Nurse Fires Back at White House Reporter Who Shamed Her for Not Wearing a Mask

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A nurse pushed back when a reporter asked President Donald Trump Wednesday why she and several other nurses gathered in the Oval Office during a press conference were not wearing masks or social distancing.

“We’re all COVID-19-free. We were all tested,” said the nurse, identified by ABC News as American Association of Nurse Practitioners President Sophia Turner.

The reporter had asked the president why the nurses who flanked him during the meeting were not keeping their distance.

“We are not socially distancing because we are all negative … and we wouldn’t do anything to harm our president, obviously,” the nurse said before adding that she works at a center in Louisiana and frequently gets tested.

The nurses were at the briefing to talk about the country’s supply of personal protective equipment, like masks.

The nurses said they have ample access to personal protective equipment, even after the Department of Homeland Security stated May 3 that the Chinese government lied to the World Health Organization about the significance of the pandemic to hoard personal protective equipment, among other medical supplies.

Some officials have been critical of people who do not wear face masks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a May 4 press conference that local officials should impose a “penalty” for “disrespectful” people not wearing masks.

“And by the way, you don’t wear a mask for yourself,” an unmasked Cuomo said during the conference. “You wear a mask to protect me. I wear a mask to protect you. We owe each other a certain amount of reasonableness and respect in society, and I owe you that level of respect, that if I’m sick, I should wear a mask.”

COLUMN BY

Chris White

Chris White is a reporter for The Daily Caller News Foundation. Twitter: @ZanderKelly30.

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EDITORS NOTE: This column by the Daily Caller is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Call for Credit Card Freeze on Porn Sites

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Major credit card companies should block payments to pornographic sites, according to a group of international campaigners and campaign groups who say they work to tackle sexual exploitation.

A letter seen by the BBC, signed by more than 10 campaigners and campaign groups, says porn sites “eroticise sexual violence, incest, and racism” and stream content that features child sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

One leading site, Pornhub, said “the letter [was] not only factually wrong but also intentionally misleading.”

Mastercard told the BBC they were investigating claims made in the letter on pornography sites and would “terminate their connection to our network” if illegal activity by a cardholder was confirmed.

The letter was sent to 10 major credit card companies, including the “Big Three”, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. The signatories from countries including the UK, US, India, Uganda and Australia have called for the immediate suspension of payments to pornographic sites.

The signatories of the letter include the conservative non-profit group the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) in the US, and other faith-led or women and child rights’ advocacy groups.

The letter alleges it is impossible to “judge or verify consent in any videos on their site, let alone live webcam videos” which “inherently makes pornography websites a target for sex traffickers, child abusers, and others sharing predatory nonconsensual videos”.

“We’ve been seeing an increasingly global outcry about the harms of pornography sharing websites in a number of ways in recent months,” said Haley McNamara, the director of the UK-based International Centre on Sexual Exploitation, the international arm of the NCOSE and a signatory of the letter.

“We in the international child advocacy and anti-sexual exploitation community are demanding financial institutions to critically analyse their supportive role in the pornography industry, and to cut ties with them,” she told the BBC.

A report on the appetite for child abuse videos on pornography sites was published in April by India Child Protection Fund (ICPF). The organisation said there had been a steep increase in demand for child abuse searches on pornography sites in India, particularly since coronavirus lockdown.

Monitoring pornography online

Pornhub, the most popular pornography streaming site, is named in the letter. In 2019, it registered more than 42 billion visits, the equivalent of 115 million a day.

Pornhub was under scrutiny last year when one of its content providers – Girls Do Porn – became the subject of an FBI investigation.

The FBI charged four people working for the production company that created the channel of coaxing women into making pornographic films under false pretences. Pornhub removed the Girls Do Porn channel as soon as the charges were made.

Commenting to the BBC in February regarding this case, Pornhub said its policy was to “remove unauthorised content as soon as we are made aware of it, which is exactly what we did in this case”.

In October last year a 30-year-old Florida man, Christopher Johnson, faced charges for sexually abusing a 15 year old. Videos of the alleged attack had been posted on Pornhub.

In the same statement to the BBC in February, Pornhub said its policy was to “remove unauthorised content as soon as we are made aware of it, which is exactly what we did in this case”.

The Internet Watch Foundation, a UK organisation that specialises in monitoring online sexual abuse – particularly of children – confirmed to the BBC that they had found 118 instances of child sexual abuse and child rape videos on Pornhub between 2017 and 2019. The body works in partnership with global police and governments to flag illegal content.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for Pornhub said they had “a steadfast commitment to eradicating and fighting any and all illegal content, including non-consensual and under-age material. Any suggestion otherwise is categorically and factually inaccurate.”

“Our content moderation system is at the forefront of the industry, utilising leading technologies and moderation techniques that create a comprehensive process to detect and rid the platform of any illegal content.

Pornhub said the letter was sent by organisations “who attempt to police people’s sexual orientation and activity – are not only factually wrong but also intentionally misleading.”

American Express has had a global policy in place since 2000 that says it prohibits transactions for adult digital content where the risk is deemed unusually high, with a total ban on online pornography. In an interview with the Smartmoney website in 2011, a spokesperson for American Express at the time said this was due to high levels of disputes, and an additional safeguard in the fight against child pornography.

Yet, the organisations also sent the letters to American Express, because they say American Express payment options have been offered on pornography sites – including one that specialises in teenage themed content.

A spokesperson for American Express told the BBC that while the global policy still stood, American Express had a pilot with one company that allowed for payment to certain pornography streaming websites if the payment was made within the US and on a US consumer credit card.

Other major credit card companies, including Visa and MasterCard, do allow both credit and debit card holders to purchase online pornography.

In an email to the BBC, a spokesperson for Mastercard said they were “currently investigating the claims referred to us in the letter.

“The way our network works is that a bank connects a merchant to our network to accept card payments.

“If we confirm illegal activity or violations of our rules (by card holders), we will work with the merchant’s bank to either bring them into compliance or to terminate their connection to our network.

“This is consistent with how we have previously worked with law enforcement agencies and groups like National and International Centers for Missing and Exploited Children.”

Some moves have been made by online payment companies to distance themselves from the pornography industry.

In November 2019, Paypal, the global online payment company, announced it would no longer be supporting payments to Pornhub as their policy forbids supporting “certain sexually oriented materials or services”.

In a blog on their site, Pornhub said they were “devastated” by the decision and the move would leave thousands of Pornhub models and performers who relied on subscription from the premium services without payment.

A pornography performer who shares material on Pornhub, and who asked to remain anonymous, said a payment freeze would have devastating implications for her earnings.

“Honestly, it would be a body blow,” she said. “It would wipe out my entire income and I wouldn’t know how to earn money, especially now in lockdown.”

Following mounting pressure for more accountability from pornographic sites, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska sent a letter to the US Department of Justice in March asking Attorney General William Barr to investigate Pornhub for allegedly streaming acts of rape and exploitation.

In the same month, nine Canadian multi-party parliamentarians wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for an investigation into MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, which has its headquarters in Montreal.

Signatories of the letter:

International Centre on Sexual Exploitation, UK,

National Center on Sexual Exploitation, US,

Collective Shout, Australia

European Network of Migrant Women, Belgium

Word Made Flesh Bolivia, Bolivia

Media Health for Children and Youth, Denmark

FiLiA, England

Apne Aap, India

Survivor Advocate, Ireland

African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect, Liberia

The Reward Foundation, Scotland

Talita, Sweden

The Boys’ Mentorship Programme, Uganda

COLUMN BY

Megha Mohan

Gender and identity correspondent.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘I was raped at 14, and the video ended up on a porn site’

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Data Acknowledges The Brutal Truth: There Is Only One Way Forward

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Let’s be as apolitical as possible and reason this out. Based on what we have learned thus far of COVID-19 and a still somewhat foggy but clearing future, there is only one rational route to take through the lifting fog.

First, there are four important premises on which to form the base for making the decision.

PREMISE ONE: Perhaps the most important “given” to accept is that whatever we do, more people will die. This is the brutal truth that no politician or media preener is willing to say, but is the one truth we know more than any other. We need a full and honest understanding that there are no magic unicorn solutions available. Every option we have means people dying. This is the harshest of all givens. COVID-19, or our most extreme measures to shut it down, will continue to kill Americans. Accept this truth, and the choice becomes clearer.

PREMISE TWO: We have no idea when — or even if — a vaccine will be available. Those people who think we should stay shutdown “until it is safe,” are on a fool’s errand. That’s the unicorn search. It’s not possible, not with COVID-19, not with the flu, not with cars, not with swimming, not with virtually anything in life. The very most optimistic estimates do not have a vaccine ready until January, and it is unknown when it can be deployed to 340 million Americans. Waiting even that long, the shortest possible time, would create a catastrophe from which we may never recover, and possibly cost as many lives due to the shutdown as would be saved due to the shutdown. Death from heart attacks, strokes, suicides, drug overdoses are just as real as deaths from COVID.

PREMISE THREE: We have treatments we are developing, but as with other coronaviruses and the flu virus, they will help but they will not cure or stop. They are merely aids that are probably saving lives now. We will refine those as we move forward, but no one says they are silver bullets, simply tools for the medical professionals to use to help some patients. And the ones available anytime soon are available now.

PREMISE FOUR: So without staying shut down for a vaccine or treatments, there is only one reason left for a shutdown: to keep hospitals and the medical system from being overwhelmed. Well, we can now confidently say that has not happened and will not happen. It is one of the few things we can be sure about. Even as horrific as New York was, it never came close to running out of ventilators or ICU beds. States that did not shut down or only partially did fared even better. Florida, supposed to get as bad as New York and Italy, did not reach a fraction of those levels even with the elderly population. Hospitals laid off idle workers due to elective surgeries being banned.

Without vaccines, treatments or flattening the curve to help hospitals, what is the rationale for continuing the shutdown? Well, nothing. There is no longer a viable reason — particularly if you can accept PREMISE ONE. If you cannot, then you are stuck waiting for the unicorns, and destined for disappointment — we’ll have deaths either way.

So if we do not stay shut down, and we accept that more deaths are inevitable with any choice, what’s left?

We re-open. Everything.

With only a few locally-driven exceptions, end the shutdowns and target resources heavily on protecting nursing homes, creating multiple layers of protection, i.e. extensive testing for staff, no visitors who have not been tested within, say, 48 hours, immediate removal of anyone showing symptoms to a pre-determined location, and perhaps more creative measures. At the same time, keep allowing local decisions. So the New York City metro area may want to remain shut down. Local decisions will still serve residents best over a one-size-fits-all.

We realistically cordon off the vulnerable elderly, specifically targeting nursing homes, along with those with comorbidities, and everyone else returns to a form of normal life.

We will rapidly see some things happen. First, it will serve as a catalyst to achieve greater amounts of immunity among the healthy, which reduces the risk for everyone, while returning us to pretty full economic activity — depending on how long the devastation from the shutdown lasts.

One fairly rapid development should be the replenishment of grocery store shelves. The food shortage, which could become severe, is not due primarily to COVID, but to the shutdown in response to COVID that has disrupted many portions of the supply chain. If one link is broken, perhaps there is a workaround. But if several are, we find ourselves in a situation where farmers are letting crops rot and dairy farmers are pumping and dumping milk. The chain broke through the shutdown. But that food shortage is resolved quickly by re-opening, while perhaps providing extra protections for some areas such as meat processors. More resources will be available if we are open.

But other things will also happen, and this is the brutal truth and hardest part. Let the virus move its way through the healthy population, as Sweden is doing, as Florida and Texas and some small midwestern states have partially done. COVID becomes another risk in our lives, like the hundreds of others we face every day.

Other things will happen. The graphs that have become a part of daily life will curve back up and people will react fearfully and ignorantly.

An important element for this being successful with the American people would be confident, calming leadership, something in short supply. Following his norm, many of President Trump’s decisions have been right and helpful, and arguably better than many other world leaders. But his temperament at the mic and on Twitter can be harmful. It isn’t always. I like to see him punch back as much as the next guy. But that is the wrong tactic in this sort of environment, particularly as we re-open and the numbers start creeping back up.

As long as you don’t only imbibe the spin of the #resist media, with some exceptions, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is actually becoming the gold standard on this. Like Trump, he pushed back against shutting down, and then only did a partial one, and is reopening again. On policy, they have been akin. But in tone, DeSantis has been calm, reassuring, and in charge. In fact, some Florida newspapers have grudgingly admitted as much.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, one of Gannett’s more influential papers in the state and steadfastly opposed to much of what DeSantis does, editorialized:

“…the governor’s calm demeanor during a rough stint of on-the-job training, and his repeated efforts to place pragmatism above politics by weighing available data before making decisions, have been commendable. And, we think, helpful overall.”

The reality is the charts will start curving up for a while. But remember PREMISE ONE, any choice we make from here, continued shutdown or re-opening, is going to mean people die. There will be no “safe” time to re-open. We cannot wait until January or January 2022 or maybe never for a vaccine, or for fully effective treatments. There are no silver bullets or magic pills in near enough time.

But there is a quick death of our economy and even way of life looming, and a potential spiral downward no one can really see the end of. That is far too much risk when we now know that protecting nursing homes will really diminish deaths — by 40 percent or more — and re-opening will provide more resources for nursing homes.

So we weigh it all and accept the trade-offs, ugly as they may be. Because long-term — which precious few politicians think in terms of — this will be better for quality of life, livelihoods and quite possibly the actual number of lives saved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Over Half of US Counties Have Had No COVID-19 Deaths

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EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Over Half of US Counties Have Had No COVID-19 Deaths

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With many state and local governments starting to relax stay-at-home orders, it’s instructive to examine just how concentrated the spread of COVID-19 has been in the U.S.

Although all U.S. states have reported cases of COVID-19, the distribution of the cases and deaths has remained heavily concentrated in a small number of states, and among a small number of counties within all states.

For instance, as of May 4, just 10 states account for 70% of all U.S. cases and 77% of all deaths. Together, New York and New Jersey alone account for 38% of all cases and 48% of total COVID-19 deaths.

When can America reopen? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, is gathering America’s top thinkers together to figure that out. Learn more here>>>.

In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>

Just five states—New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, and California—account for 54% of all of the confirmed cases in the U.S. and 61% of all coronavirus deaths.

These state-level figures do not, however, adequately describe the concentrated nature of the spread of COVID-19.

As the first chart shows, the 30 counties with the most COVID-19 cases account for 50% of all the cases in the U.S. (and 57% of all deaths). That is, just 1% of the counties in the U.S. are responsible for half of the country’s coronavirus cases and more than half of the deaths.

Of those 30 counties, 24 are in the Northeast corridor between Philadelphia and Boston, the passageway served by a commuter railway system that runs through Manhattan. Overall, just 11% of the counties in the U.S. contain nearly 95% of all the COVID-19 deaths.

Just as important, as the second chart shows, 52% of all U.S. counties have had zero COVID-19 deaths as of May 4.

Also as of May 4, 13 states have deaths that remain unallocated to respective counties. At most, those allocations could reduce the number of zero-death counties by 2 percentage points.

The chart also illustrates that 66% of all U.S. counties have no more than one coronavirus death, 80% have five or fewer, 86% have 10 or fewer, and 89% have fewer than 15.

Put another way, only about 10% of the counties in the U.S. have 15 or more COVID-19 deaths, and throughout the epidemic, the spread of COVID has remained highly concentrated in a handful of geographic locations in the U.S.

COLUMN BY

Norbert Michel

Norbert Michel studies and writes about housing finance, including the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as The Heritage Foundation’s research fellow in financial regulations. Read his research. Twitter: @norbertjmichel.

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A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

They’re making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The woman waging war on Big Porn

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Both countries and companies have taken advantage of the misery of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdowns, the loneliness and the misery of millions to burnish their image. China has donated masks and ventilators; companies have offered free stuff like online yoga lessons, audiobooks, museum tours, movies and software. Great PR!

But the most audacious offering must be free porn from Pornhub, a website which gets 42 billion visits every year – 120 million a day. Its premium service, normally US $9.99 a month, was free worldwide in April. “With nearly one billion people in lockdown across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important that we lend a hand and provide them with an enjoyable way to pass the time,” Pornhub Vice President’s Corey Price explained.

In its charm offensive, Pornhub has also donated tens of thousands of masks in the United States and Europe. But there’s nothing charming about the world’s best-known site for on-line pornography. MercatorNet interviewed Laila Mickelwait, a activist against sex trafficking, about her campaign to take the site down because of its human rights abuses.

You have been campaigning against PornHub, the world’s largest platform for free pornography for years. How does the site work?

Laila Mickelwait: Pornhub is a tube site where users upload pornographic content, much of which consists of actual sexual crimes against women and children. It is the world’s most popular porn website, and hidden in plain site are the horrific torture, rape, abuse and assault of some of the most vulnerable women and children, all for the profit of Pornhub and the pleasure of its users.

What sort of stuff can you see there?

There is a spectrum of sexual crimes that Pornhub profits from and enables on the website– the rape, trafficking and sexual abuse of children; the rape, assault, and trafficking of women; spycam recordings of sex acts and nude girls who don’t know they are being filmed, revenge videos, filmed prostitution, and more.

So who moderates the uploads?

Based on what we know about the egregious crimes on Pornhub, there is a serious question about how Pornhub has enabled this to happen for so long. For example, the Internet Watch Foundation, in only two years investigated and confirmed 118 cases of child sexual abuse on Pornhub, half of which they said were Category A level abuse that includes penetration and/or sadism.

If Pornhub has human moderators, are they viewing the real rape and torture of children and then giving those videos a green light to be uploaded, profited off of, and used as masturbation material for millions upon millions of users?

From what you are saying, the word PornHub is just about synonymous with “exploitation”. Are there any “clean” pornography businesses – without exploitation?

Pornhub is a website that is infested with the real rape and sex trafficking of women and minors. Pornography consumers need to be aware that when they visit Pornhub or any of the other websites that Pornhub’s parent company Mindgeek owns, they are also complicit in these crimes by creating the demand that keeps these websites incredibly profitable for those that own them.

Consumers need to be aware of the role that they play in this mass abuse and they should make the informed choice not to perpetuate these crimes against women and children by visiting Pornhub.

How is your petition going? I understand that hundreds of thousands of people have signed it. What are you attempting to achieve?

I launched the petition on February 10, at the moment we have over 860,000 signatures and counting. The goal is to shut down Pornhub and hold its executives accountable for complicity in the sex trafficking and rape of women and children. (Click here to sign the petition.)

It’s widely believed that watching pornography might be tasteless and embarrassing, but no one gets hurt. Your comments?

We have hard evidence that Pornhub is a website profiting from massive amounts of harm against the most vulnerable in society.

There was recently a 15 year old girl from Florida who was missing for a year and found after 58 videos of her sexual exploitation and rape were found on Pornhub. There was also the story of Rose Kalemba, who at 14 years old was taken at knifepoint, raped for 12 hours and her videos uploaded to Pornhub. Rose says that she begged Pornhub for months to remove the videos of her torture and assault and it wasn’t until she as a teenager posed as a lawyer and threatened legal action, that they finally removed the videos of this child.

Recently a Sunday Times investigation also found “dozens” of illegal exploitation videos on Pornhub within “minutes” including abuse images of a child as young as three years old. Many are deceived into believing that everyone in the videos on Pornhub are “consenting adults” but we know from the evidence that is simply not true.

PornHub seems like a wily antagonist with a powerful legal and public relations department. Do you really think that you can bring it down?

Of course we can shut down Pornhub, because we are strong when we stand up against this giant together.

It is not only myself calling for action. Right now there are almost 1 million other individuals raising their voices with me calling for Pornhub to be shut down and its executives held accountable for enabling and profiting from the rape and trafficking of women and children. We also have 300 of some of the most respected child protection, anti-trafficking and women’s rights organizations around the world endorsing the campaign. Victims are coming forward and politicians in multiple countries are formally demanding federal investigations of Pornhub for complicity in sex trafficking.

This effort to shut down Pornhub and hold its executives accountable is a global movement now, and the tidal wave that is surging will soon gain enough force to accomplish the goal.

How did you get involved in this campaign?

I have spent over a decade combatting sex trafficking and the last eight years investigating the intersection between the pornography industry and sex trafficking. Anyone who researches this issue will end up on Pornhub (on any of the other Mindgeek owned porn-tube sites) because it is the primary way the world is accessing porn today.

What I found out in doing so is that Pornhub is set up for exploitation. Pornhub is a trafficker and pedophile’s paradise and it needs to be shut down.

COLUMN BY

Michael Cook

Michael Cook is the editor of MercatorNet More by Michael Cook.

Laila Mickelwait

Laila Mickelwait is the Director of Abolition for Exodus Cry, the founder of the #Traffickinghub campaign, and the President and Founder of New Reality International. She received her Master of Public… More by Laila Mickelwait.

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EDITORS NOTE: This MercatorNet column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Melania Says Nurses Are An ‘Inspiration To Us All’ As She Honors Them On National Nurses Day

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Melania Trump said nurses are an “inspiration to us all” as she honored them Wednesday on National Nurses Day.

“On #NationalNursesDay, I would like to take a moment to extend my sincere appreciation to our nation’s nurses,” the first lady captioned her post on Instagram, along with a video praising nurses for their efforts during the coronavirus outbreak.

“You are an inspiration to us all and your actions show us the true power of the American spirit,” she added.

WATCH:

“In addition to the work you do each day, you have gone above and beyond your call of duty in responding to our nation’s invisible enemy, COVID-19,” FLOTUS shared on the clip. “You have devoted your lives to help protect the health and well-being of the American people.”

Melania continued, while praising them through “these times of uncertainty,” for showing “immense courage and selflessness. You are an inspiration to us all and your actions show us the true power of the American spirit.”

“Thank you for your care and compassion,” the first lady concluded. “Our nation will continue to pray for your safety and strength. May god bless you and your families. And may god bless the United States of America.”

The touching tribute comes one day after FLOTUS reached out on National Teachers Day to the “amazing” teachers and educators across the country to praise them for all they do.

She captioned her post on social media, “On #NationalTeacherDay I had the honor of speaking to some incredible teachers & educators from across our great nation. Thank you for your dedication to our students always, but especially in these unprecedented times.”

COLUMN BY

KATIE JERKOVICH

Entertainment reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Judicial Watch Sues on Behalf of Daily Caller News Foundation for Dr. Fauci and WHO Communications!

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Washington, DC – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation against the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for communications and other records of National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci and Deputy Director H. Clifford Lane with and about the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the novel coronavirus (Daily Caller News Foundation v. U.S. Department Justice (No. 1:20-cv-01149)).

The suit was filed after HHS failed to respond to an April 1, 2020, FOIA request seeking:

  • Communications between Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane and World Health Organization officials concerning the novel coronavirus.
  • Communications of Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane concerning WHO, WHO official Bruce Aylward, WHO Director General Tedros Anhanom, and China.

The time period for the request is January 1, 2020 to April 1, 2020.

Additionally, the DCNF requested and was granted expedited processing of its request.

In March 2020, Fauci praised the work of the WHO and their chairman, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying: “Tedros is really an outstanding person … I mean, obviously, over the years anyone who says that the WHO has not had problems has not been watching the WHO. But I think under his leadership they’ve done very well.”

In April, President Trump announced a halt to funding the World Health Organization. According to the president, the WHO put “political correctness over lifesaving measures.” Additionally, President Trump said: “The WHO failed in this duty, and must be held accountable,” adding that the WHO ignored “credible information” in December 2019 that the virus could be transmitted from human to human.

Daily Caller News Foundation Co-Founder and President Neil Patel said: “This virus has killed hundreds of thousands of people and turned the whole world upside down. We know that China and WHO could have done a lot more to prevent or reduce this catastrophe. We therefore have a legitimate and urgent news purpose for seeking these documents regarding U.S. officials’ communications with WHO and demand that the agencies in question stop stalling and start following the law that entitles us to this vital information.”

“It is urgent that the NIH follow transparency law during the coronavirus crisis,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is of significant public interest to learn what WHO was telling our top medical officials about the coronavirus that originated in China.”

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Watchdog group sues for Fauci, World Health Organization communications Source: The Washington Times

FOIA lawsuit seeks access to documents regarding China and WHO Source: Washington Examiner

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

A Wizard of Oz Virus: The COVID-19 Hoax

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When I speak of a hoax and The Virus, I don’t mean there isn’t in our population a pathogen identified as SARS-CoV-2 or, as the “unwoke” might say, the Wuhan Flu. As with past respiratory diseases, it’s also dangerous to the vulnerable. But as data increasingly show — and as I and some others have been saying all along — this current situation is very different from past pandemics in one significant and deadly way: It’s not being treated as only a medical/health issue.

It’s being treated as a political issue.

And as the Soviet Union’s Lysenkoism demonstrated, politics kills science.

I recently dubbed the Wuhan Flu the “Wizard of Oz Virus” because its reputation greatly exceeds its power. This was evident long ago, too. We only had to look at the early data coming out on Italy and a certain quarantined cruise ship, after all.

While the following might have changed a bit over time, we heard early on that 99-plus percent of the Italian victims had comorbidities and that their average age was 79.5. Italy is also a graying nation, with 23 percent of the population in its most affected area (the north) more than 65 years old.

Additionally, Italy has a wanting healthcare system, and stories emerged about askew triage-oriented priorities causing certain elderly to be denied care. Italy’s economic ties with Beijing also meant there were direct flights from Wuhan and 100,000 Chinese working in its factories.

There are other differences, too. One I pointed out is that Italy has an “un-social-distancing” culture, with acquaintances engaging in a lot of touching, and personal space between them only two to three feet (vs. four in North America).

Then there was the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which was quarantined off Japan’s coast in February and at one time had more than half the Wuhan virus cases outside of China. Of the 3,711 people on board, 712 (19.2 percent) contracted the disease and 13 (1.8 percent) died.

Yet note that this ship was called a disease incubator; the average age of those aboard was 58, with 33 percent over 70; and medical care was sub-par. Note, too, to illustrate the latter group’s (the elderly’s) vulnerability, that they were dying during a four-week stretch in 2018 at “a rate of 169 people a day [in the U.S.], or seven people per hour” of the common flu, reported the AARP.

In other words, there was never a reason to believe the Wuhan virus would transform America into Black Plague-ravaged medieval Europe. The Enemedia pretended to know this at one time, too.

Right after President Trump wisely announced his China travel ban (Jan. 31), the Enemedia, busy calling him “racist” for doing so, ran headlines such as this Feb. 1 Washington Post gem: “Get a grippe, America. The flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus, for now.”

It was also around this time that Nancy “Let ‘em Eat Ice Cream” Pelosi, Bolshevik Bill (de Blasio) and other leftist pols were encouraging New Yorkers and San Franciscans to visit their Chinatowns, as they played the race card. Now they criticize Trump for not doing more when they counseled doing less.

(Know, too, that Dr. Anthony Fauci said on TV Feb. 29 that Americans didn’t need to change their behavior to combat the virus.)

But the Enemedia weren’t all wrong back then. Consider the following past flu pandemics, with the number of Americans dead accompanied by what that translates into today adjusted for population.

The Spanish Flu pandemic (1918-19) killed 675,000 Americans. Today: equates to a bit more than two million dead.

The “Asian Flu” pandemic of 1957 killed 116,000 Americans. Today: equates to approximately 223,000.

The “Hong Kong Flu” pandemic of 1968 killed at least 100,000 Americans. Today: equates to 164,915.

Thus far, the Wuhan virus has claimed approximately 63,000 Americans — if you can believe the allegedly exaggerated numbers our governments produce.

Moreover, each year the flu claims tens of thousands more U.S. victims, including 61,000 during the 2017-18 winter season and 358 children during 2009-10. (In contrast, there are three “unconfirmed” Wuhan virus pediatric deaths.) But we didn’t run around back then like a jack-booted Chicken Little trampling civil rights and economic fortunes, shutting down schools and complaining about naming the disease after its place of origin.

But, again, in those times disease wasn’t a political issue.

Now, of course, data are showing what cooler heads have long theorized: The Wuhan flu mortality rate may end up being similar to the flu’s; the doom-and-gloom computer-model projections were way off; lockdowns are deadlier than what they supposedly combat; perhaps 80-plus percent of the afflicted are asymptomatic or only mildly affected; the infection rate is far higher than most “experts” suspected; and as with the flu, going outside, living relatively normally and establishing herd immunity (while protecting the vulnerable) is the best way to eliminate the disease.

Yet the Enemedia and leftist politicians, far from correcting their mistakes, are doubling down on destructive policies. Given this, it’s time to examine how the Wuhan Flu was turned into the Wizard of Oz Virus.

Anatomy of a National Hysteria

How we got to where we are now is complex, as man’s events usually are, but here’s a summary:

  • Back when the Democrats and their Enemedia were focused on impeachment, video was emerging from China of government thugs in hazmat suits forcibly extracting people from their homes and spraying down wide areas with disinfectant. (This reaction lends credence to the increasingly accepted thesis that the virus originated in a Wuhan lab, mind you.)
  • With the impeachment effort’s collapse, the Enemedia turned its attention to the pandemic. After first downplaying it and calling Trump xenophobic, they then began exaggerating it and calling him criminally negligent. They simultaneously commenced showing that alarming Chinese footage, along with reporting massive death in Italy (which also might have been exaggerated) and continually showing videos of coffins, from Italy and later N.Y.C.
  • Hearing only the Enemedia horror stories and apocalyptic projections, Americans became terrified and panicked — and panicked people don’t make wise decisions. They are easy to control, though.
  • The Enemedia’s malpractice was devastating. With polls showing up to 80 percent support for lockdowns because of it, it became politically impossible for officials to implement rational policy. Trump and the governors were likely terrified that they’d be blamed for every death if they didn’t “take action.”
  • The pseudo-elites had and have incentive to keep the hoax going. The Enemedia know that if it bleeds, it leads, but they and the Democrats also wanted to damage Trump. Note that his strong economy has been crashed, and his popular rallies — central to his campaign effort — have been cancelled. Moreover, leftists have used the manufactured crisis to remove rights and advance their agenda, with some actually confessing this Machiavellian goal. Why, some rank-and-file leftists even admitted they’d prefer millions of Wuhan Flu deaths to Trump being re-elected.
  • It doesn’t help that Trump is a known germaphobe counseled by apparently incompetent and/or corrupt officials such as Fauci and Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx.

And now those officials have formulated a standard for opening the economy that has been called “rigged” and that may be impossible to satisfy. This is despite the Wizard of Oz Virus narrative’s collapse, with a study showing lockdowns don’t work and it becoming clearer, by the day, that they’ll actually lead to more disease and death.

It would be nice to think that the malicious Machiavellians in media and politics will be held accountable for visiting one of American history’s greatest blunders upon us. But that appears just a dream. It’s lamentable, surely, and can make one understand why G.K. Chesterton once remarked, “It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.”

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Gab (preferably) or Twitter, or log on to SelwynDuke.com.

©All rights reserved.

PODCAST: ‘We Can Protect Lives and Livelihoods,’ Says North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest

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North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest thinks his state is ready to reopen. “I believe right now many of our counties could start to open back up and you could start to do that in a safe and healthy way,” Forest, a Republican, says.

The lieutenant governor joins The Daily Signal Podcast to propose how America can begin to reopen at a local level to protect both lives and livelihoods. Plus, he discusses what he experienced traveling through North Carolina the past several weeks, and how he’s been helping those struggling. Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript.

We also cover these stories:

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts coronavirus-related deaths will reach 3,000 per day by June 1.
  • House GOP members are investigating China’s influence on U.S. university research of COVID-19.
  • The Supreme Court broadcasts teleconference arguments, allowing the public to listen in real time for the first time ever.

The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at letters@dailysignal.com. Enjoy the show!

In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>

Virginia Allen: I am joined by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. Lieutenant governor, thank you so much for being here.

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest: Virginia, thanks for allowing me to.

Allen: You have made it clear that your greatest concern during CCOVID-19 is helping the people of North Carolina. You’ve personally donated over $200,000 to the people in your state during the pandemic. Can you tell me about some of those people that you’ve helped?

Forest: Well, it was obvious, Virginia, right out of the gate when things started shutting down, that this was going to have devastating effects to people’s livelihoods, to a lot of business owners who, as you well know, and I’m sure you’ve covered them, have poured their life savings and their heart and soul into growing their business, maybe even over decades.

And then you can see how fragile things actually are and how quickly things can turn the wrong direction.

What we decided, really at the beginning, was … we were going to just start spending our time helping people across the state, and that’s what we did.

My wife Alice and I, we’ve spent the last six weeks traveling around the state and just trying to help people where we can.

Sometimes it’s helping a restaurant owner, write him a check, and help them to make their payroll or pay their rent or keep their lights on or even keep their employees fed.

Sometimes their employees have been furloughed and these restaurants are still trying to feed them and their families and it just goes on and on.

I know you’ve heard all the stories, but it’s truly devastating out there. And there’s two sides to this virus, there’s the virus side, which is devastating to a lot of people, and then there’s the economic side, which is devastating.

Allen: Last week you learned about a retired Army officer who is struggling to pay his bills and he was considering selling something very special and valuable to him. Can you tell me a little bit about that Army officer?

Forest: We actually found out about this online and the Bronze Star recipient, he was trying to help his wife keep her business afloat. So he posted online that he wanted to sell his Bronze Star to the highest bidder, which is sad enough in and of itself.

So we contacted him and said, “Listen, we will come and purchase your bronze star from you on one condition: that we can give it back to you at the same time.”

So last week … I went to Winston-Salem and met him and his wife and daughter and purchased his Bronze Star, and then turned around and handed it back to him.

Obviously, people that have put their lives on the line for our nation and earned metals shouldn’t have to be selling their metals in a time of crisis, but like a lot of people, they’ve fallen through the cracks on the bailout programs, the stimulus programs, and all those kinds of things, as you well know.

So, again, just trying to do a little part to help people out, to let people know you care. I think that’s [important] during times like this.

Allen: It’s so important. It really is. And those are the stories I think that just are giving all of us hope right now. To be reminding ourselves that, all right, when you turn on the news it might look bleak, but then, on the other hand, we’re seeing so much generosity of individuals.

I do just want to take a few minutes and talk a little bit about that issue of not only protecting lives but also livelihoods, like you mentioned.

You’ve made it very clear that you think North Carolina needs to begin reopening the state once again, and, of course, this is a big concern as well of The Heritage Foundation … we’ve been having those same discussions with the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission.

What plan are you advocating for in North Carolina to begin reopening the economy?

Forest: Well, the president laid out two platforms, one was state by state and the other was the states have the ability to open up county by county.

Our state is very diverse. Obviously, we have several large cities. The impact of the virus has been felt in those cities in particular, but not quite as heavily in many of the other counties. So we still have many counties that don’t have any deaths.

We have many counties who, I would suppose, if we were getting the correct data from our state, that we would find out that the people that have had the virus have recovered from it.

So the approach that I’ve suggested is the one that the president suggested, too, you can go county by county and open up.

We’re the second-most rural state in the United States of America, even though we have 10.5 million people, and we’re the eighth-largest state. So very diverse in nature and geography and so forth.

I believe right now many of our counties could start to open back up and you could start to do that in a safe and healthy way.

And, Virginia, I’ve said it from the beginning, this is the United States of America, we can protect lives and livelihoods at the same time. And you’ve seen governors across the country doing this.

You have these kind of two schools going on. You have governors who really have the perspective of saying we need to get the economy going, and we’re going to protect the most vulnerable. And then you have those governors who say we’ve got to lock everything down until there’s no other case of coronavirus left—and that’s not a reasonable approach for our country.

Allen: In your mind, how can North Carolina really balance both public health and reopening the economy? Is that kind of held within that county-by-county plan?

Forest: I think you just have to look at the facts here. The statistics line up, really, across the world. We know who the people are that are actually at real risk of this virus. It is the people that are the elderly and those that have immune issues already.

So people that are at risk fall into those categories, and so you can protect those people by quarantining them, having them stay at home for extra periods of time, creating shopping hours for those folks that don’t interfere with other people, creating times at restaurants where those people could actually go and get their food without coming into contact. All these kinds of things.

We know the demographics of the people that are hospitalized and the people that are dying. And I think we need to let the healthy folks get back to their livelihoods and allow freedom to reign again in America.

Personal responsibility and freedom is really important, but the government picking winners and losers in the economy based on their own preferences is, I think, a pretty bad thing.

You look at small-town America, a lot of these shops that exist in small towns have just a handful of visitors a day and you’re saying they can’t remain clean and they can’t social distance, but you’re going to close them down because they’re not essential.

I think every business is able to set those rules for themselves, and then if they don’t, then you come in with the stick. But I think the government should offer the carrot first and assume that personal responsibility is going to rule the day in America.

Allen: When the nation shut down about seven weeks ago, there was still a lot that we didn’t know about COVID-19. What have we learned about the coronavirus since the lockdown? And has that information affected your views?

Forest: I think everybody was probably in the same position. A couple months ago people were fearful and the statistics that people were presuming were 2 million people were going to die in the United States and this thing was going to be devastating.

So from a political leader’s perspective, I don’t blame anybody for any of the decisions they made with a lack of information. I think that is kind of the reactionary approach that people take when mayhem is on the line.

I think what you’ve seen is, again, you have seen the statistics start to tell us who the people are that are being hospitalized, and who the people are that are dying from this, and we know what categories they fit into.

So extra measures taken to test those population. Extra measures taken to screen people going in and out of those populations, of things like nursing homes and in places like that. And extra precautions taken by the business class of folks when they start to reopen again to continue to protect that population.

So we know a lot now. The statistics are really starting to show us who the vulnerable are and who the vulnerable are not. And we can go on about life and livelihood while protecting people at the same time.

Allen: How do you think that the president has handled the situation with COVID-19? And have you and the folks of North Carolina been working with the Trump administration on this?

Forest: Well, I have conversations, obviously, separately from our governor. Our governor is a different party. We don’t really communicate much, which is too bad. I wish that was the case, but it’s just not here.

And so yes, I’ve had conversations with the administration. I asked them a lot of questions. I get feedback. They’re very responsive.

I think the president actually has shown amazing restraint through all this. I think the first thing is he and his team had the foresight to close down travel from China as early as they possibly knew about this, while China was doing the opposite and sending people around the world still.

The president said, “Hey, let’s shut that down.” As you well know, and I’m sure you’ve talked about it a lot, he got criticized heavily for doing that, but that was probably a great major step.

Then after that, Virginia, I think he’s really shown amazing restraint. He has allowed federalism to do its job, allowing the governors to make the decisions for their state, and I think that is really the way it should be.

Again, just like I believe there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach for our counties across our state, there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach for the United States of America either.

So he laid out a framework and said, “Here’s a healthy framework for moving forward and you guys go make the choices.”

Allen: Now we are beginning to see different states, like you say, take different actions.

You know North Carolina has about 11,000 cases compared with a state like Georgia that has over 28,000 or Texas that has over 30,000, but the governors of those states and many others have already begun to reopen their economies.

Do you think that this is wisdom? Should many, many states now be reopening specifically across the South?

Forest: I think they should be. I think we’re doing incredibly well compared to other states our size. If you line us up against the top 10 states, we’re at the bottom of the list for cases and deaths and so forth. So we are doing extremely well in that category.

I think we are in a position to pass through the first gates, and we are not receiving the data from the state that we should be receiving that other states are producing.

I’ve been asking for that for a solid six weeks now. We need to know how many people have recovered from this.

Continuing to count the number of cases and watching that hockey stick go up as you test more and more and more, you’re going to continue to have more cases. You’re going to have more cases until you have a reliable vaccine for this thing, in fact.

So how many people are actively infected with this virus right now is a really important number. How many people have recovered, obviously, is an important number.

But also, we’ve asked for the data surrounding people that have been hospitalized. What’s the exact number of people hospitalized? Not the daily number because that’s not as important as how many people.

And then on the people that have been hospitalized or the people that have died, what’s their exact age, not within a broad range category? What’s their exact age and did they have other complications associated with their situation as well?

They’re just basic questions to help give the kind of data that we need to make clear, intelligent choices in our state about how to protect people and how to move forward at the same time.

Allen: Yeah, absolutely. Well, summer’s right around the corner and, of course, many parts of North Carolina and states all across the country really depend on tourism during the summer to fuel a lot of the business. Are you optimistic that we can reopen our economy in time for summer vacations and trips?

Forest: I’m very optimistic. In fact, I think the people of North Carolina are ready for it. I think the people of North Carolina have done a phenomenal job of making great sacrifices to protect their state and to protect their neighbors and do all the right things. And we’ve seen that across our state.

I happened to be down east a couple of days ago, I guess it was on Friday, Saturday, and there were hundreds of boats out in the water. People were out there, the sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day. It was a warm day.

There are so many people that are just eager to get back about life right now, and I don’t think you can really hold them down. That’s why leadership is tough during these things.

It’s very difficult, and you have these two schools of leadership, one that is kind of the police state that’s going to try to tell everybody what to do every second, but the government is here to protect us, but not to run and control our lives. And that’s really, really important.

We have to make sure that when we come through this thing, we learn a lot of lessons.

I think the biggest lesson that we’re going to learn through this is how do we protect our Constitution and our constitutional freedoms as we move out of this and make sure that we don’t move into a police state mentality every time something starts to go down in our country?

So that’s going to be a very tough one to navigate and I’m sure it will play out in the elections coming up in November.

Allen: Absolutely. Well, you’ve been serving as lieutenant governor since 2013. You have certainly witnessed a lot of policy and political changes over the past seven years. From where you sit in a place of leadership, how have you seen America change over the past several years?

Forest: Oh, boy, I think it’s actually been quite drastic. I think that this whole notion of identity politics and dividing people into identity politics subgroups out there and then using fear to divide and separate is a dangerous thing. I think we’ve seen that over the last handful of years especially.

I’m hoping that one of the things that usually happens during a time of disaster, whether it’s a natural disaster or something like this, is people come together and they get unified.

I think that we have a lot of work to do in America to unify people and unite people, and we even see different schools during a pandemic.

You kind of have those that say, “At all costs, stay home and stay locked down.” And they cross all political spectrums and ideologies.

And then you have people that say, “Let’s get back to work, let’s get the economy going.” And they cross all spectrums and ideologies.

So it’s not just a right-versus-left kind of thing. So it’d be very interesting to see how that unity plays out as we go forward.

I think we can have empathy and compassion for both the sides of this challenge that I mentioned earlier. And we should have empathy and compassion for it.

Again, I think protecting our freedoms based on our constitutional ideas is the most important thing we can do going forward.

Allen: Yeah, absolutely. What policy issues do you feel you’ve been most proud to play a role in implementing in North Carolina?

Forest: We do a lot of policy work behind the scenes as lieutenant governor. I preside over the Senate. I don’t have the opportunity to actually put my name on a lot of policy, but we have a lot of friends in the House, a lot of friends in the Senate, and we write a lot of policy. So it’s really across the board.

I spend a lot of my time in education. So I’m really proud of a lot of things we’re doing in education to move to competency-based education.

We’re the first state in the nation to have every single classroom connected to high-speed broadband and providing the kinds of access and technology, especially to people who haven’t had it before across our state, that’s been important to me.

Human trafficking, we’ve spent a lot of time on the human trafficking issue. We were No. 6 in the nation for human trafficking in our country, on the bad side, not on the good side. So we have a lot of work to do there, and we passed some really good bills to help push that forward.

I think that I could go on, but there’s a lot of things that we do at the small level as lieutenant governor that I’m very proud of and we have a great team.

Allen: Lieutenant governor, we certainly thank you for your service to our country and we just really appreciate your time today.

Forest: Thank you, Virginia, for having me on. And thanks to Heritage for all the great work you do to protect freedom in our country.

PODCAST BY

Virginia Allen

Virginia Allen is a news producer for The Daily Signal. She is the co-host of The Daily Signal Podcast and Problematic Women. Send an email to Virginia. Twitter: @Virginia_Allen5.

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The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

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PODCAST: The Impact of COVID-19 on America’s Economy

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The $2.2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package and historic unemployment rate during the coronavirus pandemic is placing a strain on our economy.

Rachel Greszler, research fellow in economics, budget, and entitlements at The Heritage Foundation, joins the podcast to explain the effects of record high unemployment on the economy and how Americans can successfully get back to work after COVID-19.

Greszler also shares the intended purpose of the Paycheck Protection Program and what Congress can do to resolve the program’s shortcomings.

Also on today’s show, we talk with Neal Harmon, co-founder of the family-friendly streaming service VidAngel, about the platform’s original series “The Chosen.”

In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>

Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript.

The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at letters@dailysignal.com. Enjoy the show!

Virginia Allen: I am joined by Rachel Greszler, research fellow in economics, budget, and entitlements at The Heritage Foundation. Rachel, thanks so much for being here.

Rachel Greszler: My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Virginia.

Allen: Today we’re talking about our economy and what are some of those variables that we’re seeing right now in the economy and what some of those effects are of COVID-19.

Quite frankly, I really wish that this could be a cheerier conversation, but I’m really glad that you can join us today and share a little bit of your expertise on this subject and just give us a glimpse into America’s economy now and what it might look like in the future.

Let’s begin by talking about unemployment. You wrote in a recent article that unemployment rates are close to 20%. Twenty percent, that’s unbelievable. Just in the past four weeks, we’ve seen about 26 million Americans apply for unemployment benefits.

Now, the government’s response to these high numbers has been to not only provide the normal unemployment benefits to Americans, but also to give all recipients an additional $600 a week. What was the rationale behind, not only offering those unemployment benefits, but tacking on that additional $600?

Greszler: In a normal situation, the unemployment program, it doesn’t cover everybody. It doesn’t cover people like the self-employed or part-time workers or gig economy workers.

It also only provides about 50% of people’s previous earnings. You also have to be fired from a job. You can’t quit or choose to leave your job.

But under these unusual circumstances, when businesses were forced to shut their doors and workers lost their job, through no fault of their own, tens of millions of workers, Congress wanted to do something to bridge the gap in a better way so that we could give people a higher portion of their earnings so that they could maintain their living standard, pay their bills, and then be able to be ready to come back to work as soon as it’s safe to reopen businesses.

The goal there was to try and get people closer to what they had previously gotten from their paychecks, in the form of unemployment insurance check.

The problem there was, they just said, “Well, let’s do $600 for everybody because for somebody who makes about the average, this would help bring them up to 100%. But the reality is, a majority of Americans will be getting more from unemployment insurance than they would from their normal paycheck.

That creates a lot of bad incentives, including ones that go against the grain and are going to defeat the funds and the programs that Congress has set up, that do try to keep people employed.

Allen: Let’s talk more about that, because you wrote that the extra $600 a week could increase unemployment benefit claims by 13.9 million and reduce the nation’s output by up to $1.49 trillion between May and September. Can you just explain this domino effect a little bit more?

Greszler: Yes. My colleague Drew Gonshorowski and I have a report … and we use some modeling in the Center for Data Analysis to look at what the impact would be, considering that more people will file for unemployment insurance benefits because more people are eligible to obtain them and they will also tend to be on them for longer because they’re making a higher portion of their earnings than they otherwise would have.

So, we said, we see this as being really problematic and we want policymakers to know what the implications will be.

We ran it through our labor models and found that the total amount of unemployed could peak at about an extra 14 million people in about May, and that is a result of people not working and staying at home instead of coming back when they’re able to, otherwise, the output will decline by somewhere between $955 billion and $1.5 trillion between May and September.

We used a lot of economic research, elasticities, to model this, but we’re starting to see the real-world implications of it from businesses that are reporting that they’ve had to close their doors, even though they want to be able to stay open and provide things to people like first responders or maybe it’s restaurants that some of those states now … allowed to start reopening and they aren’t able to get their workers to come back because some of them might be making 50% more on unemployment than they would if they went back to work.

Even just for the median earner, they can make an extra $2,300 over four months of unemployment, compared to being employed.

This is particularly true for the lower you go down the income scale. Somebody who’s at about the 25th percentile of earnings would get an extra $5,000 over this four-month period that the additional benefits are available.

So, clearly, it’s in their financial incentive to not come back to work once their employer says, “We’d like to rehire you.” That’s going to create all sorts of problems in terms of not being able to get the economy going again, once it’s safe to do so.

Allen: Rachel, you’re saying that if, let’s say, I work as a receptionist, it may be an auto part shop or something like that, and I go to my employer and I say I feel unsafe working right now during the pandemic, then I can quit. But I can still, under the CARES Act, receive unemployment, the regular unemployment benefits, plus that $600, and probably be making even more than I would be making from my employer.

Greszler: That’s exactly right. Under this new eligibility criteria, it really is more in workers’ hands to decide whether or not they’re going to keep working or to file for unemployment insurance.

Say you’re that receptionist, maybe making $600 per week coming into the office. You would be making $900 per week from unemployment and those additional benefits are available until July 31, so there’s going to be a big incentive for people to not go back to work until at least July 31 and we certainly hope that Congress doesn’t extend those benefits beyond July 31.

Allen: What about the Paycheck Protection [Program]? Because my understanding of the Paycheck Protection [Program] was that it was really put in place in order to keep employees attached to their employer, so that now, employers could keep paying their staff and we wouldn’t end up in a situation where so many people were filing for unemployment.

Greszler: Yes, and that was exactly the goal of the Paycheck Protection Program.

It’d aimed at smaller businesses, but it’s a resource for them to be able to keep all their workers on their paychecks, even if they’re not actually coming into work or maybe they’re only doing a few hours from home, to keep those connections so that workers don’t lose their health insurance, and that when it’s able to get things up and running again, everybody will be in place and able to resume more quickly.

But the problem is that these are competing with one another now. We’ve heard cases of a spa owner in Washington State, who went out and got a Paycheck Protection Program loan and she was announcing it to all of her employees on one of these Zoom calls and they got angry with her and they thought that she was taking something away from them by wanting them to remain employed and get their usual paychecks because they could have gotten more from unemployment insurance.

Similarly, a wood mill in Arkansas, they polled their workers and said, “Would you rather keep coming into work and keep your paychecks or do you want the unemployment insurance?” Because they had already heard from among the ranks that a lot of people didn’t really want to keep working.

They decided that they were going to lay off half of the people at one of those plants because they didn’t want to have that animosity in the workplace of people thinking, “I’d rather be at home and collecting these benefits.”

Allen: What should Congress have done differently? How could the Paycheck Protection [Program] been implemented in a way that it actually really was helping small businesses instead of hurting them?

Greszler: It was really an easy fix, and this was something that a group of senators provided an amendment for that just would have said the total amount of unemployment benefits … cannot exceed what you were previously getting in your paycheck.

This is very commonsense, but there was pushback against that.

Some people said it would make it harder to implement, but the reality is, the states already have formulas, whether it’s 50% or whatever it is, and so to just say that that new formula is going to be kept at 100% would not have been that much more administratively burdensome to implement.

It certainly would have helped prevent these situations where workers are being incentivized to quit.

Employers are being incentivized to lay workers off, instead of go through the application process of getting a loan, which were difficult to do and I know the money did run out there at one point. It’s an easy fix and, hopefully, Congress will still be looking at this and consider putting that fix into place.

Allen: Let’s talk about the long-term economic impacts from COVID-19—and these were really generous unemployment benefits.

Let’s say we get to July or August and businesses across America are given the green light to reopen. Are you worried that businesses are going to face challenges of actually getting employees to come back to work and that it’s going to be really challenging to actually get Americans off of unemployment?

Greszler: I think it is, especially before July 31, when this additional $600 per week runs out and, unfortunately, it’s going to be hardest to get those people back in the industries that have been hardest hurt—like restaurants, hotels, tourism, and travel—because then these tend to be the lower-paid workers and they are the ones who take home the biggest benefit by this additional $600 per week coming through to them.

In some ways, we can’t fault them if they’re able to collect more money from unemployment and save that up. That makes sense for them individually. But it might not actually make sense in the long term.

Also because we know that the longer people are unemployed, the lower their opportunities and incomes are in the future. But also just in the short term, in terms of getting the economy going again and having us be productive and, in particular, being able to meet some of the needs.

We’ve already seen supply shortages in certain companies that are not able to deliver things or [make] what’s needed to be made as quickly as possible to meet the demands from COVID-19.

So that’s going to be an increasing fear going forward, especially as this is going to remain an issue into the fall flu season. We want to have the companies be prepared to be able to respond to COVD-19 in the ways that we need them to.

Allen: Yeah, and one of the other issues that we’re hearing a lot about in the news right now is state bailouts. There’s a great deal of controversy here. Is there a world where the federal government should consider baling some states out?

Greszler: Not a bailout. There’s definitely a role for the federal government to provide help for COVID-19-related expenses and we’ve already seen an unprecedented amount of money go toward that and the federal government is covering almost all the health care costs.

They’ve provided $150 billion in direct grants to the states, up to $500 billion in new lending. That is unprecedented, coming from the Federal Reserve.

But what the states are asking for now is unrestricted funds to use for whatever purpose they want, essentially, including if their revenues have gone down, which is something that states are supposed to plan for, and that’s why they have rainy day funds, and also covering things like pension obligations that they haven’t funded for decades.

Illinois sent a letter to Congress asking for $40 billion, including $10 billion to cover their unfunded pension obligation. That has nothing to do with COVID-19.

So, there is not a need and there’s no real excuse that the federal government would bail out states. That just sets a terrible precedent, going forward, that you’re going to penalize states who have acted in a responsible way fiscally and reward those who have been reckless.

Allen: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that states maybe should consider declaring bankruptcy if they really need to.

His exact words were, “I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route.” McConnell has received a lot of backlash from this statement.

Do you think that the bankruptcy route is something that some states might need to consider?

Greszler: I think the important takeaway behind Sen. McConnell’s statement is that the federal government’s not responsible for states’ budgets.

So, to the extent that there have been states like Illinois or New York coming and saying, “We absolutely need you to give us this money or we’re not going to be able to operate,” that’s not true. You don’t get into a bankruptcy-like situation unless you have had decades worth of fiscal mismanagement.

The issue of bankruptcy itself, the states are actually not allowed to declare bankruptcy right now.

States can allow their cities or the municipalities to declare bankruptcy, but going forward, this is an issue that will remain something for Congress and the states to consider, because the reality is, there are some states that, prior to COVID-19, were already in a situation where they’re pretty rapidly approaching insolvency, and Illinois is the best example of that.

I really don’t see a way forward for that state to either raise taxes enough or cut services enough that they will be able to pay their debts and fulfill their pension obligations. So something will have to be done there.

Whether or not that’s a bankruptcy-type situation or if the state sits down and negotiates with its debtors and with its public employees, something will have to be done.

But I think that the issue of COVID-19, that in and of itself would not cause a state to become insolvent. I think that’s the point that was trying to be made here, is that “We will help you with the expenses related to this health pandemic, but we’re not going to cover those things that are your own responsibility to budget for.”

Allen: I see. That makes sense. Speaking of debt, America’s national debt now is over $24 trillion, last time I checked. That is higher than it’s ever been before and, frankly, a number that’s just … really hard to wrap your mind around.

Our federal government is spending a lot of money right now on these various stimulus packages. Where is this money coming from?

Greszler: It’s coming from you and me and the future, from our children, from anybody that’s working today on out into how many years, we don’t know because we don’t know when our debt becomes unsustainable.

Looking back decades ago, we would have said, “How could we ever get over $23 trillion in debt and have a single year in which we have $4 trillion in debt? That’s not possible.” And yet it seems like it’s possible now.

The problem is you just don’t know when these debt crises hit. Puerto Rico didn’t anticipate the timing of when there’s [hit], Greece, other countries.

When you get to the situation where creditors just decide that they’re not going to lend to you anymore at an unreasonable rate, that’s when you don’t have time to make the more rational decisions to pare back on certain expenses that you otherwise would have been able to if you acted sooner.

We’re already at a situation in the U.S. where each household in America owns about $187,000 worth of America’s debt, and that was before COVID-19, and now we’ve added on about another $27,000 per household. This is clearly an unsustainable level and a huge burden for future generations.

Allen: Is it possible to actually pay off that much debt?

Greszler: … It’s possible. You have to do it over time. It’s going to take a level of fiscal restraint that we’ve never seen before.

What we don’t want to get to is a situation where you have enormous tax rates that lead to a smaller economy and then it results in a downward spiral and you are more likely to face a bankruptcy-type situation or having the Fed need to print its way out of debt. That’s certainly not something that we want it to come to.

Allen: Yeah. What does need to happen next? How can we come out of the coronavirus situation and really ensure that, like you say, we’re leaving our kids and our grandkids a prosperous America that has the same opportunities that you and I have enjoyed?

Greszler: I think, starting with the current crisis, is evaluating what’s been done to date and how has it worked or not worked.

There’s just constant urge by Congress to pass more and more stimulus bills, to try and have more assistance and aid and relief, and yet, we don’t even know.

Some of the money hasn’t gone out the door and we don’t know what the impact has been. We don’t know what it’s going to be like as states start reopening their economy.

I would say the first thing is, … unless it’s an absolute immediate need, directly-related to COVID-19, we shouldn’t be considering spending more money yet. We need to wait and see and hope that things will start reopening and rebounding.

Then, going forward, just as any time when a household would run out of its rainy day funds or have to take on debt, you have to budget in the future to account for that. You have to eventually pay that back.

Unfortunately, the U.S. has not ever been paying things back. It’s like we have an interest-only mortgage and we just keep increasing that mortgage every single year and never paying anything down.

We actually have a proposal at The Heritage Foundation called the “Blueprint for Balance” that we’ve put out each year, and we show how you could actually start balancing our annual budget within 10 years and get to a more sustainable pathway going forward.

Allen: We’ll be sure to link the “Blueprint for Balance” in our show notes so our audience can check that out. Rachel, we really appreciate your time today and your expertise on this subject.

Greszler: Thanks so much, Virginia.

PODCAST BY

Virginia Allen

Virginia Allen is a news producer for The Daily Signal. She is the co-host of The Daily Signal Podcast and Problematic Women. Send an email to Virginia. Twitter: @Virginia_Allen5.

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A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

They’re making this guide available to all readers of The Daily Signal for free today!

GET ACCESS NOW! >>

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: White House Will Release ‘Conclusive’ Evidence Coronavirus Originated In Wuhan Lab, Trump Says

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Interview: Donald Trump Joins a Fox Town Hall Interview at the Lincoln Memorial – May 3, 2020

President Donald Trump suggested during Sunday night’s Fox News town hall that his administration will soon release “conclusive” evidence showing how the coronavirus originally leaked out of China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“I don’t think there is any question about it,” Trump responded when asked a question on whether China’s action allowed the pandemic to spread across the globe. He proceeded to tell host Bret Baier that the administration “will be giving a very strong report on what we think happened, and I think it will be very conclusive.”

The president has repeatedly claimed to have seen evidence the virus leaked out of a research facility, and his latest comments come the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo maintained the administration has compiled an extensive report on the virus’s lab origins.

“We have said from the beginning, this virus originated in Wuhan, China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outset. But I think the whole world can see now,” Pompeo said on ABC Sunday morning. “Remember, China has a history of infecting the world and they have a history of running sub-standard laboratories.”

“These aren’t the first times that we have had the world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab.”

Trump clarified Sunday night that he doesn’t view the coronavirus as a malicious action from China.

US President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a Fox News virtual town hall “America Together: Returning to Work,” event, with anchors Bret Baier (R) and Martha MacCallum (L), from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on May 3, 2020. – Trump will answer questions submitted by viewers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

“Personally I think they made a horrible mistake,” he told co-host Martha MacCallum. “They didn’t want to admit it. We wanted to go in but they didn’t want us there. World Health wanted to go in.”

“They tried to cover it, they tried to put it out,” he continued. “It’s like trying to put out a fire. They couldn’t put out the fire.”

The White House is actively investigating ways to hold China financially accountable for its role in allowing the pandemic to spread across the globe. Officials did not respond when asked by the Daily Caller when the president’s aforementioned report will be publicly released.

COLUMN BY

CHRISTIAN DATOC

Senior White House correspondent. Follow Christian on Twitter and Inst0gram.

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Mike Pompeo Says There’s ‘Enormous Evidence’ That Coronavirus Came From Wuhan Lab

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Coronavirus and the Horrors of Democrat Control

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Everyday we are seeing more studies which confirm that COVID-19 is not deadlier than the flu. Numerous health experts say social-distancing is not the correct solution. The total shutdown of America was not necessary.

Meanwhile, Democrat and RINO governors continue to decree absurd overreaching restrictions to supposedly “protect us”. The Raleigh N.C. police declared “protesting is a non-essential activity” and arrested a woman. Michigan Gov Whitmer decreed, “All public gatherings of any size are prohibited.” Bam! There goes our foundational right to “peaceably assemble.”

In some states residents are not allowed to visit friends or relatives. People with more than one home are banned from traveling between them. Big box stores cannot sell carpet, seeds, U.S. flags and paint. A paddle-boarder out on the water far from anyone was arrested at Malibu Beach. In California, police gave $1,000 tickets to people watching the sunset in their cars. In various states, freedom to worship God in your car in parking lots is banned.

This threat by the city of Los Angeles scared the crap out of me, as it should every American. The city will cut off water and power of those who do not comply with its outrageous restrictions. Wow! Are we no longer living in America?

The U.S. Constitution is a sacred document which has protected our freedoms since our founding. It is intolerable that governors can decree it null and void by simply saying they are doing it for our good. As my late momma would say, “Help us Lord Jesus!”

Recently in my tiny West Virginia town we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. Two moms walked side by side pushing their babies in strollers. I heard laughter and yells from kids at the school yard playing games and basketball. Six motorcyclists had lunch beside the main road through town. People were thrilled to be outside interacting.

Governors insisting on keeping Americans in cages is unsustainable. But the greater question is why are Democrat governors so hellbent on doing it? Clearly, the lock-down is no longer about protecting us from COVID-19. They relish having total control of every aspect of our lives. Let us not forget that HillaryCare would have denied healthcare to gun owners.

Ponder what your life would be like if Democrats gained control of the White House, the House and the Senate. Kiss all your constitutional freedoms good-bye.

I repeatedly find myself asking, “What is wrong with Democrats and the American left?” Why is everything they want harmful to American citizens? Why is their thinking so dramatically different from that of average Americans? I realize they have globalist and progressive agendas. But still, why are they obsessed with killing as many American babies as possible even after they are born?

Democrats and the American left claim to be advocates for LGBTQ. Why do they praise Islam which advocates killing homosexuals and despise Christianity which courts them with love?

Fake news media and Democrats scared America into a total shutdown. Then, Democrats in congress refused to sign-on to corona virus relief checks for suffering Americans unless they were allowed to include funding for their pet projects unrelated to the shutdown or virus.

Why have Democrats used corona virus to release felons who are harming citizens? Twenty-six million and counting Americans have lost their jobs due to the shutdown. Why are Democrats pushing for illegal aliens to be allowed to enter our country to take jobs?

Do you see a pattern? Folks, I could go on and on with things Democrats want which harm Americans. Again, I ask. What is wrong with these people?

I am extremely grateful that Americans are rising up across our great nation, demanding the return of our freedoms. God is on our side.

Please join the rebellion.

©All rights reserved.

RELATED: 

The Betrayal and the Programming behind Covid 19 – A UK Perspective [Part 1]

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These are my views as a woman living in England, on how the culture and spirit of my country has changed over 50 years.   Why the country does not feel protected or strong any more, how it has lost, and is losing it values and decency, and how we are daily losing our free speech.

Since Cain killed Abel and the growing enmity between Ishmael and Isaac’s existence, the world has never been a safe place for us to hide from.   We can be subject to thousands of incidents, accidents and illnesses inside and outside our home every day of the week.   We take precautions; but the virus of evil is much more destructive than we can ever imagine.

It is very strange and slightly sad when you listen and bear witness to two continuous and very different narratives every day.

You see the battle between fact and fiction, reality and lies, in relation to Covid 19, are currently coexisting in a parallel world right now.   However, I sense storm clouds are gathering; and the stoic British pride of working together during a national crisis may just be about to turn a bit nasty if certain ‘other’ truths should ever get openly reported.

Right now some people are dealing with what they see as manageable in a world of sleeping, eating, on line shopping and exercising. They trust what they are told.  An initial fear and panic has slowly subsided and along with some unusual sunny weather, the British public are now, according to TV programming, ‘In this Together’ and ‘Undefeated’ against a virus which in only a few short weeks has dictated its very presence to every second of our waking moments

Between messages of staying fit, connecting with loved ones,  helping each other out (all worthy virtues) and finding new ways of interacting with each other from a distance; also including the latest technology of course, the alerts of ‘Staying Home to Protect Lives’ are constantly being aired.   And, as if by chance you should feel bad about your life, programmes are still being interrupted by how much worse it is for those who are also suffering from cancer, heart disease and arthritis, just to name a few of the many illnesses which have also affected everyone’s lives and coexisted in our world for a very long time.

Recently, as though for a moment forgotten, talking about our Mental Health state has also just been resurrected.  There is another type of suffering as a result of being confined or separated from humanity, also taking place.  Could it be the loss of a person’s identity creates confusion and fear when the world falls apart?  The negative aspects and the cost to human life are not being equally reported against the statistics for the deaths created by Covid 19.

There are also posters on a main road near to me instructing me to ‘Be Kind’.  It’s a positive message to consider, but I’m not sure if this means that we cannot speak up against any evils that we may see along the way, and I have wondered how kindness can suddenly be a virtue which can over-ride the secret evil that resides in many men’s hearts?

For some reason there seems to be a whole lot of emotions being toyed with here. It is like being bombed from a great height with no air raid shelter to protect you and you see people accepting without question any orders that they are being given.     Life, if you are not objective, is like a roller coaster, being up one moment, down the next, turned upside down and looping the loop.   The results have become a false high or an actual sickness.

Many people are now avoiding the alerts as best as they can for many different reasons.   Some are aware it frightens them and some are aware there is other information out there which does not correspond with what they are seeing.    Some have found a renewed faith and stillness and an appreciation of the simple things in life, like a silver lining around a very dark cloud.   Genuine kindness then surfaces.   In some respects a search and rescue mission has been taking place regardless of the silence of the Church of England or the religion of your best life now which is indifferent to everyone else who is perishing in their sins.

However, on the whole, the mainstream media and our TV programming are reporting a collective humanism, which is minus God of course, which is doing fine thank you, whilst still remembering the facts of the virus.     We have to remember we are in this together like a new one world religion that is strong and undefeated.

It looks good and it feels good, but sadly, we are being tricked.  We have no idea of what, or who the enemy really is, if we are only listening to what we are being told.     At times like these it is worth remembering or being aware of how evil really works if you can stomach some facts, do a little research and use some rational and critical thinking for ourselves.  Another virus, the virus of inherent evil which does not care about humanity, and only cares for itself, still operates. It has always taken advantage.  It gives people a false illusion of heroism and togetherness, feeds people false facts, and offers a helping hand too.   It comes appearing as an angel of light, when really it is a demon of darkness.  It uses Commonality to promote its Purpose.   Whilst it has you feeling inclusive, it is usually carrying out it own divisive agenda.

Staying at Home to Save Lives

Whilst many people believe they are staying at home to save lives, on the 30th March, the UK government approved new measures which allow DIY abortions to be performed on women by themselves in their homes without the need of a medical professional to be present.

Considered to be a ‘temporary’ policy, it is reported doctors can prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol over the phone or via Face time and Skype, which is the new normal way of interacting.

An urgent application for a judicial review has been made by a Christian law firm.   CEO Andrea Williams states:

“The government appears to be caving to the long-standing pressure from abortion industry promoters for whom this has long been a goal.

 “If this goes unchallenged and is widely practiced there will be no going back and that is tragic for women and their children.

Staying at Home to Save Lives

Whilst many people are making sacrifices by socially distancing themselves from their loved ones and staying home, it has been reported by Brexit Party UK Leader, Nigel Farage that up until recently our borders were open and illegal immigrants were still entering the UK, together with passengers arriving by flights to the country, and were not being tested for Covid 19.   On the 28th April 2020, he tweeted “What is the Government doing to stop the boats from crossing the British channel.   Border Force seems to be complicit.   In the Telegraph he wrote:

“When you think about just how relaxed the UK government has been with regard to people arriving on our shores since this situation unfolded, isn’t the very term ‘lockdown’ a misnomer?  

The BBC, the British Broadcasting Company which sadly people no longer trust very much, reported that 40 people were recently picked up by Border Force.  They stated:

“Our priorities are to arrest and dismantle the organised crime gangs who are prepared to gamble with the lives of others and returning those who have come here illegally, from a safe country.”

Staying at Save Lives Home to

The appreciation towards the dedication that some of our doctors and nurses working for our National Health Service, and of course all of our Emergency Services goes without saying.   Prior to Covid 19, there were very mixed reactions being targeted towards our NHS who were working with a system that was overloaded and stretched unable to support the growing number of people who were using the service?   Waiting times and a lack of available beds, together with how money was being spent, were some of the problems that were constantly being criticized.

Over the last six weeks, an appreciation towards carers is now being demonstrated by residents across the country coming out of their homes at a certain time of night on a Thursday, and cheering and clapping in the streets.   There are also posters of hearts and rainbows in the windows of some people homes showing their appreciation to the NHS.

However, it is now being reported by a doctor who keeps an on line diary for the NHS on the BBC website, that they are experiencing ‘clapping injuries’.  Yes.

He writes:

People might need to be a bit more cautious, especially if they’ve been sitting down all day and then get up to clap. It might be one of the only times older people come outside and so there is a risk of falling and I’d just remind people to take care.

“The clap for carers has made us a little busier,” says Richard Pilling, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Harrogate District Hospital.

“It’s very nice that everyone is very enthusiastic about showing support but it’s escalated, so people are coming out banging pans and seeing who can clap the loudest, and therein accidents lie.

I am embarrassed to write about this just as I would be embarrassed to warn people about clapping.  As an over-protective mother I have learnt some lessons about being too cautious and the consequences that arise from that; but seriously, clapping!

Instructing people, some of whom have fought in many different battles throughout their life about clapping, should seriously raise some questions about what is really going on right here and who and what is controlling your life.

We should remember that more than one million British military personnel lost their lives in World War I and World War II alone.  What has happened to the spirit that fought for freedom and has now been reduced to being warned about clapping?  Are we also being controlled by the same virus?

“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.” ― Adolf Hitler

©All rights reserved

SOURCES:

The Establishment talks tough about the lockdown but stays silent on illegal immigration

“Government is being negligent over border control,” doctor tells Nigel Farage

Coronavirus: Migrants cross Channel amid Covid-19 fears

DIY abortions will cause ‘serious harm’ says expert as urgent application for judicial review filed

RELATED VIDEO: Coronavirus: ‘gobsmacked’ pilot tells Nigel Farage flights to Italy haven’t been cancelled.

Parental Consent Laws for Underage Girls Seeking Abortion Help Fight Against Human Trafficking

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It is welcome news that Florida is now set to become the sixth state to require both parental consent and notice before minor girls can get an abortion. A bill mandating this has passed both houses of the state Legislature, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised to sign it.

Ensuring that a child’s parents are involved before any medical or surgical procedure is performed on a minor patient makes sense in any state.

In Florida, though, it makes extra sense. Florida is home to a huge immigrant population, many of them undocumented and vulnerable, and special care should be taken to protect these vulnerable girls.

Surprisingly, abortion is often excluded under existing commonsense parental consent laws, even though it is an invasive surgical procedure with significant potential for harmful complications.

In these trying times, we must turn to the greatest document in the history of the world to promise freedom and opportunity to its citizens for guidance. Find out more now >>

In Florida, for instance, it is illegal to tattoo a child under 16, and parental consent is required for minors between 16 and 18. Anyone with a child in school knows how delicately and diffidently school administrators handle any medical intervention, even the administration of Tylenol for cramps.

Surgeons would lose their licenses if they performed a tonsillectomy on a child without informing the parents or guardians or seeking their consent.

In fact, from an ethical standpoint, children are deemed unable to consent to medical treatment since they may be unable to grasp complicated medical facts because of their age and inexperience.

Yet, the abortion lobby insists that minor girls should be allowed to access abortion without any parental oversight because such oversight could be a “threat to young women’s safety.”

But protecting girls from abusive or neglectful parents can be done with judicial waivers (included in the Florida bill) and without stripping good parents of their ability to protect their daughters from abusive boyfriends or older men who may be raping them and then coercing them to abort.

Sexual predators are happy when their victim has an abortion without the knowledge or involvement of her mother and father. It lets them keep abusing the child undetected.

Taking parents out of the picture doesn’t just leave girls to the mercy of bad men, it takes away parental counsel, guidance, and support. Parents who don’t know their child has had an abortion are unable to ensure their daughter will receive adequate follow-up care. In the absence of proper treatment, a minor complication can quickly become life-threatening.

All of these good reasons for requiring parental consent are even more important in Florida.

In my hometown of Miami, more than 50% of the population is immigrant. Many are undocumented. Far too many are vulnerable people whose lack of English and, sometimes, work papers consigns them to dangerous neighborhoods where their children live in close proximity to gang activity, prostitution, and human trafficking rings.

Sadly, after labor trafficking, “domestic minor sex trafficking,” constitutes “the … most prevalent and under-reported and under-prosecuted human trafficking offense in Florida,” according to a Florida State University study.

Given the prevalence of sexual abuse of girls here, it is simply unconscionable that Florida parents would not be informed if their minor daughter is pregnant and seeking an abortion.

Existing law requires abortion facilities and providers to alert the authorities if they suspect a young girl seeking an abortion is being abused by an older man or being trafficked as a prostitute, but abortion providers are in the business—the big business—of performing abortions and certainly cannot be counted on to report this.

One undercover sting video of a New Jersey Planned Parenthood showed a clinic manager telling a man posing as a pimp that when he brings his 14- or 15-year-old “girls” in for abortions they should lie or play stupid about their age. She is seen coaching the “pimp” on how to manage his underage prostitutes, some of whom, he says, do not speak English.

A girl’s natural protectors and defenders are her mother and father. A law that puts Florida parents back in that crucial role will be an important bulwark against the abuse of minor girls. It also will help ensure young women undergoing the tragedy of an abortion will receive the appropriate medical care should something go wrong.

The only losers when this commonsense, reality-based requirement becomes state law will be the sexual predators and greedy abortion providers who put profits over people.

COLUMN BY

Grazie Pozo Christie

Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie is a policy advisor for The Catholic Association. Twitter: @GChristiemd.

A Note for our Readers:

This is a critical year in the history of our country. With the country polarized and divided on a number of issues and with roughly half of the country clamoring for increased government control—over health care, socialism, increased regulations, and open borders—we must turn to America’s founding for the answers on how best to proceed into the future.

The Heritage Foundation has compiled input from more than 100 constitutional scholars and legal experts into the country’s most thorough and compelling review of the freedoms promised to us within the United States Constitution into a free digital guide called Heritage’s Guide to the Constitution.

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VIDEO: The Full (CENSURED) Press Conference with Dr. Erickson and Dr. Massihi on COVID-19

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Todd Wilcox from the Patriots Defense Group posted the below commentary with video:

Unfortunately, it appears dissenting medical and scientific opinion is not always so welcomed. This video was censured by YouTube and having watched it from start to finish I do not understand why. Regardless of your political affiliation, we should all object to censorship especially that of opinion that contradicts conventional wisdom or generally accepted norms.

Take the time to watch it for yourself if for no other reason than someone at YouTube didn’t want you to see it.

As COVID-19 spread globally, the CDC created forecasts based on the use of statistical mathematical models aimed at predicting changes in the national and state level cumulative reported COVID-19 deaths. Using the scientific method these early CDC models were built on hypothesis because we didn’t have any empirical data about this novel virus. Those models along with the advice of our nation’s top medical and scientific professionals guided the early decisions of our political leadership at every level of government to justifiably halt international travel, shut down the economy, close schools and issue stay at home orders in an unprecedented effort to quarantine the population to alleviate the spread.

It is clear that those collective mitigation efforts significantly decreased the number of people that would have otherwise been killed by COVID-19. This allowed us to avoid overwhelming of the health care capacity of ICU beds and ventilators which, based on the model’s early predictions, could have been a tipping point for the collapse of our socio-economic system as we know it.

Those models initially predicted millions of deaths in the US which were later revised to hundreds of thousands of deaths as new data became available. As the models were further refined with data on a daily basis, we saw new signs of optimism and the projected deaths rates came down yet again though tragically already surpassing the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.

Without the benefit of data in the early stages of this pandemic, we now see in hindsight that these predictive models were grossly inaccurate; but that is OK because the models served us well in the early stages of the pandemic and saved American lives. However as additional data becomes available, we can and should leverage a more sophisticated analysis which can be supplemented with data from other countries and the comparative results of varying levels of mitigation efforts undertaken by political leaders in counties, cities and states, and countries around the world. In fact that is exactly what is happening here in the US and around the world.

It is now incumbent upon all of us to be open minded and follow the scientific method to analyze and apply the empirical data that we now have and so desperately needed 8-weeks ago. We should put aside fear, politics and our innately human confirmation bias, as we consider various policy options to get back to work and reignite the US economy.

ABOUT TODD WILCOX

Todd Wilcox is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Patriot Defense. He founded Patriot Defense in 2005 with the purpose of Serving those who defend America®. Todd is a decorated combat veteran, former CIA case officer and a successful entrepreneur and business leader.

Prior to 2005, Todd Wilcox served as an Arabic-speaking CIA Field Operations Officer (C/O) focused on the Middle East and Counterterrorism issues. His last assignment before founding Patriot Defense was as the CIA Liaison Officer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force – Orlando Office. Todd joined the CIA in 1997 after serving in the U.S. Army. He was commissioned as an infantry officer after graduating with a B.S. in Finance from the University of Tampa’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program and spent the early part of his military time as a rifle platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division with a combat tour during Operation Desert Storm. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army Special Forces where he earned the coveted Green Beret. As a Special Forces A-Team commander in 1st Special Forces Group, he served in East Asia where his team was focused on counterterrorism issues.

After serving as Patriot Defense’s Chief Executive Officer for 10 years Todd stepped out of the CEO role to become Executive Chairman in 2015. In this position, Todd leads the company’s vision and oversees the acquisition strategy and subsequent integration of acquired companies. Todd’s professional and business success has been recognized by the induction into the US Army ROTC Hall of Fame, the Wall Street Journal, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Orlando Business Journal’s Veterans of Influence Award. Todd has served on the board of directors for the National Defense University Foundation, Rand Corporation’s Center for Middle East Public Policy, and the Orlando Economic Partnership. Todd is an active member of the Young Professionals Organization (YPO) and serves as the Treasurer of Business Force, a non-profit political action committee.

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