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March 2020

As Iran Becomes Ground Zero for Coronavirus Pandemic, Israel Becomes Ground Zero for Cure A telling lesson on democracies versus theocracies. Ari Lieberman

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/iran-becomes-ground-zero-coronavirus-pandemic-ari-lieberman/

On Monday, Iran’s Ministry of Health released new data concerning the coronavirus. It said that 66 people have died from the virus while 1501 have been infected. But given the Health Ministry’s propensity for lying, the figure for those dead and infected is likely much greater.

The rampant spread of coronavirus in Iran was a problem largely the result of the Islamic Republic’s own making. In early February, Iranian officials were aware of a potential problem in the city of Qom, where a shrine holy to Shia Muslims served as a breeding ground for the transmission of the virus. Yet authorities took no action to quarantine the city or even warn residents to take safety precautions. The shrine still remains open to visitors and video has recently emerged showing people licking the shrine.

By the time health officials began taking action, it was a case of too little too late. Iran’s Deputy Health Minister, Iraj Harirchi, downplayed claims made a city lawmaker that deaths from COVID-19 had reached 50 and said that he would resign from his post if that assertion was accurate. A day later, Harirchi became a victim of COVID-19 and was under quarantine but not before he was observed coughing on those adjacent to him during the previous day’s press briefing. Several other Iranian diplomats and parliamentarians have since been infected, and at least two have died including a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran’s bumbling and incompetence in dealing with the health crisis can be attributed to the Islamic Republic’s unwillingness to acknowledge weakness and vulnerability. Its healthcare system is woefully inadequate. There are dire shortages of masks, medicines and testing kits. In the final analysis, the regime’s deceit, incompetence and corruption has spread fear and cost lives.

Iran’s handling of the crisis stands in marked contrast to how its arch nemesis Israel is addressing the issue. While Iranian officials are spewing little else but propaganda, the Israelis are at the forefront of inventing cures and treatments for the coronavirus.

#MeToo Gets Chris Matthews The cheerleader of the Avenatti-Stormy Daniels circus meets poetic justice. Lloyd Billingsley

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/03/chris-matthews-retires-lloyd-billingsley/

“I’m retiring,” said Chris Matthews at the top of his show on Monday night. “This will be my last ‘Hardball.’” A younger generation was “ready to take the reins,” Matthews said, but it turned out there was more to it. The longtime MSNBC host, 74, had made some inappropriate comments on a woman’s appearance, and had come to realize that such things are “never okay.” That settled an issue that had been brewing for several days.

Last Saturday, MSNBC stars Rachel Maddow, Brian Williams, and Nicolle Wallace assembled to cover the South Carolina Democrat primary. Viewers wondered why Chris Matthews was not among them.

The night before, the Washington Examiner explained, GQ columnist Laura Bassett accused Matthews of “inappropriately flirting” with her four years ago. In the makeup chair, Matthews reportedly asked Bassett “why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” And another time he made comments about her red dress.

Bassett was uncertain if any of it amounted to illegal sexual misconduct but Matthews’ tiff with Elizabeth Warren over Michael Bloomberg’s conduct prompted Bassett to speak out. MSNBC duly yanked Matthews, who had been in hot water before.

“A female staffer was paid severance by NBC after accusing Chris Matthews of sexual harassment,” Erin Nyren noted in Variety back in 2017. Matthews had reportedly “made inappropriate comments and jokes about her in front of other people.” The unnamed woman departed the show, reportedly with a payment of $40,000. According to the story Matthews received a “formal reprimand,” but remained on the show. One of his favorite guests was Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti.

Why Donors Must Abandon Their Ivy League Alma Maters Now by Amy Wax

Amy L. Wax is the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

These schools serve only a fraction of Americans, but they raise $44B a year through endowments and guzzle mightily from the federal trough.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-donors-must-abandon-their-ivy-league-alma-maters/?utm_source=ntnlreview&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=amconswap

Academia ought to be in crisis right now, as Americans increasingly doubt the value of a college education.

Pollsters at Gallup found that the percentage of persons regarding a college degree as “very important” has dropped from 71 percent in 2013 to 50 percent today. The National Association of Scholars issued a recent, damning report that presents universities as dominated by a progressive social justice agenda which distorts teaching and research and presents a one-sided picture of our national problems.

Critics have also faulted the academy for a dramatic increase in elaborate bureaucracies, expensive new buildings, and unproven programs. These developments have driven up costs, which in turn has burdened many students with heavy loans that contribute to economic distress and inequality. Yet universities continue to command generous public and private support. State and federal governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on university programs, infrastructure, and subsidized student loans and grants. This money is not evenly distributed. In 2016, out of over 3,000 universities offering four-year degrees and about half as many two-year colleges nationwide, 20 institutions accounted for over 30 percent of federal spending, with 100 universities garnering 80 percent of the total. Various proposals have been floated to reduce the degree of public support for colleges and universities and thereby force higher education to be more accountable, responsive, and thrifty. These austerity arguments have so far had little effect.

Money from non-governmental sources is also a vital revenue stream. Selective colleges and universities (defined as those that turn away most of their applicants) are especially dependent on generous contributions from alumni and big donors to fund elaborate infrastructure, extensive programs, and lavish amenities. These features are in turn used to attract top student and faculty talent to their ranks. Universities, and especially elite ones, regularly receive large gifts and generous grants from alumni, foundations, and wealthy individuals.

Such support has increased steadily in recent years. In the fiscal year ending in June 2017, four-year colleges and universities raised $43.6 billion from personal, individual, and voluntary gifts, marking a 6.3 percent increase from the year before. Highly ranked and already well-endowed institutions take in the largest sums, with schools like California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, and Harvard University each receiving hundreds of millions annually. Wealthy individuals give the most. The top 10 percent of donors account for over 90 percent of the dollars raised, with the size of the average gift growing steadily since the 1980s.

So maybe Trump’s response to coronavirus didn’t destroy the American economy By Andrea Widburg

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

Since the moment coronavirus entered the media’s vocabulary, the media and the Democrat party have been working diligently to assure the American people that it’s the second coming of the Black Death and that it’s all Trump’s fault. Disgustingly, many of them have been insisting that it will destroy the American economy (which, after all, is one of Trump’s biggest selling points) and certain people who shall be named – Paul Krugman, I’m talking to you – seemed to celebrate the stock market’s big drop last week. The stock market, though, seems to be recovering already, posting huge gains on Monday.

Don Surber, one of the most astute bloggers around, was unsurprised by the market’s gyrations because he had predicted this event long ago:

 NPR reported, “Stocks took another steep dive Friday, deepening a multi-day rout fueled by fears about the coronavirus’ impact on the global economy.

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 357 points on Friday, capping a week in which the blue chip index fell 3,583 points or 12.4%. The Dow is down 16.3% from its recent peak on Feb. 12.”

This is the correction I predicted for 2020 in highlights on December 31.

Just as his political prospects are rising, Joe Biden commits the ultimate gaffe By Andrea Widburg

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

Joe Biden may be the Democrats’ last viable candidate who’s not Bernie the Red, but his forgetting God’s name shows his mental decline steadily getting worse.

EXCERPT

…….The same media that destroyed a man of incredible decency, courage, and intelligence are trying to tell us that a man who is visibly crumbling before our eyes is fit to be the president of the United States, the most powerful country in the world. The media are always dishonest and frequently ignorant.

At this point, Biden’s gaffe’s are legion: He often has no idea where he is, he picks fights with audience members, he insults people, he forgets what office he’s seeking, he gets confused when he tries to pander to black people, he imagines that half the country was killed by guns in the last 13 years – and that’s just the shortlist.

On Monday, Joe outdid himself, when he completely forgot what the Declaration of Independence said and ended up calling our creator “the thing,” like some creature out of a Godzilla movie. And no, that’s not the Babylon Bee talking. It’s really Joe Biden:

“My name is Joe Biden, I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, vote for me on Super Thursday in North South Carolina because we hold these truths to be self-evident all men and women created by the, you know, the thing.”

The Democrats’ Israel Problem Sanders would be the first Jewish president, and the most hostile to the Jewish state.By William McGurn

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-democrats-israel-problem-11583193753?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Bernie Sanders would be the first Jewish president. He would also be the president most hostile to Israel.

Two big events this week are bringing this curious dynamic into focus. The first is that the Vermont senator heads into the Super Tuesday primaries leading in the most delegate-rich states. The second is the Israeli election.

In the run-up to these votes, Mr. Sanders has treated us to the full Bernie. At the last Democratic debate, he was asked about a tweet accusing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee of providing a platform for leaders “who express bigotry.” Mr. Sanders responded by calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “reactionary racist.”

But for all the fretting about Mr. Sanders, pro-Israel Democrats have a much larger problem. At home, their wing of the party is aging out. Abroad, the Israeli people have reached a post-Oslo consensus about their security that puts them increasingly in conflict with the more dovish preferences of American Democrats.

Let’s start with age. Of the most pro-Israel Democratic leaders, Joe Biden is 77. Rep. Nita Lowey is 82 and retiring. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 79; Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is 80; Rep. Eliot Engel is 73. At 69, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is the baby of the group.

Who Is Preventing Palestinians From Voting? by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15671/palestinians-voting

The absence of parliamentary life for the Palestinians has, in fact, been highly convenient for Abbas, who continues to demonstrate zero tolerance towards his political rivals and critics.

While Palestinian members of parliament have been deprived of salaries and stripped of parliamentary immunity, as well as denied freedom of expression and the opportunity to exercise their parliamentary work, Arab members of the Knesset in Israel are free to say whatever they wish about the Israeli government and its policies without giving a single thought to possible repercussions.

For now, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will have to continue accepting the reality of living under the unelected and totalitarian leaders of the PA and Hamas. For the Palestinians, each Israeli election serves as a sad reminder of the catastrophic failure of Palestinian leaders and the complete absence of democracy under the PA and Hamas.

The international community, meanwhile, continues to ignore that the Palestinians are being denied the chance to hold elections. Denouncing Israel can be a full-time job, one that leaves little room for remembering that, for 14 years, Palestinians have been deprived of their right to touch a ballot.

Yesterday, March 2, Israeli voters headed to the ballot boxes for the tenth time since the signing of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians in 1993. The Palestinians, by contrast, have since had only four elections — two for the Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency and two for the Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

The last Palestinian election took place in 2006, when Palestinians voted for the PLC. Hamas, the Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, won 44.4% of the vote (74 seats), while PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Fatah faction won 41.4% of the vote (45 seats). The PLC has 132 seats.

Beyond Netanyahu’s Triumph

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/beyond-netanyahus-on-the-brink-of-triumph/91034/

The way The New York Sun looks at what appears to be a dramatic victory by Prime Minister Netanyahu in today’s election is as part of a broader story. It involves not only Israel but all of the freedom countries. It echoes Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s triumph in the campaign for Brexit. The dynamic at work in the two elections may turn out to presage a victory by President Trump in the election that is gathering in America.

Results in Israel’s vote — it’s third in the past year, after two earlier contests failed to produce a government — appear, finally, to have put Mr. Netanyahu within reach of a mandate. It’s all the more astonishing because it comes as the incumbent premier is about to stand trial on criminal charges of bribery. Yet early returns show that Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party appears to be within a seat or three of a majority in the Knesset.

If confirmed, that would put Mr. Netanyahu in the pole position to seek to put together a government by trying to win over from other parties one or more Knesset members. He could even seek coalition partners from the main opposition bloc, known as Blue and White. The betting is that Mr. Netanyahu will be able to do that. No newspapermen are predicting otherwise, though final results are due only Wednesday.

Pro-Trump Group Pushes Back After Obama Tries to Get Advertisement Pulled Off the Air By Zachary Stieber

https://www.theepochtimes.com/pro-trump-group-pushes-back-after-obama-tries-to-get-advertisement-pulled-off-the-air_3257751.html

A group that is working on getting President Donald Trump re-elected refused to pull an advertisement that features former President Barack Obama talking about his vice president, Joe Biden.

Obama asked television stations in South Carolina to should stop running the ad, which features Obama reading some of his words in a way that maligns Biden.

“Joe Biden promised to help our community. It was a lie. Here’s President Obama,” a narrator says before Obama is heard reading from one of his books. An Obama spokeswoman said the video “is clearly designed to suppress turnout among minority voters in South Carolina by taking President Obama’s voice out of context and twisting his words to mislead viewers.”

The Perkins Coie law firm sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Committee to Defend the President, the group behind the ad, claiming that the video featured an “unauthorized use of President Obama’s name, image, likeness, voice, and book passage.”

The use violated Obama’s right of publicity and the U.S. Copyright Act, the firm alleged.

In a response letter, the group behind the ad declined to stop running it, asserting the use of the content “is a lawful expression of political speech” and that it “has complied with all applicable laws and regulations governing its advocacy activity.”

The use of third-party content is either directly licensed or falls within the principles of fair use of copyrighted material, Dan Becker, counsel to the group, wrote in the response.

A masterful post explains why coronavirus in China and America may differ By Andrea Widburg

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

In San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s, it was routine to see men from China spit in the streets, blow their noses in their fingers and then wipe their hands on anything nearby, and generally violate American hygienic norms.  Outside the tourist zones, Chinatown’s restaurants and grocery stores also suggested resistance to American hygiene.

The Chinese who came to America to escape communism were amazing people and model immigrants.  They worked hard and were so family-focused and education-oriented that, usually within one generation, they made the leap from Chinatown squalor to lovely suburbs.  However, unlike the Japanese, the Chinese did not bring with them a culture of cleanliness.

When it comes to epidemic diseases, these cultural norms matter — and political systems may matter even more.

One of the things noted here last week is that the coronavirus, unlike ordinary respiratory viruses, may also be transmitted through fecal matter (emphasis added):

Speaking of filthy, one of the problems with coronavirus is that, even though it’s an upper respiratory disease, it’s also spread by fecal matter.  It will be a disaster in places that don’t have good fecal matter control: China (primitive toilets and no culture of hand-washing); India (which is working hard to bring toilets to people, but it’s slow going); Africa (a world drowning in fecal matter); and San Francisco (also drowning in fecal matter).  

That reference to hygiene in China gained new meaning from reading a viral post from Regie Hamilton, who was in China eighteen years ago to adopt his daughter.  He vividly remembers the cultural comfort with fecal matter and other disease vectors: