Displaying the most recent of 90425 posts written by

Ruth King

How deadly is the coronavirus? By Lisa Boothe

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/491021-how-deadly-is-the-coronavirus

“That is why random sampling is important. John Ioannidis, a Stanford epidemiologist who is famous for debunking bad research, has been pushing for it. He told me that random sampling is needed and could be done with a couple of thousand tests. When I told him that I previously worked in the polling industry, he put it in terms that resonated with me. He said, “Random representative testing is like polling. We run thousands of opinion polls in this country. We should similarly get a representative sample of the population and get them tested. It is just so easy.”

How deadly is the coronavirus? It is a simple but vital question that we don’t know the answer to right now. With American lives and livelihoods on the line, we need a science-based baseline from which to make public policy decisions. Hopefully those answers come sooner than later as the White House looks to do random sampling, something I recently reported. 

To be clear, every single life has value, and the overburdening of hospitals in places such as New York City is real and devastating. The toll on our doctors and nurses, many of whom have contracted the coronavirus by selflessly putting their own lives on the line to save others, is also real. We mourn the loss of each precious life and are in debt to the heroes on the front line.

The economic toll of shutting down nonessential businesses across the country is also real. A record-shattering 10 million Americans filing for unemployment in just two weeks and the largest bailout in United States history — $2.2 trillion — are sobering numbers that reflect the economic calamity we are facing. As government and public health officials make decisions of enormous magnitude, shouldn’t we know how infectious and lethal the coronavirus is?

CDC begins testing blood for antibody coronavirus treatment By Marina Pitofsky

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/other/491200-cdc-begins-testing-blood-for-antibody-coronavirus-treatment

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has started using antibody blood tests to confirm coronavirus infections, even among those who have not developed symptoms, Politico reported.

The test scans for antibodies in a blood sample to confirm whether a person has been exposed to the coronavirus, The New York reported. The tests, called serology tests, can help confirm whether there have been populations of U.S. residents carrying the virus across the country.

Determining how many people who come into contact with the coronavirus and do not get sick is key to understanding the spread of the pandemic, according to Politico.

The tests will focus on three groups. The first group tested will be those who were not diagnosed with the coronavirus in hot spots where the disease has multiplied across the country. This would include areas like New York City, now the epicenter of the virus in the United States. 

ITALY’S RECIPE FOR DISASTER By Giacomino Nicolazzo

NO URL HERE…..SENT TO STEVE S.-AN E-PAL- A MOST INSTRUCTIVE COLUMN

Giacomino Nicolazzo_ is one of Italy’s most beloved writers. Born and raised in Central Pennsylvania, he lives in a small village in Lombardy where he writes his books. _

Montecalvo, Lombardy, Italy_. As I sit here in my involuntary isolation, it was just reported that overnight 743 more people died and 5.249 new cases have been reported. This brings the total cases of infection to 69,176 and the body count to 6,820. We take relief in knowing that 8,326 people have recovered so far. (Numbers as of 3/24, 8:30pm in Italy 

Most towns here in Italy, from the upper reaches of the Alps to the ancient shores of Sicilia and Sardenia, while not deserted, are closer to being ghost towns than the bustling centers of tourism, business and daily life they were just a few weeks ago.

Stores and shops have been shuttered. Restaurants and coffee shops no longer serve customers. Schools, universities, sporting arenas…even our museums and theaters…all closed. Even the Vatican City has closed its gates and armed patrols monitor the 20 foot tall walls that protect it!

Streets and roads are now empty for as far as the eye can see. Normally, they would be filled with crazed Italian drivers in tiny cars and scooters (the ones that sound like demonic insects) darting here and
there, reaching the limits of centrifugal force on our roundabouts. In the piazze of our towns and cities, there are now officially more pigeons than people. Many of us know someone who has been infected and recovered. Some of us know someone who did not recover…now they are dead. But everyone knows someone who has been affected by this microscopic monster in one way or another.

Yuli Edelstein and the struggle for Israel’s democracy The implosion of the Blue and White Party clearly demonstrates why the High Court’s impulsive intervention was wrong, and explains why Edelstein’s resignation was a wise decision. By Moshe Dann

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Yuli-Edelstein-and-the-struggle-for-Israels-democracy-623589

In order to understand the political drama of former Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein’s resignation, one needs to put it into the context of three on-going political struggles: 1) recent inconclusive elections in which there was no clear majority for either major party; 2) a highly aggressive High Court, legal advisers and state prosecutors which sought to impose their agenda on the executive and legislative branches of government; and 3) efforts to depose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Faced with an ultimatum by the High Court to convene the Knesset and vote on his replacement, Edelstein’s dilemma was considered a “constitutional crisis.” Condemned by many in the media and his opponents, he risked his political career. It was for him a moment of Truth that also created the possibility of healing and reconciliation.      
             
The implosion of the Blue and White Party clearly demonstrates why the High Court’s impulsive intervention was wrong, and explains why Edelstein’s resignation was a wise decision. The High Court demanded that Edelstein accept Blue and White’s claim that it had the support of 61 members of Knesset and was entitled to replace Edelstein with its own candidate.

Common Anti-Parasite Drug May Kill Coronavirus in Under 48 Hours, Say Researchers Bob Price 

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/04/04/common-anti-parasite-drug-may-kill-coronavirus-in-under-48-hours-say-researchers/

Researchers in Australia report that Ivermectin, an FDA-approved drug commonly used to treat parasites, appears to be effective in treating the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19). The drug is widely available and can be “repurposed” for this application, doctors said.

The ScienceDirect journal, Antiviral Research, published an article by a group of Australian researchers from Monash University in Melbourne reporting that Ivermectin appears to be effective at inhibiting the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The article states:

Ivermectin is an inhibitor of the COVID-19 causative virus (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro.

Why is Queens the Hotspot of Hotspots in the Nation’s Coronavirus Crisis? by Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2020/04/03/why-is-queens-the-hotspot-of-hotspots-in-the-nations-coronavirus-crisis/

While failing to offer an honest explanation about how this disease continues to consume New York City, Cuomo nonetheless is demanding the rest of the country surrender to tyrannical and punitive government “cures” to do what he did not.

According to reports, the death toll from coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to some sources, reached 6,000 on Thursday. The country remains in lockdown and the economy is in freefall after the White House warned this week that between 100,000 to 200,000 people will die in the United States over the next few months from the Wuhan flu.

The country’s main hotspot remains New York City. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is holding daily press briefings to riff about how we are “all in this together,” whine about the dearth of critical supplies his administration failed to secure as the crisis unfolded overseas, and wisecrack with his brother. Nearly half of all U.S. fatalities have occurred in New York state, according to tracking reports.

Cuomo insists that New York is the “tip of the spear” of COVID-19 cases; it’s only a matter of time, Cuomo predicts, before the rest of the country is under siege by the lethal virus.

But New York is not the tip of the spear—it is the spear.

As I detailed here, Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio failed to prepare for the inevitable spread of coronavirus until it was too late. There were warning signs dating back to January that the disease would sweep through certain areas of the city, endangering the lives of health care workers, state residents and people across the country.

“F***ing Swede” by Judith Bergman

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15808/fing-swede

In Gothenburg, a criminal gang of youths forced their victim to kiss the gang leader’s feet, while they filmed him. After that, they stamped on his face until he passed out. — Expressen, October 1, 2019.

“It is a way to show your power. They want to dominate places. They do that by putting fear in other youths.” — Thomas Petterson, analyst for the Gothenburg police, Expressen, August 31, 2019.

“Even little girls aren’t safe… The gangs have gained respect, as it is called. This means that they have taken over certain neighborhoods…” — Ingrid Björkman, Jan Elfverson, Jonathan Friedman and Åke Wedin, in the book, Exit Folkhemssverige (“Exit the Swedish Welfare State”), 2007.

“Previously, gang rapes were virtually unknown in Sweden. But since the 1980s, they have steadily increased. Since 1995, they have quadrupled. In 1999, 35 gang rapes were recorded in Stockholm alone. Today, the media reports every week or every two weeks on such violent crimes.” — Ingrid Björkman, Jan Elfverson, Jonathan Friedman and Åke Wedin, in the book, Exit Folkhemssverige.

A new kind of crime is making the headlines in Sweden, in Swedish known as förnedringsrån. Förnedring means “humiliation” and rån means “robbery.” The victims of these “humiliation robberies” are almost always children or teenagers. As previously reported by Gatestone Institute:

“The number of children who rob other children has increased by 100% in only four years, according to a new study by Swedish police… In 2016, there were 1,178 robberies against children under 18 years of age. In 2019, the number had increased to 2,484. The number of violent crimes where the suspect is a child under 15 years of age has also gone up dramatically: In 2015, there were 6,359 reported violent crimes where the suspect was a child under 15. In 2019, that number had increased to 8,719 reported violent crimes”.

Welcome Back, Plastic Bags By Kyle Smith *********

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/welcome-back-plastic-bags/

They’re better, cheaper, and safer than reusable cloth bags. Liberals hate that.

Single-use plastic bags are a miracle of modern technology. Cheap, light, convenient, and ubiquitous, they provide an elegant solution to a problem. If you recycle them, as most people do, and put your rubbish in them, that creates a net reduction in carbon emissions compared with buying the heavier, thicker garbage bags sold in stores. Best of all, they’re sanitary.

Cue up a head-spinning headline: San Francisco has just banned the use of reusable tote bags and switched back to single-use plastic bags to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. In New Hampshire, on March 21, Governor Chris Sununu signed an executive order to the same effect. Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker followed suit on March 25. A Maine ban on plastic bags was due to take effect on April 22 but has just been pushed back until next year.

Whoever could have warned us that cloth tote bags were unhygienic? Well, there was this New York Post columnist who wrote, six years ago, “Reusing that Earth-friendly tote gradually turns it into a chemical weapon” and noted that plastic-bag bans were associated in one study with a 46 percent increase in death from food-borne illnesses. Cloth tote bags are inconvenient, they’re eco-unfriendly (more carbon emissions than single-use plastic, unless you use them more than 14 times, which people tend not to do), and oh, by the way, they’re deadly.

Teachers Urge Government To Reopen Schools Before Students Learn To Think For Themselves

https://babylonbee.com/news/teachers-warn-parents-arent-properly-equipped-to-indoctrinate-children

U.S.—Teachers at government schools have raised their concerns that the recent closure of their institutions will have a damaging effect on students. In particular, the nation’s educators are worried that the longer the schools are closed, the more likely it is that students will begin thinking for themselves, learn life skills away from the government school system, and realize how much more they learn at home.

“We must reopen as soon as possible — before they regain their ability to have independent thoughts,” said New York 4th-grade teacher Ms. Jenny Mudd. “This is an urgent crisis. We realize we have to do our part to prevent the spread of the virus, but we must also prevent the spread of unapproved ideas. There’s a balance there.”

“Reopen the schools before it is too late.”

Sure enough, studies have already shown a strong correlation between everyone being homeschooled and a concerning spike in independent thought. Students who have been away from the government school system for even a week stop feeling depressed and anxious all the time and even show a shocking increase in the ability to form thoughts and ideas not approved by the government.

Teachers have further pointed out that parents aren’t properly equipped to indoctrinate their children with government propaganda. “I went to school for eight years to be able to do this,” said Portland kindergarten teacher Ms. Pinkerton. “Parents just don’t have the experience of stuffing kids’ heads full of a statist worldview seven hours a day like I do.”

Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Immune To The Coronavirus — And The Facts John Merline

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/04/04/trump-derangement-syndrom-is-immune-to-the-coronavirus-and-the-facts/

Even as China’s role in creating the COVID-19 crisis becomes more clear, the left is trying to blame President Donald Trump for the resulting deaths. None of it makes sense, and all of it is beneath contempt at a time when the country is still at war with this invisible enemy.

On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s “State of the Union” that “The president’s denial at the beginning was deadly. His delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly … As the president fiddles, people are dying.”

Even as Pelosi was uttering this shameless screed, intelligence officials were putting the finishing touches on a report showing how China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak and has been underreporting how many contracted the disease and the number of deaths.

When that report became public, Vice President Mike Pence noted that “What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.”

State Department immunologist Dr. Deborah Birx added that “The medical community interpreted the Chinese data as: This was serious, but smaller than anyone expected.”