Background Checks Surge 300 Percent as Americans Flood Gun Stores

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The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is reporting background checks are up 300 percent over where they were at this same time last year.

Mark Oliva, NSSF Public Affairs director, told Breitbart News, “FBI NICS informed NSSF that on Monday, March 16, 2020, volume for background checks was 300 percent higher than it was on March 16, 2019.”

Oliva added, “Since Feb. 23, background checks have been roughly double every day what they were this time last year.” . . .

Brown said, “We’ve seen increases in firearm purchases in response to uncertain or worrisome current events in the past. Unfortunately, we know that not only do more guns not make you safer, but that the opposite is true.”

She added, “Unsafe storage practices correlate to unintentional shootings in the home, what we call ‘Family Fire.’ Everyday, approximately eight children and teens die from these preventable Family Fire incidents.” (Read more from “Background Checks Surge 300 Percent as Americans Flood Gun Stores” HERE)

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Sanders Curses out CNN Reporter When Asked About Failing Campaign; Is Bernie Sanders Ready to Bail on 2020?

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By New York Post. Bernie Sanders exploded into expletives when asked Wednesday if he would pull the plug on his ailing campaign.

“I’m dealing with a f—ing global crisis,” the Vermont senator, back on Capitol Hill to vote on the $1 trillion Coronavirus bailout package, blew up at a veteran CNN reporter when pressed on the future of his White House bid after being thumped by Joe Biden in Tuesday night’s primaries.

[Warning: tweet contains explicit language.]

The foul rant was noted in a tweet by CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju recounting their conversation.

“You know, we’re dealing with,” Sanders hastily added, trailing off. . .

“Right now, I’m trying to do my best to make sure that we don’t have an economic meltdown and that people don’t die. Is that enough for you to keep me busy for today?” Sanders griped.

(Read more from “Sanders Curses out CNN Reporter When Asked About Failing Campaign” HERE)

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Is Bernie Sanders Ready to Bail on 2020?

By Vanity Fair. Just a few weeks ago, the Democratic primary—and the state of the country—looked completely different. Bernie Sanders had claimed victory in the first three contests and seemed to be running away with the nomination. Joe Biden, by contrast, was perhaps one more disappointing finish away from being knocked out of the race he’d led in national polls since entering it. But now, after racking up primary victories across the country, including some in decisive fashion, Biden has built a commanding delegate lead, is easily outpacing Sanders in national polls, and has forced his progressive rival to consider the future of his campaign.

Sanders was recently sending signals that he had no intention of leaving the race just yet. “I want the senator to stay in,” Nina Turner, one of the national co-chairs of his campaign, said earlier this week. But after another drubbing Tuesday in which Biden swept three more states, there are signs that Sanders may be preparing to exit. After losing Arizona, Florida, and Illinois on Tuesday, Sanders suspended Facebook advertisements, fueling speculation that his once-promising run was drawing to an end. An email to supporters updating them on the state of play which did not include the typical request for donations kept the rumor-mill churning. And while Axios pulled back its Wednesday report that Sanders was suspending his campaign, the Washington Post reported later that his campaign has been in regular contact with Biden’s team, apparently to discuss policy ideas about the novel coronavirus that has upended American life—a sign, potentially, that Sanders could soon step aside and cement Biden as the party nominee to take on Donald Trump in November. . .

In an email to supporters after Tuesday’s losses, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir acknowledged that the contests “did not go the way we wanted” and said the candidate was returning to Vermont to “seek input” from supporters and “assess the path forward for our campaign.” But Shakir also noted that the next primary “is at least three weeks away,” suggesting he’s not in a hurry to decide. Sanders himself has appeared understandably focused on the pandemic threatening the nation: “I’m dealing with a f***ing global crisis,” he snapped at CNN’s Manu Raju Wednesday when asked about the status of his campaign. “Is that enough for you to keep me busy for today?” (Read more from “Is Bernie Sanders Ready to Bail on 2020?” HERE)

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Economists Warn Jobless Claims Could Top 1.5 Million by Next Week

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By The Hill. U.S. unemployment claims could reach a record 1.5 million by next week as service industry workers are forced to stay home amid the coronavirus outbreak, economists warned Thursday.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that 281,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits the week of March 14 — a 70,000 jump from the week before, and 60,000 claims more than economists had expected.

“State filings offices for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut report claims filings this week are running six to 14 times higher than the same week last year,” Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York, told Reuters. (Read more from “Economists Warn Jobless Claims Could Top 1.5 Million by Next Week” HERE)

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Washington Scrambles to Prevent Massive Unemployment Spike

By The Hill. The coronavirus is quickly taking a sledgehammer to the historically low unemployment rates that have defined much of President Trump’s time in office.

The pandemic’s toll on the economy is now a key focus of Washington’s response to the growing public health crisis, with Congress and the White House scrambling to provide relief for struggling workers and businesses.

“It’s going to be a big problem,” said Jay Shambaugh, director of the Hamilton Project and a senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Unemployment is going to be where we see the economic damage, and is rising, frankly, faster than we expected just a week or two ago.”

Restaurants and bars have already initiated severe staff cutbacks, with similar actions underway in the travel and entertainment industries, leading to widespread layoffs at companies large and small. (Read more from “Washington Scrambles to Prevent Massive Unemployment Spike” HERE)

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Helpful Reminder: CNN Was Calling Wuhan Virus the China Virus Months Ago

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CNN, of course, referring to China News Network, which is the name they prefer, I hear.

People everywere, please stop eating Pangolins and Bats. I don’t think that’s part of the natural order. Thank you in advance for your consideration. (For more from the author of “Helpful Reminder: CNN Was Calling Wuhan Virus the China Virus Months Ago” please click HERE)

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Trump Closing Southern Border to Asylum Seekers (and Illegals); Canadian Border Closing to Non-Essential Traffic; Very Disturbing Video from Italy

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By Daily Caller. President Donald Trump confirmed reports that his administration will turn away illegal aliens and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump confirmed speculation that the southern border will be closed off to asylum seekers and anyone else who attempts to enter the United States illegally during a White House press briefing Wednesday regarding the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic.

“On asylum seekers and people who cross the southern border illegally, are you planning to invoke [42 U.S. Code § 265] which would allow you to prohibit entry of certain people across the board,” a reporter asked Trump on Wednesday.

“The answer is yes,” he answered.

When asked when this order will take place, Trump said it would be executed “very soon, probably today.” (Read more from “Trump Confirms He Is Shutting off Southern Border to Illegal Aliens and Asylum Seekers” HERE)

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Coronavirus Response: U.S. and Canada Closing World’s Longest Border to Non-Essential Traffic, Trump and Trudeau Say

By CNBC. The United States border with Canada will temporarily close to “non-essential traffic” due to the coronavirus pandemic, the leaders of both countries said Wednesday morning.

The U.S.-Canada is the world’s longest border between two countries. The closing will affect tourism, but not trade, or workers involved in so-called essential work.

“We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic,” President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter.

“Trade will not be affected.”

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau, at a press conference in Ottawa, said “I just spoke to President Trump again this morning, and we have agreed that both Canada and the United States will temporarily restrict all non-essential travel across the Canada-U.S. border.” (Read more from “Coronavirus Response: U.S. and Canada Closing World’s Longest Border to Non-Essential Traffic, Trump and Trudeau Say” HERE)

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Italian Hospitals Overwhelmed as this Disturbing Video from Yesterday Shows

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Trump Backers Prepare to Attack Biden for Playing the ‘Catholic Card’

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Trump backers are preparing to push back against Joe Biden’s outreach to Catholics as the former vice president emerges as the near-certain Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden has long faced criticism from Republicans for touting his Catholic faith, the teachings of which often conflict with his political positions, particularly on abortion.

“Catholic voters in particular are not simply voting for the name, a person who claims to be Catholic, but whether their record and vision for the country coincides with their values,” said Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org, pointing out that, while Biden polls well with nonpracticing Catholics, abortion is often an uncrossable line for those who consider themselves active members of the church.

Catholic bishops and priests have also criticized Biden on abortion. During Biden’s 2008 presidential bid, Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino denounced Biden’s position on abortion and said that he would deny the then-senator communion. In 2019, Robert Morey, a priest in South Carolina, did refuse Biden communion and later said that he did so because “any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.” . . .

But, as the campaign for the general election begins, affiliates of the Trump campaign coalition Catholics for Trump, which, if not for the coronavirus would have launched this week, said that the accusations that Biden is unfit to receive communion because of his positions on abortion will likely only increase. (Read more from “Trump Backers Prepare to Attack Biden for Playing the ‘Catholic Card'” HERE)

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Hillary Clinton Calls For More Vote Fraud, Wants to ‘Make Voting by Mail the Norm’ in 2020; Biden Widens Lead Against Bernie

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By Breitbart. Former Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called on Congress to “make voting by mail the norm” with “free postage” as a result of public health concerns due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he expects the current national emergency to last through July or August. The White House has not yet said what, if any, preparations might be needed for the November election.

Clinton’s call echoed a similar demand by Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), who asked legislators to allow all-mail voting this year. Republicans are skeptical, recalling the infamous words of President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, in 2008: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

(Read more from “Hillary Clinton Calls to ‘Make Voting by Mail the Norm’ in 2020” HERE)

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Democratic Primaries Highlights: Sanders to Assess His Campaign; Primary Schedule in Flux Amid Pandemic

By Washington Post. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will spend coming days talking to supporters to “assess his campaign,” his campaign manager said Wednesday following decisive victories Tuesday by former vice president Joe Biden in Florida, Illinois and Arizona that gave him firm control of the Democratic nominating contest.

In an email to supporters, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said there was “no sugarcoating” the results and that Sanders planned to head back to his home state of Vermont after a Senate vote Wednesday. The email did not include a solicitation for campaign donations.

With Biden widening his delegate lead, Sanders is facing growing calls to suspend his campaign. And with more states postponing their primaries due to health concerns, the candidates are facing a hiatus in voting for at least a few weeks — and possibly much longer. The final primaries now could come only weeks before the Democratic National Convention is scheduled to convene in July in Milwaukee — if it is held as planned. (Read more from “Democratic Primaries Highlights: Sanders to Assess His Campaign; Primary Schedule in Flux Amid Pandemic” HERE)

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Stocks Hammered, Dow Drops to Lowest Since February 2017

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By Breitbart. Nearly all of the Trump stock market boom has now fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,338.46 points, around 6.3 percent, to 19,898.92. That is the first close below 20,000 since February 2017. The Dow was even lower earlier in the day, at one point falling to levels unseen since December 2016.

The S&P 500 fell 5.2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.7 percent. The small cap Russell 2000 was smashed with a 10.42 percent decline, highlighting just how devastating investors think the coronavirus and social distancing will be to smaller businesses. (Read more from “Stocks Hammered, Dow Drops to Lowest Since February 2017” HERE)

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White House Expresses Support for Immediate Cash Payments to Americans as Part of Coronavirus Stimulus Package

By Washington Post. The Trump administration wants to send direct cash payments to Americans in the coming weeks to help them cope with the economic ravages of the coronavirus, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday, part of a massive economic stimulus package taking shape between the White House and Capitol Hill.

The overall price tag of the package could be around $1 trillion, Mnuchin told reporters on Capitol Hill after meeting with GOP senators, making it one of the largest federal emergency fiscal packages ever assembled.

He also gave lawmakers a dire warning if they failed to act, saying the unemployment rate could spike to nearly 20 percent from the roughly 3.5 percent level it notched in February, according to three people familiar with his comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal deliberations. (Read more from “White House Expresses Support for Immediate Cash Payments to Americans as Part of Coronavirus Stimulus Package” HERE)

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Study: 86% of People With Coronavirus Are Walking Around Undetected; Coronavirus Ravages 7 Members of a Single Family, Killing 3; First Members of Congress to Test Positive for Coronavirus

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By New York Post. . .Six of every seven cases – 86% — were not reported in China before travel restrictions were implemented, driving the spread of the virus, according to a study Monday in the journal Science.

“It’s the undocumented infections which are driving the spread of the outbreak,” said co-author Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University Mailman School, according to GeekWire.

Using computer modeling, researchers tracked infections before and after the Chinese city of Wuhan’s travel ban.

The findings indicated that these undocumented infections with no or mild symptoms — known as “stealth” cases — were behind two-thirds of the reported patients.

“The majority of these infections are mild, with few symptoms at all,” Shaman said, Mercury News reported. “People may not recognize it. Or they think they have a cold.” (Read more from “Study: 86% of People With Coronavirus Are Walking Around Undetected” HERE)

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Coronavirus Ravages 7 Members of a Single Family, Killing 3

By New York Times. Grace Fusco — mother of 11, grandmother of 27 — would sit in the same pew at church each Sunday, surrounded by nearly a dozen members of her sprawling Italian-American family. Sunday dinners drew an even larger crowd to her home in central New Jersey.

Now, her close-knit clan is united anew by unspeakable grief: Mrs. Fusco, 73, died on Wednesday night after contracting the coronavirus — hours after her son died from the virus and five days after her daughter’s death, a relative said. . .

Mrs. Fusco’s eldest child, Rita Fusco-Jackson, 55, of Freehold, N.J., died Friday; after her death, the family learned she had contracted the virus. Her eldest son, Carmine Fusco, of Bath, Pa., died on Wednesday, said Ms. Paradiso Fodera, the family’s lawyer who is Mrs. Fusco’s cousin and is serving as a spokeswoman. (Read more from “Coronavirus Ravages 7 Members of a Single Family, Killing 3” HERE)

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First Members of Congress to Test Positive for Coronavirus

By CNN. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams have become the first members of Congress to test positive for coronavirus, a grim new indicator of the virus’ aggressive spread.

“On Saturday evening, Congressman Diaz-Balart developed symptoms including a fever and headache. Just a short while ago, he was notified that he has tested positive for COVID-19,” his office said in a news release Wednesday night.

The Florida Republican said in a statement that he is “feeling much better” but urged the public to take the virus “extremely seriously.” (Read more from “First Members of Congress to Test Positive for Coronavirus” HERE)

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Trump Administration Hits Back After China Kicks out U.S. Journalists Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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China on Tuesday escalated its tit-for-tat propaganda war with the United States over who’s to blame for the spread of the coronavirus by placing restrictive measures on several top media companies including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, prompting strong opposition from the Trump administration.

It’s just the latest move by Beijing to punish the U.S. for its reporting on the global pandemic, the origin of which has been traced back to Wuhan, China.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s decision to expel journalists from China and Hong Kong is yet another step toward depriving the Chinese people and the world of access to true information about China,” the National Security Council tweeted. “The United States calls on China’s leaders to refocus their efforts from expelling journalists and spreading disinformation to joining all nations in stopping the Wuhan coronavirus.”

In a statement, China claimed the new restrictions on U.S. reporters were a retaliation against the Trump administration for putting caps on the number of journalists from five Chinese state-run media outlets working in the United States last month.

A spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the U.S. of “purposely making things difficult” for Chinese reporters and subjecting them to “growing discrimination and politically-motivated oppression.” (Read more from “Trump Administration Hits Back After China Kicks out U.S. Journalists Amid Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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