China Targeting U.S. Navy Warships With Electromagnetic Weapons

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China has called for using electromagnetic attacks on U.S. warships transiting the South China Sea, according to a state-run Chinese outlet.

The Communist Party-affiliated organ Global Times, quoting a military expert, said the use of nonlethal electromagnetic and laser weapons should be used by the People’s Liberation Army to expel American warships from the disputed sea.

The report followed China’s potentially dangerous use of a laser against a Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft near Guam last month, and an earlier lasing two years ago of C-130 aircraft near China’s military base in Djibouti on the coast of Africa.

The article was published Tuesday, the same day the Pacific Fleet announced on Twitter that the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and the USS America, an amphibious assault carrier and leader of an expeditionary strike group, were conducting exercises in the South China Sea.

The training exercise for both strike groups included flight maneuvers, air defense tests and surface-support mission exercises, the fleet said in a report on the exercises. At one point, Marines carried out a simulated visit, board, search and seizure exercise on the guided missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, according to the report. (Read more from “China Targeting U.S. Navy Warships With Electromagnetic Weapons” HERE)

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Nancy Pelosi’s Daughter Just Endorsed Felony Assault Against Rand Paul

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Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., started the week by cynically blowing up a bipartisan compromise to deliver economic relief to millions of Americans whose livelihoods have been destroyed by mandated government pandemic shutdowns. And then her daughter added insult to injury by explicit endorsing violent felony assault against Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

“Rand Paul’s neighbor was right,” Pelosi’s daughter Christine tweeted.

Pelosi was responding to a Washington Post congressional reporter writing on Twitter that Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney’s biggest concern about the Wuhan virus is contracting it and giving it to his wife who has Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Romney announced on Sunday he and fellow Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee would be self-isolating after being exposed to Paul who tested positive for the virus. (Read more from “Nancy Pelosi’s Daughter Just Endorsed Felony Assault Against Rand Paul” HERE)

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There Is a Possible ‘New’ Coronavirus Symptom; Teen Dies One Day After Testing Positive for Coronavirus

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By Townhall. The Wuhan coronavirus pandemic still has the world on edge. Italy has been ravaged by the illness, with tens of thousands infected and thousands of deaths. The U.S. also has tens of thousands of confirmed cases, but the death toll isn’t nearly as high. For Italy, the good news is the number of confirmed cases today shows that the nation’s lockdown is working and there may be signs that the curve is starting to flatten over there. Again, things can change.

The disease has crashed the markets. The virus is highly contagious and very lethal to those who are over the age of 65 and the immunocompromised. That doesn’t mean younger people can’t get it. They can and have—and some have died already. A woman in her 30s is said to have passed away from the virus in the St. Louis area. Young people can still get really sick, but a great many will either have mild symptoms or be asymptomatic. That’s good and bad news. The bad news is that since people who are mild-to-asymptomatic-aren’t deathly ill, they could go outside and spread it to those who are highly susceptible to dying from the virus. This disease can survive in the air for hours and on certain surfaces for up to three days. The symptoms are fever, cough, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. Yet, across the pond, in the UK, we have a new symptom that is causing concern for doctors: loss of smell. (Read more from “There Is a Possible ‘New’ Coronavirus Symptom” HERE)

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20-Year-Old With Coronavirus Reports Experiencing ‘Very Different’ Symptoms

By New York Post. A 20-year-old American woman who tested positive for the novel coronavirus said she suffered symptoms that hadn’t previously been associated with the infection, including hearing loss.

Julia Buscaglia — who was staying in Italy when she first started showing symptoms — decided to share her story in a now-viral Twitter thread because “others are reporting very different experiences than mine,” she wrote. . .

On March 1, she said, she woke up feeling better but decided to see a doctor because of the escalating coronavirus concerns in Italy. The doctor said she simply had a cold — but then she began to lose hearing in her left ear, despite having no cough, she wrote.

The next day, “hearing in both ears was significantly less,” and she said she could feel phlegm in the back of her throat, but simply brushed it off as a cold symptom. . .

“I still couldn’t hear, and at this point I lost all ability to taste and smell, yet I did not have a runny nose or cough,” she wrote. “I had a headache constantly during the day which I just treated with Tylenol. I left the next morning to return to America.” (Read more from “20-Year-Old With Coronavirus Reports Experiencing ‘Very Different’ Symptoms” HERE)

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British Teen Dies One Day After Testing Positive for Coronavirus

By New York Post. An 18-year-old has died in the UK — one day after testing positive for COVID-19, according to officials.

The unidentified teen died in University Hospital in Coventry and is believed to be the youngest of 281 fatalities linked to the pandemic in the UK, officials confirmed to the Telegraph on Sunday.

The 18-year-old had “significant underlying health issues” when confirmed to have COVID-19, the hospital’s chief medical officer, professor Kiran Patel, told CoventryLive. (Read more from “British Teen Dies One Day After Testing Positive for Coronavirus” HERE)

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China Allegedly Destroyed Evidence of Wuhan Coronavirus in December; How China Can Be Held Legally Accountable for Coronavirus Pandemic; Report Claims China Is Faking Its Recovery

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By Legal Insurrection. My daily update must start with the revelation by an independent, investigative journalism team at Caixin Global.

The team discovered that Chinese scientists destroyed proof of research involving the novel coronavirus that is now spreading at pandemic levels.

An article published by the Times of London indicates that Chinese authorities have been deleting the stories from the internet.

Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.

A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

(Read more from “Report: China Destroyed Evidence of Wuhan Coronavirus in December” HERE)

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How China Can Be Held Legally Accountable for Coronavirus Pandemic

By Fox News. A cover-up and clampdown by the Chinese government in the early weeks of the coronavirus’s emergence is raising questions over whether the communist superpower can be held legally accountable.

“Generally countries like China have sovereign immunity and governments cannot be brought to regular courts or held liable regardless of their conduct,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israel-based attorney who has long specialized in suing terrorist regimes and state sponsors who orchestrate human rights abuses on behalf of victims, told Fox News.

“However, an argument could be made that just like support for terrorism, which is legally actionable, a government that engages in such reckless disregard and negligence and covers up an epidemic which has the potential to spread worldwide could be held legally liable ,” Darshan-Leitner said. “Cover-ups and deliberate acts to conceal a deadly medical crisis are not [among] the protected acts of a sovereign state or of responsible leaders.”

According to Darshan-Leitner, if a private party like a hospital or health care worker of a chemical company had learned of a dangerous and highly contagious disease and then deliberately covered its existence up and concealed it from the public they would clearly face criminal and civil liability.

“Why should a local or national government be any different? Clearly, China signed treaties and had a duty under international law to report the virus and not cover it up,” she continued. “China is not to blame for creating the virus but for not sounding the international alarm and trying to conceal it from the world.” (Read more from “How China Can Be Held Legally Accountable for Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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Report Claims China Is Faking Its Recovery From the Coronavirus Outbreak

By The Blaze. . .Those reports are being disputed by local Chinese officials who say the government is using deceptive measures to create the appearance of normal business operations and productivity, according to the Chinese media outlet Caixin.

Back to normal? For the first time since the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, was discovered, China has reported no new infections. For the past couple of days, the number of new reported deaths has been in the single digits.

As a result, some of the businesses in China that were forced to shut down have begun reopening, and some travel restrictions have been lifted (although that is creating some new issues, including a fear of imported COVID-19 cases).

Not what it seems: Although the Chinese government, well-known for concealing or manipulating information, would obviously prefer the world seeing signs of strength and recovery, that might not be the case. Chinese whistleblowers tell Caixin they’re working to create an appearance that things are back to normal when they’re not[.] (Read more from “Report Claims China Is Faking Its Recovery From the Coronavirus Outbreak” HERE)

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WATCH: Trump Calls out Reporter When She Says Government Was Unprepared on Coronavirus Testing; Ilhan Omar Offers Trump Rare Praise; Joe Biden Claims We Have Pandemic Because of Trump

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By The Blaze. President Donald Trump shot down a reporter’s question during a coronavirus media briefing on Thursday over previous accusations of racism made by her network.

NBC’s Kristen Welker asked a pointed question about the government’s preparedness in relation to the pandemic when the president fired back.

“You did say a few days ago though, you did have a sense that this was a pandemic that was coming, so why was the United States not prepared with more testing?” asked Welker.

“We were very prepared, the only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media, the media has not treated it fairly,” responded the president.

(Read more from “WATCH: Trump Calls out Reporter When She Says Government Was Unprepared on Coronavirus Testing” HERE)

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Ilhan Omar Offers Trump Rare Praise for Coronavirus Response

By New York Post. Rep. Ilhan Omar commended President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in an unexpected moment of rare praise.

“Politics aside, this is incredible and the right response in this critical time,” Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted Wednesday evening alongside a hand-clapping emoji.

The frequent Trump critic and member of “The Squad” was responding to a tweet about the commander in chief’s recent actions to combat the coronavirus, including, as the quote read, “suspending mortgage foreclosures, demanding cash payments to Americans, now invoking the Defense Production Act to force private firms to produce needed supplies.”

Omar went on to praise Trump, who has feuded with Omar on multiple occasions, by referencing words of wisdom from fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

(Read more from “Ilhan Omar Offers Trump Rare Praise for Coronavirus Response” HERE)

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Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims We Have Coronavirus Because of Trump

By Breitbart. CLAIM: The coronavirus outbreak hit the U.S. because President Donald Trump “eliminated” President Barack Obama’s pandemic office.

VERDICT: FALSE.

Former vice president Joe Biden claimed on Twitter on Thursday that the U.S. is “paying the price” of coronavirus because President Trump “eliminated” an office that dealt with pandemics.

Biden is wrong — very wrong. This falsehood almost deserves an entirely separate category of ignominy because of its ability to divide and frighten people in the middle of a crisis that requires social cooperation and trust.

The truth — as explained earlier this week in the Washington Post by former National Security Council official Tim Morrison — is that the office was combined with others in a reorganiztion that “left the biodefense staff unaffected.” (Read more from “Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims We Have Coronavirus Because of Trump” HERE)

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Corrupt Republicans Use Insider Knowledge, Dump Stocks Before Market Crash

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Editor’s note: Although the big offenders were Republican — likely acting on insider information — it was revealed after the below stories broke that Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein did the same. Restoring Liberty has long maintained that corruption is endemic to both parties.

Third GOP Senator Caught Selling Equity Before the Market Crash — This Time up to $25 Million Worth

By Raw Story. On Monday, March 2nd, the Dow Jones Industrial Average set its biggest-ever point gain.

But Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was massively selling.

Johnson, who has a net worth estimated at over $36 million, made a major transaction.

The exact amount is unknown, as ethics forms only require disclosure in broad ranges, but Johnson reported selling over $5 million that day — and potentially up to $25 million. . .

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reported dumping stock before market crash. (Read more from “Third GOP Senator Caught Selling Equity Before the Market Crash — This Time up to $25 Million Worth” HERE)

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AOC Calls on Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr to Resign for Stock Sell-Off Ahead of Pandemic

By NBC News. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is calling on Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to resign after reports Thursday that the powerful Intelligence Committee chairman had privately warned well-connected donors of the dire impacts of the coronavirus pandemic last month while selling off up to $1.6 million of his own stocks.

Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter that as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Burr “got private briefings about Coronavirus weeks ago. Burr knew how bad it would be. He told the truth to his wealthy donors, while assuring the public that we were fine. THEN he sold off $1.6 million in stock before the fall. He needs to resign.”

Ocasio-Cortez was referring to two separate reports about Burr’s activities in February.

ProPublica reported that Burr — who co-wrote an op-ed for Fox News in early February saying “the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus” — sold off the stock around mid-February, about a week before the market started to drop because of coronavirus concerns.

That included selling off up to $150,000 worth of shares of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, which has lost two-thirds of its value, ProPublica reported. He also sold off up to $100,000 of shares of another hotel chain, Extended Stay America. (Read more from “AOC Calls on Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr to Resign for Stock Sell-Off Ahead of Pandemic” HERE)

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Tucker Carlson Calls on Sen. Richard Burr to Resign Over Stock Dumping Reports

By Newsweek. Intelligence Committee Chairman Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina sold over $1 million in stocks, including stocks in two lodging and hospitality chains, in February before the coronavirus pandemic sent the markets into a tailspin according to Thursday reports.

Whether Burr’s decision to sell the stocks was influenced by information about the coronavirus has yet to be confirmed, but Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Thursday that Burr, co-author of a February op-ed piece which claimed that the U.S. was “better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus,” should resign from office and be placed on trial for insider trading.

“[Burr] had inside information about what could happen to our country, which is now happening,” Carlson said. “But he didn’t warn the public. He didn’t give a primetime address. Didn’t go on television to sound the alarm. He didn’t even disavow an op-ed he had written just ten days before claiming that America was, quote, ‘better prepared than ever for coronavirus.'”

“Instead, what did he do? He dumped his shares in hotel stocks so he wouldn’t lose money,” Carlson continued. “And then he stayed silent. Now, maybe there’s an honest explanation for what he did. If there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately. Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading.” (Read more from “Tucker Carlson Calls on Sen. Richard Burr to Resign Over Stock Dumping Reports” HERE)

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China Lied and People Died: Chinese Scientists Destroyed Coronavirus Evidence in December; GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Spread Because of Culture; Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China Faces Criminal Charges After Lying About Symptoms; Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus’

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By Townhall. The Chinese are to blame for this Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Their containment methods were laughable, their officials refused to inform the public, and people died. They allowed Wuhan to celebrate Chinese New Year, exposing potentially tens of thousands to the disease. Some five million left the city before they enacted a quarantine. And now we’re hearing that they knew about human transmissions. The Wall Street Journal’s piece on how this whole international fiasco began all but places the blame where it should rightfully be directed: China . . .

And now, there are reports that Chinese scientists destroyed evidence about the virus back in December (via The Times UK):

Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.

A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

The detailed revelations by Caixin Global, a respected independent publication, provide the clearest evidence yet of the scale of the cover-up in the crucial early weeks when the opportunity was lost to control the outbreak. Censors have been rapidly deleting the report from the Chinese internet.

(Read more from “China Lied and People Died: Chinese Scientists Destroyed Coronavirus Evidence in December” HERE)

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GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Coronavirus Spread Because of ‘Culture Where People Eat Bats and Snakes and Dogs’

By USA Today. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, drew a backlash on social media and from Asian American advocates on Wednesday for claiming China was “to blame” for the spread of the coronavirus because of a “culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that.”

‘These viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people and that’s why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine flu, and now the coronavirus, so I think they have a fundamental problem, the Texas Republican said to reporters, saying he did not object to a geographic name for the virus.

Asked about Asian Americans’ concerns about racism, Cornyn said, “I disagree. We’re not talking about Asians. We’re talking about China, where these viruses emanate from and created this pandemic.” . . .

The CDC says the coronavirus has its origins in bats and might have jumped to humans through a “wet market,” or a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Swine flu was first detected in the United States in 2009, and MERS was first identified in Jordan in 2012, according to the CDC. The CDC says the first cases of SARS were reported in China’s Guangdong province in 2002. (Read more from “GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Coronavirus Spread Because of ‘Culture Where People Eat Bats and Snakes and Dogs'” HERE)

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Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China for Coronavirus Test Faces Criminal Charges

By Los Angeles Times. A woman who flew last week from Massachusetts to Los Angeles — then to Beijing, where she tested positive for coronavirus — is under investigation on allegations of concealing her symptoms and putting fellow travelers at risk of infection.

The woman took fever-reducing medication before boarding a plane and lied to flight attendants, according to Beijing’s disease control center and an Air China representative, who held a news conference on Monday.

The woman, who was hospitalized and is receiving treatment, is under investigation for the crime of “impeding prevention of infectious diseases.” According to Chinese law, she could face up to three years of imprisonment or detention with possible forced labor, or up to seven years of prison if there are “serious consequences.”

As the pandemic worsens around the world but slows in China, authorities in Beijing are tightening controls. All passengers arriving in Beijing from abroad, including Chinese nationals, are required to quarantine in government centers for 14 days. (Read more from “Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China for Coronavirus Test Faces Criminal Charges” HERE)

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Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus,’ Demands to Know Who in White House Used Phrase ‘Kung Flu’

By Fox News. President Trump on Wednesday continued to call COVID-19, the “China virus,” and said he doesn’t think labeling the novel coronavirus is racist or puts Asian-Americans at risk.

“No, not at all,” Trump said during the noon press conference. “I think they probably would agree with it, 100 percent. It comes from China.”

Trump has been under pressure from China as well as some Democrats to stop using the term “China virus” or “Wuhan virus.” They believe the term stigmatizes China and borders on being racist. But instead if stopping, Trump has upped his use. . .

In the bizarre exchange, Trump asked Alcindor to repeat the phrase “Kung-Flu” and asked her directly which White House official had used the term. She said she did not get a name.

Earlier in the day, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway took a more combative tone with reporters and though she said using the phrase “Kung-Flu” was wrong, she refused to engage in a “hypothetical” and demanded to know who in the White House had the exchange with Jiang. (Read more from “Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus,’ Demands to Know Who in White House Used Phrase ‘Kung Flu'” HERE)

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Think It’s Bad Now? Wait 4 Weeks; Virus Lives on Cardboard; US Hospitals Totally Unprepared for Demand Seen in Italy; Iran Warns Virus May Kill ‘Millions’ There

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COVID-19 ‘Worry About 4 Weeks From Now,’ Researchers Warn

By Neuroscience News. As the U.S. takes early “social distancing” steps, a Harvard epidemiologist is urging the nation to walk away faster, saying there’s danger in ambling down a path similar to Italy, where three coronavirus cases four weeks ago blossomed into 10,000, leading to more than 600 deaths, an overstressed health care system, and a land shuttered.

Epidemiology Professor Marc Lipsitch, head of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, called the pace of coronavirus testing in the U.S. “utterly inadequate” and “a debacle” that robs public health officials of information crucial to devising an effective response and protecting health care workers. Testing has been so slow that no one knows the extent of the U.S. epidemic, though scientists guess at somewhere between “tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands” of cases.

With COVID-19 cases thought to double every five to seven days, their spread can occur rapidly, and it is critical that steps taken so far — canceling business meetings, working from home when possible, moving college classes online, postponing conferences — become more widespread, before circumstances become critical.

“The situation we should be worrying about is the situation four weeks from now, not the situation now,” Lipsitch said. “That’s hard for people to get their heads around, but it’s really important.”

While questions exist about the virus’ transmissibility outdoors versus indoors, the crowds at gatherings such as St. Patrick’s Day parades, the Boston Marathon, and the Indy 500 auto race call into question whether even those signature events should be held. Officials already have canceled Boston’s St. Patrick’s parade. (Read more from “US Hospitals Totally Unprepared:‘Worry About 4 Weeks From Now,’ Researchers Warn” HERE)
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People May Get Virus From Touching Cardboard

By David Aaro. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine . . . found the virus is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces.

“The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel,” according to the NIH.

The study mimicked the virus being transmitted from an infected person onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting by coughing or touching objects, the agency said. Scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces

“The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects, according to the NIH. (Read more about Hospitals Totally Unprepared HERE)
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[H]ealth officials say that the American healthcare system may not be prepared for what comes next if residents don’t heed warnings to limit their interactions.

“The bottom line is things will get much worse,” Dr. James Phillips, an assistant professor at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN Tuesday night. “We need to focus on keeping people on the front lines in the fight so we can continue to provide care to the patients. In the long run, this is about patients and keeping people from getting sick and dying [but we’re] at a significant risk of overwhelming the number of beds we have.”

. . .With the measures, leaders hope to slow the spread of the virus and prevent the country’s healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed. As it is, there aren’t enough hospital beds, medical staff or equipment to handle the spike in cases that could come, healthcare professionals say. . .

“We have a choice to make — do we want to really lean into social distancing and mitigation strategies and flatten the curve or do we just want to keep going on with business as usual and end up being Italy?” [Trump’s Surgeon General Dr. Jerome] Adams said. (Read more about Hospitals Totally Unprepared for What May be Coming HERE)

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Iran: Millions Could Die

By AP News. Iran issued its most dire warning yet Tuesday about the new coronavirus ravaging the country, suggesting “millions” could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance.

A state TV journalist who also is a medical doctor gave the warning only hours after hard-line Shiite faithful on Monday night pushed their way into the courtyards of two major shrines that were finally closed due to the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting “unnecessary” travel.

Roughly 9 out of 10 of the over 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the Middle East come from Iran, where authorities denied for days the risk the outbreak posed. Officials have implemented new checks for people trying to leave major cities ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Friday, but have hesitated to quarantine the areas. (Read more from “Iranian Hospitals Totally Unprepared: Islamic Republic Warns Virus Could Kill ‘Millions’ in Islamic Republic” HERE)

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It Took Coronavirus and the Ohio Governor to Finally Push Back Against a Judge

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The Constitution is not a suicide pact, much less a single judge’s convoluted reading of it. This is something every elected official needs to understand, but it took a public health crisis and a moderate Republican governor in Ohio to finally demonstrate this point.

Yesterday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, R, made a commonsense call to delay the state’s primary election scheduled for today. Obviously, if we are at the point where all gatherings of more than 50 people are banned, and schools and restaurants as well as many workplaces are closed, it makes no sense to have statewide elections.

However, shortly before 7 p.m., Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye ruled that the election should continue as scheduled pursuant to state law. Much to the shock of political observers, roughly two hours later, Gov. DeWine announced that election would be pushed off anyway.

“During this time when we face an unprecedented public health crisis, to conduct an election tomorrow would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at a unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus,” read a statement from the governor posted at 10:12 pm. “As such, Health Director Dr. Amy Acton will order the polls closed as a health emergency.”

Many commentators and politicians in Ohio were aghast at the governor’s move and called it a “constitutional crisis.”

The outrage on social media was rooted in the premise that judges alone get to decide with finality political questions affecting the whole of the people – either of the country or the state. The reality is that we have three branches of government at the state and federal levels, and there will be times when they disagree and can use their respective powers to push back against each other. The three branches are not a food chain with the judiciary on top; they are a circle of co-equal powers.

The legislature was fully empowered to meet in an emergency session and push back against the governor if the members chose to do so. They declined to push back. Ultimately, a few hours later, the state’s supreme court sided with the governor anyway.

There is a broader lesson here of utmost importance. We are all seeing throughout the country the display of extraordinary powers of even local officials, and certainly the president, during a time of a public health crisis. Ultimately, the courts are one avenue for individuals to redress grievances concerning their individual liberties, but courts do not govern for the whole of the people and most certainly do not have the final say on broad public policy. We must hold all branches of state and federal government accountable, and they must hold each other accountable.

It’s self-evident in Ohio that given the state of affairs in the country now, holding elections would make the state’s election law into a suicide pact. It’s time we learn to apply this on the national level, for immigration policy where absolutely no constitutional rights are implicated.

We allowed the illegal ruling of a single California judge in July 2018 to spawn a massive influx of at least 1 million (known) illegal aliens with cascading effects of drugs, crime, public charge, and yes, a public health crisis at our border. Yet our government refused to turn them back to Mexico until a full year into the crisis. But when it comes to restricting the freedoms of Americans, notice how we are not letting a judge or anyone else stop what elected officials deem necessary for the public interest.

As I’ve noted before, Justice Robert Jackson, who was a champion of individual rights and due process (he authored the dissent in the Japanese internment case), understood that “accepting the doctrine that civil liberty means the removal of all restraints to maintain order” would harm freedom “in the long run.” He famously warned in a case dealing with someone who was inciting riots that “there is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.”

Obviously, there are limits to striking the right balance between liberty, order, and public safety. We really need to watch vigilantly to ensure that prudent “social distancing” doesn’t turn into downright home confinement, as we are witnessing in countries like Spain. But certainly, delaying a primary election was the right call given the circumstances, despite the law on the books governing the election date.

And how much more is it the right call when a single judge actually violates the law and Supreme Court precedent to attempt to strip the president of his power to keep aliens out of the country in the national interest!

If nothing else, as all layers of government are severely restricting movement and real rights of Americans, we should appreciate the power of the president to keep out foreign nationals when there is absolutely no right to enter our country. This is especially salient given the fact that this crisis, which is now engendering draconian restrictions on citizen rights, was born out of an unwillingness to shut off travel and visas when we could easily have flattened the curve early on. (For more from the author of “It Took Coronavirus and the Ohio Governor to Finally Push Back Against a Judge” please click HERE)

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At Debate, Biden Promises He’ll Have a Female Vice President; Earlier, Biden Campaign Apologizes After He Wanders off Camera in Middle of Livestream Town Hall

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By Joey Garrison. Joe Biden committed to picking a woman as his running mate during Sunday’s televised Democratic presidential debate while Sen. Bernie Sanders said “in all likelihood” he would also choose a female vice presidential candidate if he’s the nominee.

“My administration will look like the country and I commit that I will in fact pick a woman to be vice president,” the former vice president said. “There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I will pick a woman as my vice president”. . .

Adding diversity to the Democratic ticket is widely seen as a priority for a party that now has two white men, both in their late 70s, as its top two candidates.

The only women vice presidential candidates to be on a ticket are Rep. Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008. Ferraro ran with Walter Mondale for the Democrats and Palin ran with John McCain for the Republicans. No woman has ever been elected vice president or president. (Read more about the Biden campaign commitment to a female running mate HERE)
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By Pluralist. Joe Biden’s Democratic presidential campaign apologized after he wandered off camera on Friday during a glitch-plagued livestream event.

The campaign emailed viewers after the Facebook livestream was derailed by multiple production failures and apparent on-screen gaffes by Biden, according to Breitbart News.

“Tonight, you tuned in to our first ever virtual town hall. And unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties. That’s our bad,” the campaign said in the email. . .

The Verge described the Zoom-hosted livestream as a “technical nightmare,” and CNN called it a “technical calamity.” In its headline about the event, Fox News described it like a terminally ill patient.

Jordan Uhl, a liberal activist and political consultant, mocked the “bizarre, meandering livestream.” He noted that Biden at one point turned away from the camera and walked off screen while answering a question about endangered species.

(Read more from “Biden Campaign Apologizes After He Wanders off Camera in Middle of Livestream Town Hall” HERE)

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