ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

What Happens When Everything Stops? By Chris Buskirk

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/03/20/what-happens-when-everything-stops/

Our ordinary lives and routines have been upended, but let’s see that as an opportunity to do some good even as we grapple with the very real challenges we’re all facing. It only seems like everything stopped. Life goes on.

The days after 9/11 were eerily quiet. There were no airplanes in the skies; they had been grounded. People were still in shock and waiting to see if another deadly attack would come. It didn’t, thank God, but the nation slowed down dramatically that week. And then we adapted and went back to living, albeit aware of a newly aggressive enemy.

But now much of the nation is under official or semi-official lockdown. Schools have sent students home for the year in many places. Professional and college sports have stopped. Concerts are canceled. The stock market is down more than 30 percent from it’s recent high. Even churches—the very place where people seek solace in times of crisis—have temporarily closed their doors, too.

And now all nonessential businesses are closed by government order in California, Illinois, New York, and a growing list of other states. Rumors are rife that the federal government will invoke the Stafford Act and declare effective martial law. I have no idea if that’s true, but it’s a rumor that is making the rounds so widely that you’ve probably already heard it.

Strange rumors and semi-plausible scenarios are what you get in uncertain times when people fear for their lives and their futures.

But what happens when everything stops?

Of course, not everything has stopped. The electricity is on. Water still comes out of your faucet. You can buy groceries, though there are spot shortages of key items. But it’s all of those nonessentials that make life sweet, right? So what now?

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Donors Should Contribute Less to Universities and More to Scholarship That Reflects Donors’ Values Rob Natelson

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

https://www.theepochtimes.com/donors-should-contribute-less-to-universities-and-more-to-scholarship-that-reflects-donors-values_3279173.html

The degeneration of American colleges and universities into socialist political action committees has been widely reported.

We have seen how once-fine institutions of higher education favor politically correct courses and projects while disfavoring Western Civilization and traditional scholarship. We have seen how colleges punish dissenting students and faculty and drive conservative and libertarian speakers off campus.

Over the past decade, the problem has become distinctly worse. One reason is that the small coterie of moderate and conservative professors has gotten smaller. Some promising young scholars are denied university jobs. Others obtain jobs only at lesser institutions that have neither the motivation nor the resources to support serious scholarship. Others are denied promotion or persecuted into leaving academia. Some retire. Still others depart to join policy centers called “think tanks.”

Think tanks are independent, non-profit research institutions scattered throughout the United States and Canada. The better ones maintain their integrity by refusing to accept government money.

Think tanks offer an attractive opportunity to donors who wish to contribute to the advancement of learning, but are opposed to the far-left agenda prevailing at most colleges and universities.

P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

A Pandemic of Political Correctness By Peter Kirsanow

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/coronavirus-political-correctness-concern-racism-misguided/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=right-rail&utm_content=corner&utm_term=first

During today’s meeting of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the liberal majority voted to issue a statement expressing “grave concern” regarding “growing anti-Asian racism and xenophobia” related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of course, my conservative colleague Gail Heriot and I oppose expressions of racism, if any, related to the pandemic or otherwise. But we voted against the statement for several reasons. Our biggest objection related to the Commission’s suggestion that referring to COVID-19 with terms like “Chinese Coronavirus or Wuhan flu” is somehow fueling “[t]his latest wave of xenophobic animosity toward Asian-Americans.” This suggestion is consistent with those recently voiced by Democrats and mainstream media (but I repeat myself).

It’s common to refer to infectious diseases by their geographic origin. Examples include Asian flu, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, German measles, Japanese encephalitis, Lyme disease, Marburg virus, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Pontiac fever, Rift Valley fever, Spanish flu, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever, and West Nile virus. Spanish flu was probably a misnomer. It may have originated in Kansas. But calling it Spanish flu was never an indication that people hated Spaniards. Nor is there any evidence that the names of any of the other diseases inspired “racism or xenophobia” toward races or ethnicities commonly identified with such regions.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Political tectonic plates are shifting as media and other Dems start praising Trump’s crisis management (and as his polls rise) By Thomas Lifson

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

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

Political tectonic plates are shifting as progs like Ilhan Omar start praising Trump’s crisis management (and as his polls rise)

At first, the growing wave of praise for President Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus catastrophe seemed like pigs flying, an unexpected and rare event. But now that the governors of deep blue California and New York have been joined by Ilhan Omar in admiring his handling of the crisis, we can see that forces far larger than individuals going rogue from Trump Derangement Syndrome are at work. TDS  is being swamped by the reality of an existential crisis.

The latest Harris polls show rising approval for the federal government’s handling of the crisis:

Conducted using a nationally representative sample of 2,050 Americans over two waves, March 14-15 and March 17-18, the poll provided some quick feedback on how the public’s perception can change overnight even as the government shifts its response to a crisis in which the news seemingly changes by the hour.

Overall, both waves showed around 60% of Americans “satisfied” with how the federal government has handled the coronavirus crisis so far.

MEDIA Comments turned off

Trump unloads on an NBC reporter who attacks, interrupts, and fights with him By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

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

Having failed with the Russia hoax and the Ukraine hoax, the Democrat establishment slipped seamlessly into blaming President Trump for the coronavirus’s entry into and affect on America. During his now-daily press briefings, Trump is fighting back against the reporters and shining a light on their efforts to frighten, not inform Americans.

On Friday, NBC’s Peter Alexander decided to pick a fight with President Trump regarding repurposing existing drugs to see if they can speedily be put into place to fight the coronavirus. It began when the President said that he was very pleased about the way in which Chloroquine was getting fast-tracked through the FDA to be used for a reason other than its approved usage as a malaria treatment.

Trump pointed out the advantage of knowing all about the drug and its safety record. He did not say that the drug was a magic pill. Instead, he said that it should certainly be tried and that he felt optimistic that something good would come of the trial.

Alexander was having none of that. Rather, he accused Trump of being too positive, an attribute that, in Alexander’s twisted media mind, was frightening. After repeatedly interrupting and talking over the President, Alexander finally said that people are sick, dying and afraid, and asked Trump what he was actually doing about it.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The ‘Kung Flu’ panic By Richard Jack Rail

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

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

With some exceptions, the Idiot Left has howled about President Trump’s handling of the ‘Kung Flu.’ As if they’d have done anything differently. They’re only howling because it’s Donald Trump, not because there’s anything wrong with his judgment or his timing. A reporter asks an obvious troll question, Trump shuts him down, and the media scream in agony.

Agonize, baby, agonize.

When Trump shut off travel from China at the end of January, the Left as usual leapt to slash his throat. Then it turned out he had done the best possible thing at the best possible time. Now they’re screaming about shortages of masks, test kits and so on, as if Hillary or Obama or Biden or Liz or Kamala or Buttigieg or Mini Mike would have anticipated all these things. Nobody would have (or could have) anticipated any better than this administration did.

Until we know more about this virus, anticipating it isn’t even possible. From all I’ve read – and that’s been a great deal in the last week or so – the Chinese (both in China and in northern Italy) are especially vulnerable to the virus because their personal hygiene is just awful. Human feces pretty much everywhere, unsanitary food preparation in restaurants, sneezing and coughing on others, etc. These practices aren’t the norm in America and that alone will go far in arresting the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Extreme State Lockdowns The California and New York orders to stay at home are unsustainable.

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-extreme-state-lockdowns-11584745130?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

“These shutdowns are extraordinary and have costs, not least the harm to small business owners. Americans may simply decide to ignore the orders after a time. Absent a more thorough explanation of costs and benefits, we doubt these extreme measures will be sustainable for long as the public begins to chafe at the limits and sees the economic consequences.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The History of Pfizer and Penicillin, and Lessons for Coronavirus A ‘scientist general’ to coordinate private and public efforts can lead the medical response. By Safi Bahcall

Posted By on March 21st, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-history-of-pfizer-and-penicillin-and-lessons-for-coronavirus-11584723787?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Often lost in election-cycle diatribes against Big Pharma—which come from all sides—is the power of industry to come together in times of crisis and save lives.

Stories of battlefield heroism during World War II are well known. Lesser known, but relevant for today’s fight against the novel coronavirus, is the story of Pfizer’s Jasper Kane and John McKeen. Kane and McKeen pioneered the mass production of penicillin. Their breakthrough, together with others made by scientists and engineers at the nation’s industrial labs, helped reduce the death rate from diseases in the U.S. military to 0.6 per 1,000 in World War II from 14.1 per 1,000 in World War I. That 96% reduction translated into 200,000 lives spared.

There are lessons for today. First, calls by political candidates to make future Covid-19 vaccines free run contrary to the national interest. Low prices for vaccines and anti-infectives have clipped revenue for startups and led many to file for bankruptcy. Investment has plummeted, leaving the U.S. unprepared to fight off bad bugs.

In times of crisis, however, American industry has shown a willingness to invest, as biopharmaceutical companies around the country are doing today. In the 1930s, Pfizer was a small Brooklyn-based chemical company known mostly for making vitamins and the citric acid used in Coca-Cola. In October 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt convened academic and industry leaders, including Jasper Kane, in Washington. Their charge: Solve the penicillin production problem.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

How Long Will Americans Tolerate Corona-Madness? Lloyd Marcus

Posted By on March 20th, 2020

www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/03/how_long_will_americans_tolerate_coronamadness.html

EXCERPT

According to the CDC, during the 2018-2019 flu season, an estimated 16.5 million people got sick and 34,000 died in the U.S. 

CDC data confirms that the martial-law-light mandates steamrolling across America are disproportionate to the threat of the virus. Some governors and most corporations are responding to media-mob pressure to halt life in America. Others see an opportunity to land a death-blow to the Trump administration. 

Insidiously ignoring the CDC’s no-need-to-panic-data, fake news media created and is gleefully fueling corona-madness. Using their huge bully pulpit, fake news media says anyone who dares to contradict their you’re-all-gonna-die narrative will be dragged into the high tech public square, stripped naked, branded an irresponsible idiot with a hot iron and their career will be canceled.      

A gentleman said this about Democrats/fake news media in an email, “…they are willing to destroy hard working people’s jobs to accomplish their power play.” This guy is spot on correct. This is why I regard Democrats’/fake news medias’ gleeful spread of corona-madness so loathsome and evil. 

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

U.S. COVID-19 Fatality Rate Steady: About 1 Percent By Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted By on March 20th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/coronavirus-pandemic-us-fatality-rate-steady-about-1-percent/#slide-1

Like many Americans, I’ve been tracking statistical reports about the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, I’ve been closely following Worldometer, which seems reliable, covers the globe, and gets updated frequently. It has been frustrating, though, to try to find good breakouts on fatality rate numbers.

I do not mean to suggest that this information is not out there. It just does not get the same attention as the total number of cases and the total number of deaths.

Reporting those two stats in isolation makes them seem especially alarming. If, hypothetically, on Day One there were 100 cases, and on Day 5 there were 1,000 cases, that would be a very troubling rate of increase, though it could be mitigated by a number of factors. (For example, if testing has improved in the interim, the surge in reported cases could reflect better information about the overall phenomenon, rather than just a rapid spread of the disease.) Similarly, if there were ten deaths on Day 5 after only one on Day One, that jump would seem frightening . . . but it would be a proportional increase in fatalities given the tenfold jump in reported cases — assuming the fatality rate has been reliably established.