also been at war with the health care industry, which is doing its best to save us from an even worse situation on coronavirus. Imagine if our entire health care system were government-run: Do you think we’d be better off right now?

Today’s economic panic may hurt President Trump in the polls a little, as it would any president. But I think the longer-term effect will be to expose how out of touch the progressive movement is in addressing the fiscal and health challenges that America faces.

Purim
Tonight Jews all over the world will celebrate Purim. It is the story of Queen Esther, who broke protocol and saved the Jewish people in Persia from a plot to annihilate them.

Just as it did so many centuries ago, Israel is once again facing an existential threat from modern day Persia. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, routinely promises a second Holocaust and the annihilation of Israel.

His regime is working feverishly to develop ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction, while his terrorist proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, encircle the Jewish state from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

So long as God gives me breath, I promise to fight the ancient evil of anti-Semitism and to always stand with Israel and its people, the apple of God’s eye.

To all of our Jewish friends and supporters, Chag Purim Sameach!
——————-
Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families


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The Most Important Coronavirus Question

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:51 PM PDT

by Alex Berezow: The first person to die from coronavirus on American soil passed away on Feb. 29 at a Seattle area hospital – incidentally, the same hospital where my daughter was born just ten and a half months ago.

For epidemiologists, the most important unanswered question about the Wuhan coronavirus, or COVID-19, is the case-fatality rate. But for the general public, the question is much more personal: “Might I – or anyone I love – get sick and die?” When faced with uncertainty, people make decisions cautiously, and they base them on emotion and personal experience instead of statistics. If enough people answer “Yes,” there could be major repercussions as panic sets in around the world. Small behavioral modifications, such as telecommuting or reducing factory activity to avoid spreading the disease, made by millions of people can have a large impact.

The United Nations already estimated $50 billion worth of exports worldwide will be affected, excluding non-trade economic activities such as travel tourism, as manufacturing slows and governments impose measures like port restrictions. This is why it is necessary to develop a “risk of death” profile for COVID-19.

The first substantial effort to do just that was published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Though these numbers should be thought of as preliminary (and perhaps specific to only China), they allow us to begin to comprehend the risk that our global society is facing. After analyzing 44,672 confirmed cases, Chinese health officials estimated the case-fatality rates by age group:

Of the 416 children aged 0 to 9 who contracted COVID-19, precisely zero died. This is unusual for most infectious diseases, but not for coronaviruses; the SARS coronavirus outbreak also had minimal impact on children. For patients aged 10 to 39, the case-fatality rate is 0.2 percent. The case-fatality rate doubles for people in their 40s, then triples again for people in their 50s, and nearly triples yet again for people in their 60s. A person who contracts COVID-19 in their 70s has an 8 percent chance of dying, and a person in their 80s a nearly 15 percent chance of dying.

The virus can be lethal in a variety of ways. Viral infections in the lungs can trigger an immune response so strong that it fatally damages the lungs. In others, a systemic immune response, called a “cytokine storm,” can cause multiple organ failure. This could explain why some young, healthy people are killed by the virus, such as Dr. Li Wenliang, the 34-year-old doctor who died shortly after alerting the world to this new strain of coronavirus. An older person’s immune system may not be able to fight a respiratory virus. Underlying conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes can worsen outcomes.

The above statistics are no doubt frightening numbers. But there are at least three major mitigating factors. First, the number of mild or asymptomatic cases is unknown and probably substantial. Second, China is still a poor country with low-quality health care and, at the epicenter of the outbreak in Hubei province, was overwhelmed by the virus. (The case-fatality rate in Chinese provinces outside Hubei, where hospitals aren’t overloaded, is much lower.) Third, smoking is much more prevalent in China than America, especially among men (52 percent in China versus 16 percent in the U.S.), and smoking is a risk factor for poor responses to respiratory infections. Together, this means the case-fatality rate is likely inflated, and it would be a mistake to apply these figures to the United States or other advanced nations.

The real question, then, is how inflated the case-fatality rates are. At this point, it’s impossible to determine because scientists are still collecting data on how widespread the virus is. But to get a sense of how exaggerated these numbers might be, it is useful to examine the case-fatality rate for seasonal influenza. For the 2018-19 influenza season, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention provides estimates for the number of cases (defined here as “symptomatic illnesses”) and deaths. From these, we can derive case-fatality rate estimates by age group. If COVID-19 ends up being similar to seasonal influenza, then the case-fatality rates for COVID-19 are inflated by a factor of 20 to 100.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. NIAID, co-authored an editorial for the New England Journal of Medicine in which he wrote:
“If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.”

We have reason to believe this view is closest to reality. In South Korea, public health officials screened about 100,000 people and detected over 7,300 cases. So far, the death toll is 50, which translates to a case-fatality rate of 0.7 percent. That’s still seven times worse than seasonal flu, but it’s far lower than the initial reports from China.

The Future of COVID-19
Stat News describes two possible scenarios that epidemiologists envision for the future of COVID19. In the first, COVID-19 becomes just another cold virus, and possibly evolves to become less lethal as well. What we call the “common cold” is actually caused by roughly 200 different viruses. Each year, about 25 percent of common colds are due to four coronaviruses, and some scientists think COVID-19 could eventually join this group as its fifth member. In the second scenario, COVID19 behaves more like a severe seasonal flu, vanishing in the summer and returning to hit us hard in the winter.

In neither scenario does COVID-19 resemble the Spanish flu of 1918, which disproportionately killed young people. In neither scenario does the virus mutate to become more lethal. Most likely, the opposite will be true. There is an inverse relationship between lethality and contagiousness; that is, the most contagious viruses tend to be less lethal. Evolutionary pressures – namely, the biological imperative to reproduce as far and wide as possible (which means not killing people) – may push COVID-19 down this path.

For now, influenza remains the far bigger global public health threat. Each year, about 1 billion people become infected with seasonal flu, killing some 300,000 to 500,000. This season alone (2019-20), about 20,000 Americans have died from flu, including 136 children. Yet, very few people fear the flu. Society has accepted it as part of reality, and people carry about their daily lives without excessive concern over influenza. This is the likely future for COVID-19.

Until then, perhaps the last word should be given to virologist Dr. Lisa Gralinski, who told The Scientist, “If you’re over fifty or sixty and you have some other health issues and if you’re unlucky enough to be exposed to this virus, it could be very bad.” While everyone else should remain vigilant and take proper precautions (e.g., washing hands and avoiding crowds) until more data comes in, from a scientific perspective the public alarm is disproportionate to the risk.
————————-
Alex Berezow article in Geopolitical Futures.  Article provided to editori by Turning Post USA.


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I’m Joe Biden . . .

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:52 PM PDT

. . . And I Forgot This Message.

Editorial Cartoon by The Patriot Post


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The Remarkable History of Women’s Suffrage

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:52 PM PDT

. . . Women’s History Month is a fine time to learn of how the 19th Amendment was ratified.

by Robin Smith: In a letter penned by Abigail Adams to her husband John on March 31, 1776, she made the request for women’s suffrage. The future first lady petitioned her matrimonial mate, who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, very directly: “In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors…”

It was not until 1920 — 144 years after Adams’s petition — that universal suffrage was included in the U.S. Constitution via the Nineteenth Amendment, which reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

In the pre-1776 colonies, women cast their ballots for local leaders alongside the menfolk. But, by 1807, every state constitution had some limits on women voting, which fueled the Seneca Falls, New York, convention that served as the launch to the organized movement including leaders such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Lucy Stone, and so many more. These women had no partisan stripe and they were from different states. Some stood on religious grounds and others were more activist with hunger strikes and enduring arrest.

Originally hoping to be part of the Reconstruction Amendments of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments following the Civil War, the early Suffragists were defeated. The Fifteenth Amendment was the obvious home for the inclusion of women’s suffrage, but it was passed by Congress in 1869 to read, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” No mention of sex.

As America’s westward expansion occurred, the governing documents of most states west of the Mississippi River permitted some type of ballot access for women. In 1878, Sen. Aaron A. Sargent (R-CA) introduced the words that would later become the Nineteenth Amendment. For the next 40 years, his bill would be regularly reintroduced in some form.

It wasn’t until President Woodrow Wilson’s 1913 inaugural, however, that the Woman Suffrage Movement, with 5,000 women marching in a procession, had gained traction. The first World War interrupted but also served as a boost to the argument of women. The American economy was supported by the nontraditional roles filled by women who had previously remained in the home and unemployed. The talents, skills, and value of women were on display, aiding the push for what had then become known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Between January 1918 and June 1919, votes to pass the historical language occurred five different times, with Southern Democrats successfully defeating the federal amendment until abandoning the filibuster. Then, the action turned to the 48 states to ratify the amendment.

By June 1920, the amendment had been ratified by 35 of the constitutionally required 36 states. All eyes turned to Tennessee, which appeared to be the last hope for the opposition.

Democrat Governor A.H. Roberts called a special session. The proposed legislation passed relatively easily in the Tennessee Senate with 25 ayes, four nays, and two not voting. McMinn County Senator H.M. Candler gave an earth-scorching speech opposing the “petticoat government” supported by the “low-neck, high-skirt” suffragists. He wore the red rose on his lapel representative of the Anti-Suffragist movement, while other Tennessee legislators supporting suffrage donned the yellow rose. This “War of the Roses” moved to the state House chamber, where opponents used procedural moves to avoid a vote.

By August 17, 1920, a motion to concur with the Senate’s adoption of the Joint Resolution was offered by Rep. T. K. Riddick (D-Memphis), with the chamber appearing to be in support of the yellow-rose vote. But the heavy-handedness ensued. House members were summoned home under the pretense of emergency to impact the outcome. Supporters were threatened with election challenges, while lucrative promises were made for votes to oppose suffrage.

When the morning of August 18 came, suffragist Anita Pollitzer had been told by the youngest legislator, Harry Burn (R-Niota), that his vote would never hurt the cause. Yet there he stood wearing a red rose on his suit’s lapel. Nevertheless, Burn’s college-educated, widowed mother, who ran the family’s farm, had written him a seven-page letter in which she voiced her suffrage support: “Hurrah and vote for suffrage.”

At 10:30 am, Speaker Seth Walker handed over his gavel to take to the House floor to make a tabling motion that, if passed, would end debate and doom the chances of the Nineteenth Amendment ratification. The vote was tied, 48-48. After procedural attempts, Speaker Walker returned to the original motion to pass the Senate version that would either ensure women’s right to vote or halt the forward movement of the Suffragists.

The roll was called with the red-rose-wearing Harry Burn declaring “Aye!” The amendment was ratified and pandemonium ensued. Burn later offered this explanation: “I know that a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”

March is Women’s History Month. Find time to read about your own state’s role in ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment.
——————
Robin Smith has been writing for The Patriot Post since 2014 and currently serves in the TN General Assembly.


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The Biden-Sanders Dilemma the Democratic Party Now Faces

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:52 PM PDT

by Newt Gingrich: One week ago, no one expected the current race for the Democratic nomination.

Remember this the next time you see or hear one of us so-called experts on television or radio confidently predicting a future we don’t understand.

With the backdrop of the emerging coronavirus threat, the wild swings in the stock market, the signing of an Afghanistan peace plan, the Chuck Schumer attack on Supreme Court justices, here is what happened in seven short days.

Former Vice President Joe Biden went from being almost out of the race to being the front runner and probable nominee.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., went from being the strong front runner and probable nominee – who was going to sweep Super Tuesday – to being a battered and isolated challenger underdog who may not have a path to the nomination.

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg went from being a media darling, to having an incredibly weak showing in South Carolina, to withdrawing and endorsing Biden.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., got remarkably few votes in South Carolina and faced a devastating series of defeats on Tuesday. So, she withdrew, endorsed Biden, and flew to Texas to join him on stage at a rally on the evening before the state’s primary.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, after spending more than $620 million, figured out his debate disasters had wiped out the positive effect of his advertising and withdrew, also throwing his support to Biden.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, emerged from obscurity to endorse Biden before the Texas primary and locked Biden into an anti-gun (potentially gun confiscation) position.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., stayed in a few extra days, but after coming in third in her home state to Biden and Sanders decided she, too, was withdrawing. As of now, she has not endorsed anyone (although remember in 2016 she endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Sanders).

Now, the race is down to Biden and Sanders, with the Democratic National Committee preparing to change its debate eligibility rules to keep Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, off the debate stage. Standing with two old white guys, she could maybe make an appealing contrast and represent a last stand for diversity – but not with the Democratic establishment that hates her firmly in control.

Biden and Sanders find themselves with real dilemmas, but the dilemmas are different for each candidate.

In Biden’s case, he is already looking ahead to the general election against President Trump. A major selling point in the flood of endorsements is the belief among establishment Democrats that Sanders is simply too far to the left. So, one challenge for Biden will be to communicate that he is more reasonable. (His campaign and the media will use the word “moderate,” but the fact is Biden is well to the left of Obama and without Sanders in the race it would be obvious how many of Biden’s positions are opposed by most of the American people.)

However, if Biden over-emphasizes his differences with Sanders, he may make the convention in Milwaukee unmanageable. The left-wing activists might see the party establishment once again supposedly stealing the nomination from the left-wing challenger.

Biden must be asking himself if his major goal should be, like Bill Clinton in 1992, to find a “Sister Souljah” moment to take on the hard left and repudiate one of its more unpopular positions. Or, should Biden adopt the principle of “no enemies to the left” and keep absorbing the ideas and proposals of Sanders and his supporters? This could lead to a more unified Democratic National Convention – but unity might come at the expense of independent voters and moderate Democrats who conclude that Biden is so close to the Sanders’ positions that he is simply too big a risk to become president.

Meanwhile, Sanders has his own dilemma.

If he wants to become the Democratic nominee, he has to take Biden down. This means speeches, advertising, and debate performances that are harshly critical of Biden and expose his many weaknesses. Biden is potentially susceptible to attacks on his family making money overseas, or his past positions to a whole series of issues which now run afoul of left-wing canon.

Still, a truly effective, harsh assault on Biden may alienate those Democrats whose primary focus is on how to beat President Trump. There may be a real penalty among party loyalists for either candidate if they are seen as weakening the Democratic Party’s chance to beat the president.

All of this will begin to be obvious in the next few days.

Sanders cannot get back into the nomination race without forcing major differences with Biden and pushing the former vice president in the hope that Biden will make a major mistake.

Biden cannot become passive and look toward the general election until Sanders has been defeated. Bloomberg’s passive debate performance was a vivid reminder that remaining passive while being attacked looks like a combination of weakness and guilt.

The race is very different than we thought it would be a week ago, but it remains incredibly interesting – and in many ways still capable of great surprises.
———————
Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the “Contract with America” and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. This commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.


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Does Bernie Know? Muslim Cleric Says: ‘Animosity Towards Jews is Obligatory Religious Duty’

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 09:52 PM PDT

. . . At last: the truth about the root cause of the hatred held by Omar, Tlaib, Sarsour and Co.

by Robert Spencer: As Bernie Sanders and his surrogates and supporters, including the notorious anti-Semites Linda Sarsour and Rep. Ilhan Omar, try to convince Democrats and the nation at large that the old Communist is a “proud Jew,” the Palestinian Muslim cleric Yousuf Makharzah has shown himself to be more honest about what Islam teaches regarding Jews. His words illuminate and explain the Jew-hatred that Omar, Sarsour and Tlaib have so often manifested, and illustrate why Sanders is so foolish, or so sinister, or both, to throw in his lot with them.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Makharzah preached in a recent Friday sermon that was televised on Lebanon’s Al-Waqiyah TV, an affiliate of the international pro-Sharia and pro-caliphate organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, that “you will find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers to be the Jews, and those who associate others with Allah.”

Heavens to betsy, Makharzah is an “extremist,” right? Everyone knows that Islam reveres the Jews as one of the “People of the Book,” and that anyone who dares to suggest that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has any basis in Islamic teaching is a racist, bigoted “Islamophobe,” right? Everyone knows that the relationship between the Jewish and Muslim communities will be positively chummy once the Israelis stop building “settlements” on “occupied territory” and a Palestinian state is finally established, no? If that is done, then all the “intense…animosity” between Jews and Muslims will melt away, won’t it?

Well, no. Makharzah is no “extremist” at all. His statement about the animosity that Jews would have for Muslims was a quotation from the Qur’an (5:82). The idea that the Jews are the worst enemies of the Muslims is not just something he believes, but something that informed and devout Muslims believe to be a truth revealed by Allah that will remain valid until the end of time.

And there is more. The Qur’an depicts the Jews as inveterately evil and bent on destroying the well-being of the Muslims.

They fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13).  They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more. They are under Allah’s curse (9:30), and Muslims should wage war against them and subjugate them under the rule of Islamic law, which denies non-Muslims basic rights (9:29).

Will any Muslim leader in the West kindly explain how Yousuf Makharzah is misunderstanding Islam? No? I thought not, but it’s noteworthy that not just Bernie Sanders, but virtually every non-Muslim leader in the United States and Europe would take for granted that Makharzah is wrong on Islamic grounds, and yet that has not been established.

Note also Makharzah’s total confidence in the Islamic accuracy of what he is saying. He addresses Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whom he suspects of wavering on the Islamic imperative of hating Jews: “Mr. President, where have you learned Islam? Have you learned it from [your advisor] Al-Habbash? Or have you learned it before from Yossi Sarid or Yossi Beilin? Where have you learned Islam?”

Yet the lack of congruity between Makharzah’s Islam and Islam as it is assumed to be by Bernie and others will not be addressed or even noticed.
———————–
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.


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Sockpuppet . . .

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 07:04 PM PDT

. . . Democrats feel that their best shot to defeat Trump is to stop overtly socialist Bernie and back a feeble-minded Joe Biden.

Editorial Cartoon by AF “Tony” Branco

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Joe Biden to Gun Confiscator O’Rourke: “You’re Gonna Take Care of the Gun Problem With Me”

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 07:03 PM PDT

by NRA-ILA: Presidential contender Joe Biden’s fortunes have recently shifted, with game-changing wins in several important Democrat primary contests. He has succeeded in part by positioning himself as the Democrats’ “safe” choice to square off against President Trump, at least in comparison to self-proclaimed Socialist Bernie Sanders.

But make no mistake, Biden offers no safety to gun owners of any party, as shown by his recent promise that avowed firearm confiscation advocate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke would lead the Biden administration’s effort against the “gun problem.”

On the Monday before Super Tuesday’s multiple state primaries, O’Rourke endorsed Biden for president at a rally in Dallas. Biden reciprocated by offering his former rival in the Democrat primary a job.

“I want to make something clear,” Biden said to the cheering crowd of Democrat voters. “I’m going to guarantee you this is not the last you’ll see of this guy.” He continued by addressing O’Rourke: “YOU’RE going to take care of the gun problem with me. YOU’RE going to be the one who leads this effort. I’m counting on ya.”

Just what sort of position Biden has in mind for O’Rourke is not exactly clear. Trump’s economy has certainly been strong, with historically high levels of employment among various groups. But it might take a Democrat administration with favors to repay to finally land a paying job for Robert Francis O’Rourke.

Average Americans, including those voting in the Democrat primary, certainly were not interested in O’Rourke’s services, forcing him to abandon his presidential run all the way back in November.

The little-known candidate from Texas had tried to distinguish himself from his primary competition and gain some free media exposure by adopting the most extreme anti-gun platform in the field. He had planned not just to ban America’s most popular defensive rifle but to ensure they were stripped from owners who had obtained them lawfully. O’Rourke’s infamous boast, “Hell, yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15”, even adorned t-shirts his campaign was selling, no doubt to offset his lack of actual contributors.

O’Rourke was also the only candidate to endorse the unhinged gun control “Peace Plan” put forth by David Hogg and his cohorts at March for Our Lives. A scheme that even the anti-gun mass media called “sweeping,” “ambitious,” and “far-reaching”, the Peace Plan is actually a roadmap to ending gun ownership as America currently knows it.

The “plan’s” centerpiece, of course, is a massive ban on semi-automatic firearms, backed by a forced surrender program. But it additionally calls for annual licensing of gun owners (including in-person interviews and mandatory training), government-funded propaganda to scare people out of owing guns, a ban on online sales of ammunition and gun parts, a national firearms registry, and ruinous civil liability for the gun industry.

And those are just some of the lowlights. Because none of this is consistent with the Second Amendment, the plan would promote a “different interpretation of the Second Amendment” through imposing anti-gun litmus tests for future judicial appointees. The U.S. Supreme Court itself would also face unspecified “reform” under the plan, the better to ensure that “structural limitations” did not stand in the way of the court eventually reversing what the plan calls the “excoriated” and “controversial” Heller decision.

Biden’s choice of Robert Francis O’Rourke to be his gun control point man means that any form of gun control would be on the table under his administration, up to abolishing the Second Amendment’s individual right altogether.

It is, in short, a declaration of war against American gun owners, with appointment of one of their staunchest enemies as the supreme commander of the effort.

Of course, Joe Biden is not yet the Democrats’ presidential nominee. He still faces a stiff primary challenger in the likes of Bernie Sanders, himself an increasingly bombastic gun control advocate.

But gun owners should take note that the supposedly “moderate” Joe Biden has now positioned himself to the left even of the aged Socialist when it comes to confiscating firearms from law-abiding Americans and assailing the individual right to keep and bear arms.
————————-
by NRA-ILA


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Are We Graduating from Plastic?

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 07:03 PM PDT

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: In The Graduate (1967), the young man played by Dustin Hoffman gets advice from an elder. “Just one word: plastics.” “Exactly how do you mean, sir?” “There’s a great future in plastics.”

When the world bans all plastic in 2021, that will be the end of that market opportunity. Other components of civilization will be discontinued in 2022.

Maybe I’m being too pessimistic. After all, there’s always the black market.

A plastic-bag ban is underway in New York City. Four states and five territories have already banned disposable plastic bags, as have countries around the world. New Yorkers are reportedly two-to-one in favor. A friend who lives there confirms this widespread resignation.

“I’m not happy about what it [plastic] does to the environment,” says one New Yorker. “But . . . what it does to my environment if I don’t have them is a nightmare.”

“This is a good thing because it’s helping the environment,” says another.

The problem of trash disposal has been solved. We use garbage cans, pickups, landfills. It’s a problem that must be continuously re-solved. Like many other problems . . . such as how to carry groceries.

We adopted plastic bags because they are much more convenient than paper. Convenience, efficiency, effectiveness: many man-made components of civilization serve these goals.

Reduction to absurdity can persuade only if the listener rejects the absurd. In 1967, the idea of banning plastic bags and plastic straws seemed, to most, absurd. Today, maybe two thirds of New Yorkers lament the inconvenience but add whaddyagonnado . . . when you gotta protect the environment?

That this measure will not protect much of anything, but merely allow activists to think well of themselves is, itself, absurd.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
——————
Paul Jacob (@Common_Sense_PJ) is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacob is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.


Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Are We Graduating from Plastic? To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Trump Taps Mark Meadows, Conservative Stalwart, to Be Next Chief of Staff

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 06:20 PM PDT

by Katrina Trinko: A conservative congressman known for his anti-establishment approach will be President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff.

Trump announced Friday he had picked Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., tweeting, “I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one.”

 

I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff. I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2020

….I want to thank Acting Chief Mick Mulvaney for having served the Administration so well. He will become the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Thank you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2020

Meadows will replace Mick Mulvaney, who has been acting chief of staff since January 2019. Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman, was also the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

He now will become special envoy to Northern Ireland, Trump said.

Meadows, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, was a co-founder in 2015 of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of a few dozen conservative lawmakers who had a notable impact on policy when Republicans controlled the House. In 2016, Meadows became the second chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, succeeding Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Meadows played an instrumental role in former House Speaker John Boehner’s decision to resign. In 2015, shortly after he filed a motion to vacate the chair, a rarely-used maneuver that could have resulted in a vote that ousted Boehner, the North Carolina congressman told The Daily Signal, “It is a critical time for our leadership to listen to the American people.”

“It’s very easy to say you are willing to pay any cost. It’s a very different thing to actually be willing to go through and lay it all on the line. … I am willing to stand up and say, ‘This is what the people back home want, this is what they’re asking for,’ even if it makes it difficult on me in Washington D.C.,” he also said.

After Boehner stepped down in September 2015, Meadows told The Daily Signal, “If this is the first step in allowing Capitol Hill and Washington, D.C., to listen to the American people, [then] we can look at this as a giant step forward.”

Meadows’ GOP House colleagues, including current House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Johnson, R-La., celebrated the news of his new role on Twitter:

 

Congratulations to my good friend @RepMarkMeadows for being named the new White House Chief of Staff! And congratulations to former Rep. Mick Mulvaney for a job well done!https://t.co/tR8SvtEjI2

— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) March 7, 2020

…. (Numerous congratulations)

Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James praised Meadows as “a strong leader, principled conservative, and excellent choice to serve as President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.”

 

.@RepMarkMeadows is a strong leader, principled conservative, and excellent choice to serve as @realDonaldTrump’s chief of staff. In this new role at the @WhiteHouse, he will be in a position to advance the president’s agenda and promote conservative policy ideas.

— Kay C. James (@KayColesJames) March 7, 2020

“In this new role at the White House, he will be in a position to advance the president’s agenda and promote conservative policy ideas,” James said in a statement, adding:

Throughout his tenure in the House, Congressman Meadows represented his district honorably and became one of the most visible conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill. His leadership of the House Freedom Caucus elevated conservative ideas and defenders of liberty.Meadows will be Trump’s fourth chief of staff, in addition to Mulvaney; Reince Priebus, former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and John Kelly, a retired general and former secretary of homeland security.
——————-
Katrina Trinko (@KatrinaTrinko) is editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal and co-host of The Daily Signal Podcast.


Tags: Katrina Trinko, The Heritage Foundation, President Trump, Taps, Mark Meadows, Conservative Stalwart, to Be Next, Chief of Staff To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Trump Hits Democrats’ Coronavirus Bill as Stuffed With Unrelated ‘Goodies’

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 05:35 PM PDT

Their minds on the coronavirus, President Donald Trump
and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar show how they
prudently greeted each other while talking to reporters
Thursday before their meeting in the Oval Office.

by Fred Lucas: President Donald Trump said Thursday that he doesn’t support House Democrats’ coronavirus bill in its current form because it includes too many “goodies” that have nothing to do with the disease.

While the bill addresses providing testing and masks to respond to the coronavirus, it also expands unemployment insurance and food stamps, requires the Social Security Administration to provide paid sick leave, and mandates that employers give paid permanent sick leave to their employees.

A reporter asked Trump at the White House if he supports the legislation.

“No, because there are things in there that have nothing to do with things we are talking about,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he sat with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

“It’s not a way for them to get some of the goodies that they haven’t been able to get for the last 25 years,” the president said of House Democrats.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 36 deaths in the U.S. from the new coronavirus disease, called COVID-19, with a total of 1,215 diagnosed cases across 42 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Wednesday Trump delivered a prime-time address to the nation, in which he announced a ban on travel to the U.S. from most European countries and proposed a payroll tax cut and assistance for industries hit hard by the virus.

The president previously restricted travel from China, where the virus originated.

“The Families First Coronavirus Response Act is focused directly on providing support for America’s families, who must be our first priority in this emergency,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a public statement.

The spread of the coronavirus has prompted calls for more government action. The Democrats’ bill includes free coronavirus testing, paid emergency leave for up to 14 days, and more protections for health care workers who might come in contact with infected people.

“We cannot fight coronavirus effectively unless everyone in our country who needs to be tested knows they can get their test free of charge,” Pelosi said. “We cannot slow the coronavirus outbreak when workers are stuck with the terrible choice between staying home to avoid spreading illness and the paycheck their family can’t afford to lose.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., contended that the Democrats are playing politics, but said Congress should remain in session until it gets the bill right.

During the Oval Office session, Trump elaborated on why he excluded the United Kingdom from the ban on travel from Europe.

“One of the reasons [is] the U.K. basically has got the border … it has got very strong borders, and they are doing a very good job,” Trump said. “They don’t have very much infection at this point, and hopefully they keep it that way.”

Trump said life and death issues guide his decisions in dealing with coronavirus:

The question is how many people will die? I don’t want people dying. That’s what I’m all about. I made a very tough decision last night [with the European travel ban] and a very tough decision a long time ago with respect to China. I don’t want people dying and that’s why I made these decisions.The president said the stock market is stronger now than when he came into office and predicted it will bounce back.

“Whether it affects the stock market or not [is] very important, but it’s not important compared to life and death,” Trump said. “Frankly, the people that are professionals praised the decision. It’s something I had to do. I think you’ll see the end result is very good because of it, but it will take a period of time.”

Trump said he is “not concerned” about reports that a member of a Brazilian delegation who tested positive for COVID-19 had contact with him last weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a statement later, however.

“Exposures from the case are being assessed, which will dictate next steps,” Grisham said, adding:

Both the president and vice president had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not require being tested at this time.As stated before, the White House Medical Unit and the United States Secret Service [have] been working closely with various agencies to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the first and second families and all White House staff healthy.Kelvin Droegemeier, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, announced Thursday that he held a conference call with government science officials from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Britain on how to tackle the pandemic.

He said the officials talked about sharing more data, how artificial intelligence can be used, and data-sharing repositories.

In the Oval Office session with reporters, Trump was asked if larger quarantine zones in the United States are an option.

“It’s a possibility if somebody gets out of control, if an area gets too hot,” Trump said. “You see what they are doing in New Rochelle, which is good frankly, but it’s not enforced. It’s not very strong. But people know they are being watched. It’s a hot spot.”

A reporter asked the Irish and American leaders if they shook hands.

They replied that they hadn’t, and instead placed their own palms together in greeting, which was “sort of a weird feeling,” Trump said.

The president said that in India and Japan, where he has visited, shaking hands is less customary.

“They were ahead of the curve,” he said.

Trump acknowledged his reputation as a bit of a germaphobe before entering politics.

“I was never a big hand-shaker as you probably have heard, but once you become a politician, shaking hands is very normal,” he said.

The Irish prime minister followed by saying, “It almost feels like you’re being rude, but we just can’t afford to think like that for the next few weeks.”
———————
Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal.


Tags: Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal, President Trump, Hits Democrats’ Coronavirus Bill. as Stuffed With Unrelated ‘Goodies’ To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

What We Don’t Know About the Coronavirus Is What Scares Us

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 05:33 PM PDT

by Dr. Victor Davis Hanson: The recent spread of the coronavirus is causing a global panic. Our shared terror arises not so much from the death toll of the new flu-like disease—more than 3,000 people have died worldwide—but from what we don’t know about it.

Experts at least agree that the virus originated in China. But Beijing’s authoritarian government hid information about its origins, spread, and severity for weeks.

Such duplicity only fanned the fears of a global plague—a hysteria not seen since the groundless fears of a Y2K global computer meltdown in the year 2000, or the political feeding frenzy during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Wild speculation followed that the coronavirus was a virulent or mutated superbug. Had it arisen naturally or escaped from a nearby military lab? Did it originate from a sick lab animal? A conspiracy theory arose that it was a manufactured virus that had escaped from scientists’ botched efforts to create either a vaccine or a biological weapon.

Is the outbreak an indication that China’s scientists are well behind their Western peers, at least in the areas of virology and bacteriology? Or is the problem that Chinese culture still features outdated traditions such as open-air “wet markets”? Unfounded rumors spread that the virus may have originated in one of these markets, where exotic mammals such as bats and pangolins are still sold for human consumption.

For all China’s gleaming high-speed rail lines and new airports, hundreds of millions of Chinese still live in places with suspect food safety and waste disposal—the historic incubators of epidemics.

The method of the contagion has been perplexing to experts. Why is the mortality rate for infected patients in Iran roughly double that of patients in countries such as South Korea, Italy, and Japan? Why have almost no children under 10 died from the infection?

Are governments unable (or unwilling) to count the infected, given the similarities in symptoms between the coronavirus and various colds and flus? Does such uncertainty suggest that we are undercounting the number of people sickened or killed by the coronavirus?

Or are we instead overestimating its dangers? Thousands of patients may have already recovered from mild cases—and perhaps never knew they were sick in the first place.

Evidence suggests that only about 2% of patients will die after infection. As in the case of other viral illness, the unfortunate victims are mostly elderly people with existing illnesses. Does that pattern suggest the coronavirus may be more like annual influenza outbreaks—deadly to thousands but hardly the stuff to shut down a global economy?

The common theme of history’s great plagues—Athens in 430 B.C., Constantinople in 541, and the Black Plague of 1347—was that preindustrial conditions of filth and ignorance helped spread what were usually bacterial diseases transmitted by lice, fleas, and rodents.

Real plagues can certainly change history. A stricken Athens afterward lacked the power to defeat Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. The Byzantine emperor Justinian would never finish his half-completed dreams of a new reunited Rome. The Black Plague helped usher in the end of the Middle Ages.

Great literature—from Thucydides, Procopius, Boccaccio, and Camus—often chronicled the human suffering, and especially the hysteria, that follows from the breakdown of civilized norms.

History also reminds us that nature remains unforgiving. We may live in the age of the internet, smartphones, and jet travel, but viruses are indifferent to so-called human progress.

Modern life squeezes millions into cities as never before. Jet travel, with its crowded planes and airports, can spread diseases from continent to continent in hours.

Globalization is a two-edged sword. It may enrich billions of people, but the leveling effects of instant communication and travel can spread disease at a speed undreamed of in the past.

The dissemination of sophisticated Western science to non-Western societies that lack advanced research centers may be increasingly suicidal. Borders are now considered passe in the age of globalization. But their enforcement reminds us that not all nations are alike. All sovereign peoples should have the right to take measures for their own safety well beyond the purview of the transnational elites.

Finally, is it wise or safe to allow hundreds of thousands of homeless to live crowded among filth, vermin, and squalor on the sidewalks of America’s major cities?

The coronavirus threat and the unfounded hysteria that has accompanied it will pass.

But the specter of a pandemic offers a timely warning to remember that we are not necessarily any more immune from volatile nature—and humankind’s paranoid response to it—than were the ancients.
————————
Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) is a senior fellow, classicist and historian and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution where many of his articles are found; his focus is classics and military history. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush. H/T The Daily Signal.


Tags: Victor Davis Hanson, What We Don’t Know, About the Coronavirus, Is What Scares Us To share or post to your site, click on “Post Link”. Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and “Like” Facebook Page – Thanks!

Be Sensible But Reject Hysteria

Posted: 12 Mar 2020 04:55 PM PDT

by Mario Murillo Ministries: Separating what is true from what is false about Coronavirus is difficult, because this is a new pathogen. I am the last person to ever recommend risky behavior, so I did a lot of homework before coming to the conclusions you will read here.

The best information I could find tells me that in 80% of the cases of those who have actually contracted the Coronavirus, the symptoms are mild. Out of 350 million Americans, as of today, 17 have died. And, in almost every one of those cases, there were serious pre-existing health issues.

In the field of viruses, I trust Doctor Marc Siegel as much as anyone. He has been on the frontline of several of these kinds of incidents. He said, “I have never seen a new virus or bacteria handled as well by our public health officials as this one, with sober attention paid to identifying, isolating and tracing contacts of known or suspected cases along with restricting travel as best they can.”

The bottom line is this: That by no means is an excuse for reckless behavior. We are still facing an unknown outcome. We must be vigilant but not terrorized.

At the very least wash your hands frequently and thoroughly. That means using soap for longer than 20 seconds. And avoid touching your face.

Now, let’s talk about the agenda of evil. Bill Maher said two things that indicate the Left may be trying to promote a panic. He said that he hoped the economy would tank so that Trump would not be reelected. No, I am not making that up. He wants people thrown out of work and millions of Americans broke, just to get rid of Trump. 

The other thing he said is even more breathtaking. Maher said that one good thing that can come out of the Coronavirus is that people will “stop liking Trump.” Yes, the Left is that far gone.

When you see hysteria being stirred up, all you need to do is look for who that benefits. If our economy is being devastated, who benefits from that? Look for those who are rooting for that to happen just to put the blame on Trump.

However, the greatest evil is coming from Satan himself. I believe he is trying to destroy the momentum of the church—a church that is just now shaking itself out of complacency! He wants panic to keep you out of gatherings where the fire and glory of God is flowing.

It is certainly not my intention to make this sound ‘super-spiritual.’ But, I can’t think of a better and safer place for you and your immune system than a Holy Ghost meeting! What better place could you be, than in church praising and worshiping where the anointing is strong? Come on now. Instead of hunkering down and turning your home into a bomb shelter, grab the family and get to the house of God!

Talking about soul winning—now is the time to get a friend who is in the grip of fear and take them where the healing waters flow. Declare, “Washing your hands is important, but washing your soul is infinitely and eternally better. Come with me, I promise all your fears will vanish.” The sick will be healed. The pastor, prophet, evangelist, teacher, or apostle will declare a word over you that will bring joy, power and boldness! Stay home? Never!

That God-ordained conference must go on. That Sunday and midweek service is more important now than ever! Why sit at home to avoid an infection, when you can go to the House of God and get an infusion? Hallelujah!

The television news is attempting to pour human wisdom and dread into your spirit. Why not rather meet with a vessel of God who will rightly divide the Word of Truth and tell you what God says about your health, your future, and your destiny?

We must refuse to allow a human-based panic to cause us to become an underground church before the time. Come together with the body of Christ, because:

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control. (2 Tim. 1:7)

And finally, these powerful promises:

You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night…nor of the plague that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction that surprises at noonday. Though a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, it shall not come near you. Only a spectator shall you be as you witness the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, there shall no evil befall you, nor any plague come near your dwelling. Psalm 91:5-7, 10
————————
Mario Murillo is an evangelist Mario Murillo, minister, blogger.


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MANHATTAN INSTITUTE

 

 March 13, 2020
Featuring the latest analysis, commentary, and research from Manhattan Institute scholars

PUBLIC HEALTH

Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

NYC Government Doesn’t Look as Ready for Coronavirus as de Blasio Claims

“[There] are signs that the city is less prepared for a mass outbreak than officials suggest.”
By Seth Barron
New York Post
March 13, 2020
Adapted from City Journal

Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

Greening Our Way to Infection

The ban on single-use plastic grocery bags is unsanitary—and it comes at the worst imaginable time.
By John Tierney
City Journal Online
March 12, 2020

ECONOMY & FINANCE

Photo: G0d4ather/iStock

Yielding Nothing

As investors flock to bonds to avoid risk, pension plans face shrinking returns.
By Allison Schrager
City Journal Online
March 12, 2020

Photo: Ivan-balvan/iStock

Wealth Inequality Is Not as Bad as We Thought

“Recent academic work … has called into question the extent to which wealth inequality has actually increased.”
By Arpit Gupta
Economics21
March 13, 2020

POLITICS

Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images (left), Joe Raedle/Getty Images (right)

Voters Aren’t For Sale

If elections can be bought so easily, why did Bloomberg and Steyer flop?
By Bradley A. Smith
City Journal Online
March 12, 2020

BOOK REVIEW

Photo: SergeYatunin/iStock

Progress Revisited

Bradley C. S. Watson’s new book Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea points scholars in new and productive directions regarding the political thought of the Progressive Era. Watson writes with vigor and verve, making the book of great appeal to anyone trying to take the true measure of the legacy of Progressive political thought in American history.
By Daniel DiSalvo
Public Discourse
March 10, 2020

PODCAST

Photo: ArtistGNDphotography/iStock

The Coronavirus: A Doctor Weighs In

Physician Joel Zinberg joins Brian Anderson to discuss the global coronavirus epidemic, public-health efforts to contain the virus’s spread, America’s medical supply-chain vulnerabilities, and more.

FEATURED EVENT

Shadow Open Market Committee: Current Monetary Policy and the Influence of Marvin Goodfriend

The Manhattan Institute hosted its Spring 2020 meeting of the Shadow Open Market Committee last week, held in the memory of distinguished economist and SOMC member Marvin Goodfriend. During the meeting, panelists discussed the implications of Marvin’s research for the Fed’s current policy deliberations.

CIVIL SOCIETY AWARDS

Nominations are open for the Manhattan Institute’s 2020 Civil Society Awards. This fall, four winners will each receive a $25,000 award for their efforts to keep our social fabric from fraying, assist those who need it most, and help people change the course of their lives. Nominate an outstanding nonprofit by March 20, 2020. Learn more at civilsocietyawards.com.
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REALCLEARPOLITICS

03/13/2020
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Carl Cannon’s Morning Note

Biden-Trump ‘Debate’; Senate Majority; Quote of the Week

By Carl M. Cannon on Mar 13, 2020 08:50 am
Good morning. It’s Friday, March 13, 2020. Yes, Friday the 13th. I’ve never considered this an unlucky day, especially during this particular month: My mother was born on March 13. This year, I may reconsider. No March Madness? No hockey? No St. Patrick’s Day parades? Disneyland closed? The National Zoo? No church services at National Cathedral? No baseball!

In March 1935, the year my mom was born, her hometown team — the San Francisco Seals — was managed by the great Lefty O’Doul. The Seals’ star was another native San Franciscan, only 20 years old. “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely its lonely eyes to you.”

Friday is the day when I offer a quotation meant to be uplifting or entertaining. Under other circumstances, I would wax eloquent about San Francisco in the 1930s and Joltin’ Joe. But yesterday I promised a sequel to my musings on the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918, and I’ll rely on John M. Barry, the author of the brilliant book on that pandemic, to fulfill both obligations.

First, I’d point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors, including the following:

*  *  *

Coronavirus Is Starting Gun for Biden-Trump Debates. The former vice president’s national address Thursday sounded a lot like round 1 of the 2020 faceoff for the White House, Philip Wegmann and Susan Crabtree report.

A New Threat to the Senate GOP Majority — Joe Biden. A.B. Stoddard lays out polling data showing the presumptive nominee has drawn a broad and deep coalition that threatens Republicans’ ability to hold the upper chamber.

Is Coronavirus Trump’s 9/11 and ’08 Financial Crisis Combined? Myra Adams writes that the current crisis is testing the president in unprecedented ways.

Biased Media Spin Biden’s Tirade Into Triumph. Mark Hemingway rips journalists who put a positive face on the former vice president’s invective against a gun-rights advocate.

How to Get the Stock Market Back. Amity Shlaes and Brian Wesbury outline ways to boost the eventual rebound while also addressing the nation’s long-term fiscal weaknesses.

Leonora O’Reilly: “We Need the Vote for Self-Protection.” In Part 10 of our month-long series, “A Woman Spoke Today,” a suffragist takes congressmen to task for doing a lousy job of looking out for working women.

Small Businesses Can Help Power Climate Change Fight. In RealClearEnergy, a trio of authors spotlight meetings this week between the overlooked sector and policymakers on Capitol Hill.

*  *  *

Democrats and their comrades in the media may be motivated less by a love of science than by animus for Donald Trump when they keep stressing that global pandemics don’t differentiate their victims based on geography or ethnicity. But they are certainly not wrong. The president (finally) emphasized that point himself this week. Furthermore, while it’s legitimate to criticize China for not being immediately forthright about the current medical scourge, history teaches us to be circumspect when pointing fingers.

As I mentioned yesterday, the “Spanish flu” of 1918 did not originate in Spain. It almost certainly originated here in the United States, in middle America, somehow migrating from animals to humans. We’re not even sure which animals. The pigs or chickens penned on small family farms seem most likely. It could have been from birds flying overhead. But if we don’t know how or what, scholars are pretty certain they know where: Haskell County in western Kansas.

“No one knows for sure what farm, what family may have first fallen ill,” Beccy Tanner wrote in the Wichita Eagle two years ago on the 100th anniversary of the pandemic. “The community was most likely Santa Fe, now a ghost town in Haskell County.”

Ghost town seems fitting, but how did the pathogen migrate out of that remote and sparsely populated place to every corner of the globe? The answer seems like something out of a terrible human morality play — one so grim it would take some 50 million lives: Young men answering their country’s call to arms carried the virus to Camp Funston, now Fort Riley, some 300 miles away.

In January and February, an alert local physician in Haskell took notice of a virulent new strain of the flu. His name was Loring Miner and he became alarmed that this flu was felling young, strong, and otherwise healthy people. It was, he wrote, an “influenza of the severe type,” and it was often fatal. Loring Miner may have been a country doctor, but he was well-educated and astute. He took pains to write up his findings and submit them to the U.S. Public Health Service. They weren’t published until April, however, and by then it may have been too late.

This wasn’t apparent immediately. On this date in 1918, Haskell men were reporting to duty at Camp Funston, a sprawling base housing 56,000 soldiers, with men kept in close quarters, 250 each inside tented barracks. The new influenza spread through the camp that February and March, but the epidemic waned as the weather turned warmer. “[A]s abruptly as it came, it disappeared,” John M. Barry wrote. “Men and women returned to work. Children returned to school. And the war regained its hold on people’s thoughts.”

But countless U.S. Army soldiers shipped out to France had passed through Camp Funston. In its eagerness to help America’s European allies, the Army sent men overseas who had flu-like symptoms. “Funston fed a constant stream of men to other American locations and to Europe, men whose business was killing,” John Barry noted. “They would be more proficient at it than they knew.”

The virus they took with them did not disappear. It remained, dormant for a while, before mutating in the trenches. Talk about a morality lesson: It jumped the battle lines, too. The disease that by autumn 1918 would become known as the “Spanish flu” or the “Spanish death,” was called by the German troops “Flanders fever.”

“The fact that the 1918 pandemic likely began in the United States matters because it tells investigators where to look for a new virus,” Barry wrote in 2004. “They must look everywhere.”

And that’s your quote of the week.

Carl M. Cannon
Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics
@CarlCannon (Twitter)
ccannon@realclearpolitics.com

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CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY

 

Highlighted Articles/Interviews

Fred Fleitz, president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy, joined the Daily Signal podcast to discuss national security challenges facing the United States today, including China and the coronavirus outbreak.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Worse than WuFlu – US indexes enable the present danger China

Arguably, the best article published since we learned of the coronavirus outbreak last January appeared in today’s Washington Post. Columnist Josh Rogin called Wall Street’s practice of using passive index funds to insinuate problematic Chinese companies into our capital markets “an even bigger financial threat” than the Wuhan Flu.

Rogin cites President Trump’s National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien, as stating recently: “I don’t see why we should be underwriting the Chinese defense industry.” Ditto, one might add, why finance PRC companies that help Beijing repress its people, colonize nations around the world or dominate space?

Rogin’s warning comes as the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan is poised to compel servicemen and women, Members of Congress and other government employees to start investing in such Chinese corporations. We must curb both the threat of Wuflu and of indexes that invest in our enemies.

This is Frank Gaffney.

DAVID GOLDMAN, Author of How Civilizations Die, Best known for his series of essays in the Asia Times under the pseudonym Spengler:

  • What is the state of coronavirus in China?
  • Assessing the reliability of China’s coronavirus numbers
  • How is the coronavirus impacting Europe?

(PART TWO):

  • Will the economic panic stop anytime soon?
  • What action needs to be taken to stop the economic issues that have resulted from coronavirus?
  • How is coronavirus impacting the Middle East and oil prices?

ANDY BOSTOM, Author of The Legacy of Jihad (2005), Author of Sharia versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism (2012), Author of Iran’s Final Solution for Israel: The Legacy of Jihad and Shi’ite Islamic Jew-Hatred in Iran (2014), Author of The Legacy of Antisemitism (Updated): From Sacred Texts to Solemn History (2020):

  • What is Sharia?
  • How Islamic law conflicts with American law
  • How ‘stealth jihad’ fits into Shaira

(PART TWO):

  • What is the ‘Abrahamic Faiths Initiative’?
  • What does Sharia require of its followers?
  • An overview of Omar Suleiman
TWEET OF THE DAY
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March 13, 2020
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NATIONAL REVIEW

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WITH JIM GERAGHTYMarch 13 2020
hero

You Cannot Spin a Pandemic. You Can Only Deal with It.

This morning arrives: “Hey, I’m Friday the 13th, I’m scary, because bad things happen when I arrive.”

Monday through Thursday respond, “You’ve got a heck of a bar to clear, kid.”

The Morning’s Good News Regarding the Coronavirus

Testing is going to get faster, thanks to smart minds in several important institutions.

One is Roche Holding AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical and diagnostic company:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an “emergency use authorization” to the test, which runs on Roche’s cobas 6800/8800 systems. The tool also is available in Europe and countries that accept its CE marking for medical devices, Roche said.

The 8800 version is capable of testing 4,128 patients a day, and the 6800 can test as many as 1,440, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said.

“We are increasing the speed definitely by a factor of 10,” Thomas Schinecker, head of Roche’s diagnostics unit, said in an …   READ MORE

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TRENDING ON NATIONAL REVIEW

1. Will Iran’s Regime Survive Coronavirus?

2. On Coronavirus, the Nationalists Aren’t Nationalist Enough

3. Why Do Global Medical Institutions Trust China?

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On the Shooting of Deplorables

The Hunt’s gallery of condescending liberals and ignorant rednecks is pretty much guaranteed to irritate …

MONA CHAREN

After This, Voters Will Take Their Responsibility Seriously

Trump, and we, have been fortunate. No crisis has happened—until now. The coronavirus has ended our lucky streak. …

NEWS

Sasse Rips Pelosi for Trying to Smuggle Hyde Amendment Loophole into Coronavirus Package

“We need to be ramping up our diagnostic testing, not waging culture wars at the behest of Planned Parenthood,” …

ARMOND WHITE

Abortion Movies: Art, Choice, or Atrocity?

The lead character’s susceptibility to progressive culture’s influence, rather than nature, propels the film’s …

NEWS

House to Vote on Coronavirus Spending Package on Friday after Reaching Tentative Deal

The package will guarantee free testing and 14 days of paid sick-leave for patients and tax credits for small- and …

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NATIONAL JOURNAL

What’s News

DEMOCRATS: “Some Democratic Party officials this week began to express concern about plans to bring tens of thousands of people to Milwaukee for the July convention, even as the party’s leadership said it was not entertaining canceling the event or holding it remotely. In Wisconsin, where” Gov. Tony Evers (D) “on Thursday declared a health emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, Andrew Werthmann, a member of the” DNC, “said he intended to raise questions about the need for contingencies.” (Washington Post)

BIDEN: Former Vice President Joe Biden has tapped Jennifer O’Malley Dillon to serve as campaign manager. She previously served as campaign manager for former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-TX) presidential bid, as well as deputy campaign manager for President Obama’s 2012 reelection. Former campaign manager Greg Schultz “will turn his focus to organizational planning for the general election and continuing to bolster the campaign’s external outreach.” (release) Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D), Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D), and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ 02) endorsed Biden. (release)

ILLINOIS. The state’s March 17 primary will proceed as scheduled, the first test of how the mechanics of democracy will operate since “a wave of other closures and cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.” Precautions have been taken to move polling places out of nursing homes and early voting has been extended. But “concerns about coronavirus have contributed to a surge in vote-by-mail applications and the closure of polling places in the city of Chicago,” as the state struggles to staff polling locations with volunteers. Meanwhile, “many local and regional candidates have canceled large rallies and gatherings.” (Chicago Tribune)

NC GOV: Gov. Roy Cooper (D) “has suspended in-person campaigning for his re-election” for the next 30 days “as he leads the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.” Both he and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest (R) “have continued their appeals for money this week.” Cooper’s campaign will hold “virtual events and ‘online engagement of voters’ during that period.” The Forest campaign has “canceled some events, postponed others,” and says it will continue to monitor the situation. “As of Thursday evening, Forest’s campaign Facebook page lists several upcoming fundraising events.” (Raleigh News & Observer)

OUTSIDE GROUPS: Protect Medicare PAC, a group “led by an emergency room doctor who went viral for confronting” Vice President Mike Pence “over health care, is planning to air a TV ad during Sunday’s Democratic debate attacking” President Trump. “The spot is part of a $1 million campaign that will criticize Trump over his efforts to cut Medicare and weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions by repealing the Affordable Care Act.” (Politico)

MT SEN: Outside group Protect Our Care launched a $250,000 TV ad buy that highlights Sen. Steve Daines’ (R) attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which the spot claims would eliminate coverage for 112,000 Montanans and remove pre-existing condition protections for about 426,000. (release) The Daines campaign and NRSC condemned the spot, which is running statewide on broadcast, criticizing the group for “trying to use the coronavirus as a political weapon.” (releases)

NH GOV: State Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky (D) “announced Thursday that he has postponed ‘all public events, including fundraisers, for two weeks out of caution due to the global coronavirus crisis.’” State Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes (D) has canceled all campaign events scheduled for this weekend and says the campaign will re-evaluate “on a daily basis our next steps.” (WMUR)

Hair of the Dog

“A cow is on the loose and wanted by police in South Florida” (AP)

Our Call

Changes to Sunday’s Democratic debate, which was originally scheduled to take place in Phoenix and will now be in D.C., hint at just how big an impact the coronavirus outbreak is likely to have on the presidential election. All of the ten previous debates were held either in battleground states or in states holding key early or Super Tuesday primaries. And as the candidates cancel rallies and hold virtual town halls, the fact that the DNC is now willing to host a debate without a studio audience suggests the next few months of campaigning may look unlike anything we’ve seen before. — Mini Racker

Fresh Brewed Buzz

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s communications director, Fábio Wajngarten, who “attended weekend events with” Trump “in Florida, has tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first time that someone known to have the virus was in close proximity to the president. Trump does not plan to be tested or go into self-quarantine, the White House said.” (AP)

“America shuts down” (Politico)

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau has tested positive for coronavirus.” Trudeau “is in good health … and will be in self-isolation for 14 days.” (Reuters)

“How 4 Big States Are Preparing to Vote as the Coronavirus Spreads” (New York Times)

“The notes started popping up on Congress’ office doors this week. Elbow greetings only. A six-foot radius. And that’s for lawmakers who are taking visitors at all. … Welcome to the land of ‘no contact meetings,’ where the nation’s highest-profile hand-shakers and baby-kissers are politicking during a pandemic that wields more power than any of them.” (AP)

“Cancellations hit Trump’s hotels and clubs amid coronavirus outbreak” (Washington Post)

“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who has been incarcerated since May for refusing to testify to a grand jury.” (Politico)

“A coalition of the country’s most prominent women’s advocacy groups will host a meeting of top female organizers, activists and officials on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in July, part of an effort to raise the influence of female political leaders and voters who make up the backbone of the party.” (New York Times)

“Coronavirus concerns disrupt work at US state capitols” (AP)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY 14) “implied Thursday in her first sit-down interview with Fox News that” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “lost this week’s Michigan primary because of voter suppression.” Ocasio-Cortez: “Right there in Ann Arbor, where we had that rally, those kids were waiting three hours in line to vote in Michigan.” (Fox News)

“In Ohio town grieving lost jobs, voters are deeply divided on President Trump” (NBC News)

Rooster’s Crow

The House is in at 9 a.m. The Senate is in at 3 p.m.

Trump meets with industry executives on COVID-19 response at 1:30 p.m.

Swizzle Challenge

Jimmy Carter and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) were the only individuals to meet as an active presidential candidate and a former president who assumed office before the candidate was born.

Mary Rood Cunningham won yesterday’s challenge. Here’s her challenge: What president taught his pet parrot how to curse (a parrot that was later removed from his funeral for its language)?

The 3rd correct email gets to submit the next question.

Early Bird Special

Eyeing coronavirus deal, Senate cancels recess
Trump could leave further imprint on appeals courts this year
GOP resistance emerges over Trump-backed conservation package
Policymakers, broadband providers scramble to address expected spike in web traffic
In his own coronavirus speech, Biden clears the low bar set by Trump

Shot…

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Breaks Self-Imposed Fox News Ban To Make Coronavirus Plea” (Huffington Post)

Chaser…

“I think this is a perfect opportunity for all of us to participate in some really intense, psychologically revealing conversations.” – Jim Halpert (The Office)

Mary Frances McGowan, Wake-Up Call! Editor

Editor: Leah Askarinam

Digital Editor: Mini Racker
Staff Writers: Madelaine Pisani, Drew Gerber, Matt Holt, Kirk A. Bado

Fellow:  Mary Frances McGowan

Contributor: Alex Clearfield

National Journal
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Washington, DC 20037

 

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GATEWAY PUNDIT

Web version
It Has to be Asked: Are Nefarious Soros-Like Short Sellers Trying to Crash the US Economy?
Are nefarious short sellers trying to crash the Trump economy? The Dow fell from 29,551 to 21201 in the last month. That’s an 8,351 points… Read more…
President Trump’s Policies Are Protecting Americans and Saving Lives and They Make Total Sense!
President Trump was a godsend to America and the world.  It is so clear now that during this time of caution, that his policies are… Read more…
“We Are Ahead of the Curve” Thanks to President Trump’s Unprecedented Travel Restrictions – Dr. Fauci Praises Trump on MSNBC (VIDEO)
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Director of NIAID, joined Joe Scarborough on Friday morning to discuss the ongoing… Read more…
Crackpot Democrat Ayanna Pressley Accuses Republicans of Spreading Racism by Saying “Chinese Coronavirus” and Hurting Chinese Restaurants (VIDEO)
Ayanna Pressley is giving Mad Maxine a run for her money. The Massachusetts Democrat lashed out at “racist” and “zenophobic” Republicans for using the accurate… Read more…
BREAKING: Justin Trudeau’s Wife Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Earlier Thursday it was reported that Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau decided to self quarantine until his wife’s test results came back. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau… Read more…
Barack Obama Pops Off About the Coronavirus, Praises Mass Hysteria and Cancellations of Sporting Events
Barack Obama popped off about the Coronavirus on Thursday. Obama praised the cancellations of large gatherings and American sporting events. First the NBA, then the… Read more…
BREAKING: Spain’s Populist Opposition Leader Santiago Abascal Comes Down with Coronavirus 2 Weeks After Attending CPAC
VOX Party leader Santiago Abascal with Senator Ted Cruz at CPAC 2020 Vox Party leader Santiago Abascal announced on Thursday that he has tested positive… Read more…
Pelosi Stutters, Slurs Words and Struggles to Speak as She Fights to Keep Her Dentures in Her Face (VIDEO)
What is wrong with Pelosi? Speaker Pelosi raised eyebrows again on Thursday after she could barely spit out a sentence. Pelosi slurred her words and… Read more…
New Data Shows Evidence of Short Seller Attack on Market — Trump Must Reinstate Uptick Rule Immediately to End the Market Crisis
Guest post by Frederic Sauer Main Street investors have increased their buying of stocks during the current market downdraft. Where is all the selling pressure… Read more…
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