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March 2020

Questions about the Coronavirus By Victor Davis Hanson

Questions about the Coronavirus More data is critical in understanding the virus in general and in particular its transmission in particular countries. Anyone who looks at rates of morality and lethality of influenza and related pneumonia, especially in the elderly and infirm, can be shocked at the wide variances between particular countries.     Reliable […]

Another Illegal Immigrant Caravan Leaves Honduras for U.S.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/another-illegal-immigrant-caravan-leaves-honduras-for-u-s/   While the world is absorbed in the Coronavirus drama, yet another caravan of illegal immigrants is heading north to the United States from Central America. The group departed recently from the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula and is making its way to Guatemala en route to the southern Mexican state of […]

A bridge loan too far blows up world bond markets With no hedges against collapsing values, investors have no place to hide By David Goldman

https://asiatimes.com/author/david-p-goldman/

Investors had no place to hide as stock and bond markets tanked simultaneously for the first time since the 1980s, when markets offered no hedges against collapsing values. In 2008, bond prices rose sharply as stock markets crashed. Now bonds offer no refuge against collapsing stock prices. The difference is that total US public debt outstanding has risen from about $9 trillion at the beginning of 2008 to $23.5 trillion today. 

With equities down nearly 6% in Europe and US markets poised to open with similar losses, European bond yields soared and US bond yields rose, as governments prepared trillions of dollars of new debt financing to support economic stimulus and market bailout programs. Between March 9 and this morning, so-called real yields, that is, the yield on inflation-protected US government securities, had risen from a trough of negative 1% to positive 0.4%, the fastest yield spike in market history.

A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data John P.A. Ioannidis

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/ John P.A. Ioannidis is professor of medicine, of epidemiology and population health, of biomedical data science, and of statistics at Stanford University and co-director of Stanford’s Meta-Research Innovation Center. A nurse holds swabs and a test tube to test people for Covid-19 at a drive-through station set up in the parking lot of the […]

Israeli scientist: You’re not going to see millions of people die from COVID-19 The new coronavirus is ’80 percent identical’ to the 2002-3 SARS, says Prof. Shy Arkin. On the whole it causes a mild respiratory tract infection. But the elderly are the exception

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientist-youre-not-going-to-see-millions-of-pe Isaiah (Shy) Arkin is a professor of Structural Biochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose research, among other achievements, has shed new light on the inner workings of viruses. The Times of Israel spoke to him to try to understand more about the coronavirus, how it compares to other viruses, how its spread […]

Neither Biden Nor Sanders Remotely Has The Basic Competence To Be President  Francis Menton

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2020-3-17-xd8qchptp7qyv9l3j120iv19c0ljll Just a couple of days ago, in the run-up to the latest round of Democratic presidential primaries, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders faced off in a one-on-one debate. Mano-a-mano, as they say. I’ve lately adopted a strategy of not watching these debates (it’s too painful), but rather getting a transcript after the fact. I […]

Questioning the Clampdown Will people lose faith when they find out they are expected to get the virus anyway? By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/questioning-the-clampdown-11584485339?mod=opinion_featst_pos1 Experts now agree the virus’s spread can be slowed but not contained. It will take its place among mostly seasonal respiratory infections. After a time, recurrent outbreaks will be moderated by a large number of potential carriers who have immunity from their last infection. And then we can ask some questions. The cost to […]

The Sorry History of Socialism And the sinister tactics socialists utilize to take over a political system. Bruce Hendry

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/sorry-history-socialism-bruce-hendry/

Below is Part 8 of a new essay written by Bruce Hendry: Democrats, Progressives and Socialists. Stay tuned for the ensuing chapters. [See links to previous chapters below this article].

19. Economic Fundamentals.

One of the dangers to our democracy is the total lack of understanding of basic economics. Most K-12 teachers can’t teach economics because they don’t know it. Yet every organization from a children’s lemonade stand to the largest company, and of course to a country, is subject to immutable and unseen laws of economics. How can you possibly understand the implications of your political decisions if you don’t have any understanding of their economic impact?

Economics is simply the quantification of human behaviors and decisions. Economic conservatives believe in making decisions based upon facts, logic and the idea of a free market system. Democrats believe in making decisions based upon wishful thinking, emotions and socialism. Both groups say that they are for equality for all citizens and are against discrimination in their societies, but they have different views of what is meant by “equality.” The free market conservative group thinks that everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed, while the socialist Democratic group believes in equal outcomes, enforced by the power of the government.

Understanding beginning economic theory is foundational to understanding what actually works in a society. This understanding is necessary in order to dispel the wishful thinking, denial, and community-held mythologies that result in electing officials that codify things that don’t work or are actually hurtful to those that the laws are supposed to help. 

The Left Exploits a Pandemic Never letting a crisis go to waste. Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/left-exploits-covid-19-pandemic-joseph-klein/

Americans are trying to cope as best they can with the devastating coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their everyday lives. Some have turned to prayer. Last week, President Trump declared Sunday March 15th a “National Day of Prayer for All Americans Affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic and for our National Response Efforts.” What was Islamist Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s response? She retweeted anti-gun activist David Hogg’s disgusting rant, which said in part: “F**k a National day of prayer.” Then she tried to walk back what she had done with this lame explanation: “My retweet was not to be an attack on prayer. It was to bring attention to the need for meaningful action to combat this public health crisis.” Evidently, in Tlaib’s warped mind, cursing a National Day of Prayer for Americans of all faiths is an effective way of bringing attention to a crisis that all Americans and their elected leaders are facing with all hands on deck.

For leftists, the coronavirus crisis provides them with the perfect opportunity to infect America with their own viruses of radicalization and hate. Denver city councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, a self-professed democratic socialist, went so far as to tweet her “solidarity” with another leftist Trump-hater’s twisted post, which said, “For the record, if I do get the coronavirus I’m attending every MAGA rally I can.”

Soros-Funded Group to Spend Millions Attacking President Trump Over Coronavirus Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/03/soros-funded-group-spen

#Patriotism.

Sure, that money could help actual affected people, but during an economic crisis and a pandemic, the Democrats will use big donor money to smear President Trump and undermine the administration. How patriotic of them.

A Democratic super PAC said Tuesday it would spend $5 million on digital advertising flaying President Trump for his response to the novel coronavirus, one of several groups that planned to devote resources to this type of messaging.

The campaign from Pacronym — a political action committee affiliated with the nonprofit group Acronym — represents the first major pivot to coronavirus-related advertising fewer than 250 days from the election.

“This is a public health issue and a national security issue, but it’s also a public policy issue and thus a political one,” said Tara McGowan, the founder and chief executive of Acronym, whose board includes veteran Democratic operatives like David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama’s 2008 bid.

And mostly it’s an opportunity. 

Already the group has run a handful of ads about the lack of tests for the novel virus.