Displaying posts published in

March 2020

If Only All the Candidates Could Drop Out The Democratic primary race will eventually be over, but already it seems to have gone on forever. By Joseph Epstein

https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-only-all-the-candidates-could-drop-out-11583790263?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Surely the one thing we can all agree on about the Democratic presidential primary is that it has gone on much too long. I have no notion if the Founding Fathers intended so extended a contest, but I can guarantee that if they had to put up with one of such length, they would have been bored out of their wigs. The only relief has been comic, supplied by that always reliable gaffemeister Joe Biden, who at the end of a lengthy interview with Chris Wallace said, “Thank you, Chuck.”

Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Mike Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren have dropped out in recent weeks. All these candidates, forced to repeat themselves over and over, became, to put it gently, tremendous bores. The task of finding fresh things to say at every interview, town-hall meeting or national debate is impossible. So the candidates banged on with the same old braggadocious claims about their extraordinary fitness for the job of leader of the world’s most powerful nation. One listened, yawned and considered citizenship in Brazil.

Of the candidates who have dropped out, the one who made the least impression was Mr. Steyer. All I can recall about him was his advanced case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, his agitated concern about climate change, and his plaid neckties. He is said to have spent $100 million of his own money on his obviously futile campaign. His money would have been better spent on windmills and solar panels.

Then there was Mayor Pete, who specialized in articulate earnestness. (As Sinatra said to Hemingway, “Let’s be Frank and Ernest.”) He was the man with the perfect résumé, with entries ranging from Oxford to Afghanistan. He was never shy about mentioning his homosexuality, thereby claiming a share of victim status. He also featured himself, at 38, as the next generation made flesh. How long will it take the country to forget how to pronounce his last name?

Math is hard, even for an MSNBC panic-spreading virology expert By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/03/math_is_hard_even_for_an_msnbc_panicspreading_virology_expert.html

MSNBC and math haven’t had a good week. A few days ago, talking heads made a third-grade mistake when hypothetically divvying up Bloomberg’s advertising budget among Americans. And on Monday, a guest virologist announced that 20% of Americans are going to die from the coronavirus, which is an embarrassing miscalculation.

It was just a few days ago that Brian Williams and Mara Gay mindlessly repeated a meme saying that, instead of spending $500 million on advertising, Bloomberg should just have given all 327 million Americans a million dollars each. The correct answer, of course, is that Bloomberg spent $1.52 per American.

On Monday, a guest again went stupid about math, this time while trying to explain how many Americans will die from coronavirus. According to Dr. Joseph Fair, only 80% of the population will survive:

“We’re honestly behind the curve,” Fair claimed, adding that “getting testing up and running is the most essential step.”

“Getting testing up and running in every place we can, in every city, in every public health laboratory around the country is key for us to understand how widespread this epidemic is. This is not to fear monger. It would be irresponsible for us to create panic when it’s undue,” Fair said. “That being said, we know 80 percent of the population is going to survive and a typically 15 to 20 percent rate of mortality for those individuals that are both elderly or have underlying conditions.”

Mediaite, from which the above quotation comes, doesn’t question Fair’s math. Instead, it takes the numbers at face value and then attacks Trump:

Can New Jersey Democrats Bulldoze President Trump? By Eileen F. Toplansky

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/03/can_new_jersey_democrats_bulldoze_president_trump.html

How quaint that leftists aka Democrats sound the alarm on voting rights for illegals  but display nothing but dictatorial instincts when they want to squash the rights of conservative voters.

New Jersey Democrats are reviving an effort to force President Donald Trump to release his tax returns or be denied a spot on the state’s 2020 ballot.  Thus, “[t]he New Jersey state Senate approved a bill which the Legislature passed once before, in 2017, but which then-Gov. Chris Christie blocked by issuing a scathing veto — that would prohibit candidates for president and vice president from appearing on the ballot unless they make their tax returns public.” 

In fact, “[s]imilar legislation has been introduced in at least 30 states but never enacted, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, meaning New Jersey would be the first to impose such a disclosure requirement if its measure is also approved by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat.”

Consequently, in the now totalitarian state of New Jersey where Democratic Gov. Murphy appears to be vying with Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom as to who can be autocrat of the year, a raw grab for power is being enacted that would prohibit “Electoral College electors from voting for Presidential or Vice Presidential candidates who fail to file income tax returns.” 

Translated — the Democrats are attempting to keep President Trump off the New Jersey ballot by insisting that the IRS wield its massive power and disclose what is supposed to be private information. 

What To Do About Stock Market Meltdown? How About Nothing? Terry Jones

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/03/10/what-to-do-about-stock-market-meltdown-how-about-nothing/

No doubt about it, it’s a bad time to be fully invested in the stock market. Prognosticators abound, yet no one really knows what the stock market will do next. What’s happening, and what should you do?

First, let’s recap Monday’s market mayhem.

Before the market even opened, stock futures for S&P 500 index flashed a huge 7% decline. That triggered so-called “circuit breakers,” rules that require trading to be suspended 15 minutes to prevent a panicked rush for the exits. That’s always a bad sign.

Equally bad, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 2,000 points, off 7.8% at day’s close, while the growth-stock rich Nasdaq Index plunged more than 7.3%.

Why has the stock market suddenly gone so sour, after hitting record highs repeatedly early in the year? The one word reply is: fear. More specifically, fear of the unknowable, fear of what comes next.

The Covid-19 virus’ spread is the main unknown, sending waves of panic through global markets. The World Health Organization says there are now some 110,000 Covid-19 cases worldwide, with an estimated 3,809 deaths.

Another fear relates to the shocking collapse in oil prices and interest rates, usually signs of impending deflation and declines in future investment across the economy. Monday’s near-21% plunge in oil prices was the biggest since the financial crisis, while the 10-year Treasury rate hovers around 0.5%, not far above zero.