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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION

50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

New Study Argues COVID Herd Immunity May Have Already Been Reached in Some Regions of US By Jack Davis

https://www.westernjournal.com/new-study-argues-covid-herd-immunity-may-alread

A new study that pushes back against some accepted notions of how the coronavirus is transmitted argues that herd immunity might already have been reached in some parts of the nation.

The study, “Persistent heterogeneity not short-term overdispersion determines herd immunity to COVID-19,” was published Aug. 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It pointed out that current infection models assume there are so-called “super-spreaders,” which are a small number of individuals who, because of their social activity, pass the virus along to large numbers of other people.

In this model, everyone everywhere has an equal chance of infection.

Writing at Reason, Ronald Bailey offered an interpretation of what the study thinks is happening instead.

Bailey wrote that the researchers define a concept they call heterogeneity “as the biological and social susceptibility of individual members of the population to COVID-19 viral infection.”

The study relies on what is called “biological heterogeneity,” which includes “the strength of immune responses, genetics, age, and comorbidities,” and social heterogeneity, which measures close contacts among individuals, according to Reason.

“Taking the effects of biological and social heterogeneity on COVID-19 transmissibility, the researchers calculate that the herd immunity threshold is likely somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of the population,” Bailey wrote.

The researchers then conducted a modeling exercise of what might happen this fall, which has been cited as a time when a feared second wave of coronavirus infections might take place.

Hydroxychloroquine Follies How a corrupt elite disregards Americans’ health for political and financial advantage. Joseph Hippolito

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/08/hydroxychloroquine-follies-joseph-hippolito/

Andrew Wilkow, a host on Sirius XM’s “Patriot” channel, routinely makes a perceptive observation about the conflict between President Donald Trump and the Democratic Party.

Trump could cure cancer, Wilkow said, and the Democrats would defend the rights of tumors.

Wilkow’s observation is not so absurd when applied to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A coalition of “progressives,” the Democratic Party, government bureaucrats and media refuses to promote or make an effective, inexpensive treatment available. Why? So they can politically exploit the pandemic for as long as possible and get the Presidential ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris elected.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman inadvertently revealed that strategy when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed him Aug. 3. Blitzer began by expressing hopelessness about the pandemic.

“I mean, it’s a sad situation what’s going on right now, and I don’t see any end in sight,” Blitzer said. “Hopefully there will be a therapeutic that comes out that can prevent people from getting really sick and dying. Hopefully, there will be a vaccine at some point that will ease this. But right now, it doesn’t seem to have any end in sight. Do you see an end in sight right now?”

Friedman issued a surprising response.

“Oh, I do see an end in sight,” Friedman said. “It’s in November, Wolf. And let me be very clear about this. Wolf, I will walk, I will crawl, I will slither, I will bike, I will hike, but I will be going to the polls to vote for Joe Biden. Because until and unless we replace this president and this administration, we’re going to be having this same conversation every day, all right?”

Let Them Boycott! By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/let-them-boycott/

No one is saying athletes should not have social consciences or forums to express their political views. But the game is not such a forum, not if they expect people to attend or tune in.

O stensibly, the NBA boycotts, which other sports are adopting, are illogical. But then, the animating concept behind the player protests — “systemic racism,” derived from the smear that the nation’s police forces are hunting down young black men — is irrational, a triumph of distorted narrative over critical thinking. Why should the boycotts be any different?

For a work stoppage to be successful, it has to withhold something the potential consumer wants. Or, at least, wants badly enough to be depressed by its absence. Big-time professional sports has been that something for a long time. The sand is running out of the hourglass, though, and that won’t change if the players don’t figure out why.

With some exceptions, the astronomically paid athletes are inexperienced in anything other than their sport — understandably so: They are young, and it takes full-time dedication to compete at their elite level. They are ill-informed, or flat uninformed, about the phenomena they claim to be animated by. They do not approach public policy with an open mind. That, too, is not their fault. Modern-era education has supplanted critical thinking with tribalism, grievance-mongering, and hostility to the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints. It seems paradoxical, given how self-regarding athletes tend to be, but marination in progressive tropes has left them devoid of self-perception. The wealth, the adulation, and the open doors enjoyed by the players, a large percentage of whom are African American, defy the Manichean tale they parrot about America.

Cuomo Gets a Nursing Home Inspection A Justice Department probe will examine New York’s Covid-19 deaths.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cuomo-gets-a-nursing-home-inspection-11598655585?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has resisted inquiries by the press and his own Democratic Legislature into how his policy of returning Covid-19 patients to nursing homes contributed to an untold number of elderly deaths. But New Yorkers may finally get an honest accounting thanks to the Trump Justice Department.

Justice on Wednesday sent letters to Mr. Cuomo and the governors of Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey requesting virus data from their nursing homes. DOJ says it wants to determine whether the states’ orders “requiring admission of COVID-19 patients to nursing homes is responsible for the deaths of nursing home residents.”

To recap: Mr. Cuomo decreed on March 25 that “no resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to [a nursing home]” because of a virus diagnosis. And he prohibited homes “from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested” for the virus before admission. The other governors issued similar orders.

They were understandably worried that hospitals would be overwhelmed, so they pushed to discharge elderly patients as soon as they were medically stable. But as it turned out, 15% of New York hospital beds and 10% of its intensive-care units remained unoccupied at the Covid-19 peak. Other states also had spare capacity.

A tempest in a Tiburon teapot is a microcosm of the war on police By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/a_tempest_in_a_tiburon_teapot_is_a_microcosm_of_the_war_on_police.html

A store owner’s interaction with a respectful police officer ought to have been over quickly but is now another act in the left’s grievance theater.

Mostly lily-white Tiburon, in Marin County, is being roiled by a black store owner’s claim that a police officer racially harassed him. In advance of a town hall to discuss the matter, town officials have released footage from the officer’s video camera. It is illuminating, to say the least, and shows the breakdown in civil order when people no longer respect a community’s police officers.

As a starting point, you need to understand that the small town of Tiburon, which is one of the wealthiest communities in America, is also one of the most tightly policed. The police make sure that the residents and businesses are safe and sound.

The historic downtown is filled with pricy boutiques for residents and tourists alike. One of those pricy little boutiques is a store called Yema, owned by Yema Khalif and Hawi Awash, a husband and wife partnership. He’s from Kenya; she’s from Ethiopia. Both are black.

At around 1:00 a.m., on August 21, the entire downtown was shut down, except for Yema, where the owners and an employee were working late. When an officer knocked on the door to check that everything was okay, Yema answered it but refused to provide any information about who he was or why he was in the store. From the first, he was incredibly rude and defensive in response to very polite questioning:

Look at this whole thing from the officer’s perspective: In a business community that shuts down at 9 p.m., he sees unusual activity in a store. The person who opens the door refuses to provide any information. That instant hostility alone arouses suspicion. For all that the officer knew, the people in the store were robbers, or there was a hostage situation. After all, an owner would usually be grateful to know that the police were looking out for his business.

The savage immaturity of the left and their proxies in the streets By Patricia McCarthy

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/the_savage_immaturity_of_the_left_and_their_proxies_in_the_streets.html

Everyone, even Democrats, can agree that the DNC convention was an embarrassing bust, a poorly produced concoction of vapidity, anger and wrath.  They overdid the “let’s make everyone afraid of covid” bit, no audiences, masks on everyone even when alone on a stage.  It was a joke perpetrated by people who, to the core of their beings, think the American people are really stupid.  

This core belief, that they can stupefy and manipulate us all, is why they produced a ridiculous covid-fearful four-night convention so boring no one watched it… because it was unwatchable.  John Kerry? Bill Clinton?  John Kasich?  Bernie Sanders?   Who on this planet cares about anything these corruptocrats have to say?  No one, not even the current crop of apoplectic Trump haters, especially those among the media.  The entire endeavor was a joke born of the left’s contempt for middle America.  They actually think that by making common cause with Antifa and Black Lives Matter, they can win.  

Now that we’ve seen and reveled in the joyous tone of the RNC convention, the abyss between the two parties is writ gloriously large.  The left is angry and rattled because they’ve lost their grip on the power that they’ve always taken for granted, even when there was a Republican in the White House.  

They are not running the show, Trump is, and his attempt to drain the swamp is making inroads, despite all their treasonous efforts to destroy the man and his presidency.  The ferocity of their hate for Trump has led them to reveal their inner souls and it is not a pretty picture.  They are an ugly bunch. The termagant Nancy Pelosi charges that Trump and his supporters are “enemies of the state”!  How is that for projection?  

Now she is advising Biden not to debate Trump.  Of course, she is; like everyone else, she knows Biden is cognitively unable to debate the President.  Pelosi and her partners in crimes against America have done incalculable damage to this country, to their own cities, and to the Constitution itself.  If Biden were to win, who would be running the country?  Certainly not no-show-Joe.  Joe is done, over.  He belongs at home with a caregiver.  

Operation Not Forgotten: U.S. Marshals Find 39 Missing Kids and Rescue 15 From Sex Trafficking in Atlanta By Megan Fox

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/megan-fox/2020/08/27/operation-not-forgotte

The U.S. Marshals Service put out a press release on Thursday announcing the recovery of 39 missing kids, some of whom were rescued from sex traffickers in Atlanta and Macon during Operation Not Forgotten in the state of Georgia.

“Operation Not Forgotten” resulted in the rescue of 26 children, the safe location of 13 children and the arrest of nine criminal associates. Additionally, investigators cleared 26 arrest warrants and filed additional charges for alleged crimes related to sex trafficking, parental kidnapping, registered sex offender violations, drugs and weapons possession, and custodial interference. The 26 warrants cleared included 19 arrest warrants for a total of nine individuals arrested, some of whom had multiple warrants.

“When we track down fugitives, it’s a good feeling to know that we’re putting the bad guy behind bars. But that sense of accomplishment is nothing compared to finding a missing child,” said Darby Kirby, chief of the Missing Child Unit. “It’s hard to put into words what we feel when we rescue a missing child, but I can tell you that this operation has impacted every single one of us out here. We are working to protect them and get them the help they need.”

Commentary: Trump’s speech: What worked, what didn’t By CHARLES LIPSON

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-edit-commentary-charles-lipson-trump-speech-20200828-jobkmcfa2jgp5pw2wjneqi7ebu-story.html

President Donald Trump’s speech concluding the Republican National Convention took full advantage of the country’s best public housing. Using the White House as a controversial but powerful backdrop, the president spoke directly to America. It was a chance to communicate unfiltered to voters, like his Twitter feed, without media spin.

The speech itself was effective, though it was too long and a bit flat as all teleprompter speeches are. Trump normally enlivens those by going off-script and inserting impromptu remarks. He didn’t do that this time, perhaps because the stakes were so high. The speech suffered for it.

The most important thing it did was frame the election as Trump against Joe Biden. That might seem obvious, but it’s actually different from how Democrats are framing the race. They want it to be a referendum on Trump and especially his often-abrasive personality. That’s why the speech’s harsh criticism of Biden had a second meaning. It reminded voters: You have to choose between me and the other guy, and he’s really bad. Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence took advantage of Biden’s still-vague policy proposals by filling in the blanks. Naturally, they painted a picture of radical socialist transformation.

Another striking feature of the speech — indeed the whole GOP convention — was its emphasis on everyday Black families. The Republicans featured numerous African American speakers, some outlining how they had been helped by specific policies, such as criminal justice reform, others talking about Trump’s personal interest in them and their lives.

The goal wasn’t just to increase Trump’s share of the Black vote, which was only 8% in 2016. It was to reassure all voters that the president and his party are not bigots. American voters, to their credit, won’t support candidates they think are racist. Democrats and their media allies have said Trump and his party are. The convention was an effort to overturn that picture.

The White House and DC last night: A Contrast between Law and Lawlessness By Carol Greenwald

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/the_white_house_and_dc_last_night_a_contrast_between_law_and_lawlessness_.html#ixzz6WQqU6god

Last night I was privileged to attend the final night of the Republican National Convention as a guest sitting on the South Lawn of the White House. It was a sultry Washington DC summer evening and the guests were happy and excited to be there. But getting there had been a shock.

I was part of the Maryland delegation who had met for dinner at the Williard hotel across the street from the White House. We were told that the Maryland Republican Party had hired armed security guards to walk us across the street to the White House grounds. I said that I was glad to have the guards since I could hear the screaming mob but was deeply offended that it was necessary to be under armed guard to cross a street in my nation’s capital.

During the evening, we could hear the noise from the protestors in the streets as they tried to drown out the speakers. They seemed to have brought noise makers. They were not successful, but it was a constant drumbeat in the background, letting us know that our fellow citizens did not believe that the President of the U.S. should be allowed to present his case for re-election.

I do not know if the television stations showed what happened after the amazing fireworks display. The entire First Family stayed on the stage and joined with the crowd in singing a medley of traditional American greats like “America the Beautiful” and  “I’m Proud to Be an American.” It was wonderful.

‘We Act Like a Bunch of Punks:’ Black Tennessee Lawmaker Shames Rioters, Invokes Family Legacy of Peaceful Protest By Zachary Evans

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/we-act-like-a-bunch-of-punks-black-tennessee-lawmaker-shames-rioters-invokes-family-legacy-of-peaceful-protest/

Tennessee State Representative John Deberry, a Democrat from Memphis, tore into rioters and demonstrators in Portland, Seattle, and elsewhere in the U.S. in a blistering speech to the Tennessee House earlier this month.

Deberry spoke as lawmakers debated a law on August 12 to increase penalties for demonstrators suspected of certain violent offenses against police officers, including throwing bodily excrement at officers. Deberry, who is African American, repeatedly referenced his family’s participation in the civil rights activism of the mid-twentieth century to draw a contrast between that movement and current demonstrations.

“People who are looking at what’s happening in Washington, in Detroit, in Portland and Seattle–they’re getting emboldened because we act like a bunch of punks, too frightened to stand up and protect our own stuff,” Deberry said. “You’re telling me that someone got the right to tear down property that Tennessee taxpayers paid for? That American taxpayers paid for? And somebody has the right to destroy it, deface it, and tear it down? What kind of people have we become that we can’t protect our own stuff?!”