VIDEO: Socially Distancing from Everyone but God

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If God is trying to get people’s attention, a new Pew poll says He’s succeeding. Turns out, the coronavirus hasn’t just impacted people’s lives, it’s led to a growing outbreak of faith.

Almost everyone agrees that the pandemic is significantly changing how they act. They don’t feel comfortable in crowds, they avoid parties, and they’re trying to stay away from places like restaurants. But it’s what Americans are doing that’s getting a lot of attention. More than half — 55 percent — say they’ve prayed for the virus to end. Now, that shouldn’t surprise us in the faith community, but this new focus on the spiritual is broader than that. People who seldom or never pray (15 percent) are looking to God for answers.

Of course, the president’s coronavirus taskforce made this one of their first priorities — bowing their heads in a public photo that led to a media shellacking. Liberal fanatics like Bernie Sanders and others bashed the administration for trying to “pray the virus away.” But guess what? The majority of Americans agree, especially in times like this, we need to turn to the one true source of help — the Creator himself.

“I’m encouraged by it,” FRC’s David Closson said on “Washington Watch,” “but I’m also not surprised by it. Because what’s true on a national level is also true on a personal level. In our personal lives, when we go through a crisis — whether it’s the death of a loved one, an unexpected diagnosis, sudden loss of a job, whatever it is — it really causes us to reevaluate what matters in life. And I think that’s what a lot of Americans are doing right now. They have all this time on their hands that they didn’t expect to have as… they’re working from home and quarantining. And I think they have time now to wrestle with some of these big worldview questions that you and I talk about a lot, [like] who is God? What does it mean to have a relationship with him? What’s my purpose in life? What’s going to happen to me when I die? And my hope is that they’ll use this opportunity to read their Bibles like they have never done before [and] pray…”

Maybe, for more and more people, this social distancing is creating the extra time and space people need to draw closer to God. Including, as I shared with Fox News’s Shannon Bream, the church. So many congregations are taking this opportunity to think creatively and strategically about how they can spread the Good News — without spreading the virus along with it! Hear how in our conversation Wednesday night.

Tony Perkins’s Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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PODCAST: Outbreak In the Early Warning Hours

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Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) doesn’t have a medical degree. But what he has, he jokes, are two eyes. And while the rest of the city was too spun up over impeachment to see straight, his sights were 7,500 miles away — on a doomsday he worried was coming. Donald Trump, he tried to tell Congress, isn’t the threat. China is.

While the rest of the Senate plowed through hours of absurd testimony, Senator Cotton was convinced they were missing “the biggest and most important story in the world.” The outbreak, he warned, would be catastrophic — a message he left his chair to deliver to the White House personally. By January 22, he was sounding the alarm at HHS. “While others slept,” John McCormack writes, “Tom Cotton was warning anyone who would listen that the coronavirus was coming for America.”

Now, while Democrats whine and complain about the president’s handling of the pandemic, a lot of people — Cotton included — know they’re just as much to blame as anyone. “It came up,” Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pointed out earlier this week, “while we were tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment.”

While Congress may have been distracted, thank goodness the president wasn’t. For hours at a time, Senator Cotton told us on “Washington Watch,” he would sit with the White House team and explain what he was seeing in China and the severity of the outbreak. “I discussed that with some of my Senate colleagues [at the time], and they seemed interested. But frankly, they [were focused] on what Adam Schiff was saying [or what] the president’s lawyers were saying. So there’s no doubt the partisan impeachment of the president did distract attention away from the ordinary business of the Senate. And the ordinary business would have been addressing a growing crisis in China… But all of Washington was obsessed.”

So what was it that made Senator Cotton so unnerved about the situation in China before anyone else noticed? It wasn’t classified information, he explained. Or any sort of infection expertise. It was “common sense.” “Just this weekend,” he pointed out, “China shut down all of its movie theaters again in their entire country after having opened them up a week ago.” Does that sound like a country that feels confident it’s conquered the virus? “This is the exact same reason why I knew in January how serious [things] were, because China was saying it had everything under control. [Meanwhile,] they were locking up 100 million people and shutting down schools nationwide. So the propaganda from the Chinese Community Party — contrasted with their actions — tells you that China is, of course, still lying to this day.”

It’s a wake-up call to the planet of just how untrustworthy the Chinese Communist Party is. (A fact that new intelligence has now confirmed.) And yet, Senator Cotton is heartened — as we all are — that the president took action anyway. “I’ve got to say, many of these public health bureaucrats… [and organizations like] the World Health Organization gave very bad advice about travel restrictions… Their concerns seem quaint these days… [But] the president, to his credit made that decision, even though it wasn’t very popular at the time.” Democrats like Joe Biden kicked and screamed, calling it “hysterical xenophobia.” The situation, even the Washington Post admits, would have been a lot worse if liberals had gotten their way.

“Nearly four years of irrational Trump hatred has brought us to the point where any action he takes is subject to criticism…” Henry Olson laments. “Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t… No European leader stockpiled COVID-19 tests or ordered ventilators and masks in preparation for the worst… The rational [person] sees these facts and notes that it is extraordinarily difficult for politicians to foresee an event unpredicted in modern times. But Trump-phobia, of which impeachment was only the most obvious symptom, prevents too many from seeing the obvious now. This must end if we are to get through the present crisis.”

Tony Perkins’s Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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EDITORS NOTE: This FRC-Action podcast with column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

PODCAST: Miss Nevada, a Combat Veteran, Disqualified from Ms. America Pageant and Shamed Over Trump Support!

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GUESTS AND TOPICS

KATIE WILLIAMS

Katie Williams, 2019’s Miss Nevada winner, a Combat veteran and a pro-American Is our guest, Apparently, her support for President Donald Trump and Making America Great Again has just disqualified her from the upcoming Ms America pageant.

TOPIC: Miss Nevada, a combat vetran, Disqualified From Ms America Pageant And Shamed Over Trump Support!

DR. ILEANA JOHNSON PAUGH

Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism”, “Liberty on Life Support” and “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” “Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later” are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Her commentaries reflect American Exceptionalism, the economy, immigration, and education.

TOPIC: 4 in 10 Americans Want Socialism.

DANIEL GREENFIELD

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Daniel’s original biweekly column appears at Front Page Magazine and his blog articles regularly appear at Family Security Matters, the Jewish Press, Times of Israel, Act for America and Right Side News, as well as daily at the Canada Free Press and a number of other outlets. The scope of Daniel’s writing covers everything from domestic American politics to creeping Islamism in Scotland and how foreign aid makes its way into the hands of terrorists to white aborigines in Australia, Islamist Imams in Libya, flogging in the Maldives and the hunt for witches in the Muslim world.

TOPIC: What American Jews Don’t Understand About BDS

© All rights reserved.

Trump’s Travel Ban is Right: Coronavirus Won’t Harm Muslims, Say Many Muslim Clerics

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My latest in PJ Media:

Many Muslims around the world aren’t worried at all about the coronavirus. While much of the Western world is in quarantine and many fear that the worst is still yet to come, some Muslim clerics and lay believers are sure that Allah will protect them from the plague. As a result, they’re gathering in large numbers, thereby endangering their coreligionists and infidels alike, showing the wisdom of Trump’s travel ban on several countries, including several majority-Muslim countries, that cannot or will not provide adequate information about people wanting to enter the U.S.

Even in countries not affected by the travel ban, dangerous magical thinking prevails, making a case for an expansion of the countries covered by the ban. In Iraq, Shi’ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr declared: “One of the most appalling things that have caused this epidemic is the legalization of same-sex marriage. Hence, I call on all governments to repeal this law immediately and without any hesitation.” In the meantime, hundreds of his followers gathered in a mosque and chanted “coronavirus has terrified you.” What could possibly go wrong?

Hundreds of Muslims also defied quarantine regulations and crowded into mosques in Cameroon; of them, a student named Koulanya Abo, declared: “This is a time people have to go to the mosque and pray ceaselessly. Anything out of that will not be tolerated by Allah, because this is a period where people are facing a lot of difficulties due to the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19.”

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Yemeni Islamic scholar Ibrahim Al-Ubeidi explained that many of these difficulties people were facing were the fault of, you guessed it, the Jews. He explained that Jews, working with Americans, had cooked up the coronavirus as part of their nefarious plan to seize control of the two holiest sites in Islam, the mosques in Mecca and Medina. This was, he said, all part of the larger scheme to “Judaize” Mecca and Medina that led the Jews to place the House of Saud on the throne of Arabia 100 years ago.

That’s weapons-grade conspiracy paranoia, and it isn’t al-Ubeidi’s alone. In Pakistan, jihad group leader Hafiz Aakif Saeed said that the coronavirus was “the wrath of Allah Almighty, befalling largely on the developed world and their oppressor rulers who had subjected innocent Muslims to persecution and genocide over the last 50 years.” And in Nigeria, a Muslim leader, Sheikh Sani Jingir, claimed that coronavirus was a Western conspiracy designed to prevent Muslims from performing the rites of their religion. Jingir “insisted that coronavirus was not real,” and “said any Muslims who believed in Trump and stopped praying at the Holy Mosque in Mecca should seek for God’s forgiveness.”

There is much more. Read the rest here.

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India: “You are asking us to close the house of Allah…What if we close his house and he closes our house?”

Muslim researcher: Coronavirus produced in US labs as part of “biological war” against “the Islamic nations”

Morocco: “Allah is great! Allah is great and alone is able to help us defeat the coronavirus!”

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

End the shutdown: Freedom is more important than (the illusion of) security

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The shutdown of the American economy by government decree should end. The lasting and far-reaching harms caused by this authoritarian precedent far outweigh those caused by the COVID-19 virus. The American people—individuals, families, businesses—must decide for themselves how and when to reopen society and return to their daily lives.

Neither the Trump administration nor Congress has the legal authority to shut down American life absent at least baseline due process. As Judge Andrew Napolitano recently wrote, business closures, restrictions on assembly and movement, and quarantines are not constitutionally permissible under some magic “emergency” doctrine. At a minimum, the federal government must show potential imminent harm by specific infected individuals at some form of hearing or trial.

These due process requirements are not suspended.

State and local officials may claim, or even possess, lawful police powers to shut down their communities. We offer no analysis of such powers or claims under the myriad of state constitutions and authorizing legislation. But they should resist exercising these powers. The governor of Virginia, in particular, deserves admonition for unilaterally imposing a lengthy period of virtual house arrest.

We do not know, and cannot yet know, how many Americans will become sick or die from the virus. We do know that predictions regarding infection and death rates are highly unreliable. Even actual deaths attributable to COVID-19 are not so easy to count, as Italy has discovered. Age, general health, and comorbidity are difficult variables to assess, and people may die “with” the virus but not “from” it. It is also very difficult to assess the lethality of the virus relative to previously known types of flu and colds.

To date, COVID-19 deaths in the US are far fewer than deaths in ordinary flu seasons or from past pandemics such as the H1N1 virus. This understanding is critically important to put the virus, and the government response to it, in perspective. Even during past pandemics, depressions, and world wars, Americans went to work.

In 1850, French economist Frédéric Bastiat helped the world understand the “seen and unseen costs” of state policies. It is simple to see how quarantines and lockdowns will slow the spread of COVID-19. It is critical, but not so simple, to see the costs and harms caused by the economic shutdown.

Only then can we rationally understand the tradeoffs involved. 

How many Americans suffering from other illnesses cannot see a doctor now? How many Americans will lose their jobs, their life savings, their retirement prospects, and their incalculable feeling of self-worth? How many will succumb to depression, drug or alcohol abuse, and suicide? How many will lose their homes, divorce their spouses, or suffer abuse? How many will never recover in their careers? How many small businesses, including the vital ones of doctors, dentists, and veterinarians, will vanish from your community? How many young people will “fail to launch”?

Worse still, will grocery stores and gas stations remain open and stocked? Will crime spike? Will the American social fabric, already thin from politics, tear apart?

These questions are not rhetorical. All of these things happened, to a degree, following the Great Recession of 2008. They will happen again—very soon—if we fail to act immediately. Tomorrow, on April 1, millions of Americans will not pay rent or mortgages. Millions of small businesses will shutter, just as many large employers such as Macy’s, Kohl’s, airlines, and hotels already have. Millions of service workers are unemployed already, but many more jobs will be lost. The effects will cascade.

There is no conflict between humanitarian and economic concerns; in fact they are flipsides of the same coin. A poorer America will be a much less healthy America, one more vulnerable to future illness and disease. Technology, modern medicine, and market actors can address a virus; already we see entrepreneurs producing cheaper ventilators and doctors using cheap generic drugs with very promising results.

This local, bottom-up approach is the only effective way to confront the virus. The federal government, as we see now and have in the past, is comically incapable of competence in times of crisis.

On a fundamental level, freedom really is more important than security—or, in this case, an illusion of security. We all demonstrate this in our personal lives every day, from flying to driving to riding bicycles, to consuming unhealthy food and drink simply because we like it. Security has never been the sole or even primary goal for a country born in rebellion.

Government cannot decide what aspects of our lives are essential or nonessential. The American people cannot simply sit at home and wait for government checks written on funds that government does not have.

End the shutdown.

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EDITORS NOTE: This article by The Editors of Mises Wire is republished under a Creative Commons licence. © All rights reserved.

Dozens of GUN CONTROL Bills Died In Florida During the 2020 Session

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It was another very tough Legislative Session in Florida this year.  Anti-gun Democrats were emboldened by Michael Bloomberg’s money.  His money had been strategically placed to help pass another major gun control bill.

Democrats filed so many gun ban, gun control, ammo and magazine ban bills this year that one had to wonder if they were filing the worst bills they could think of in order to attract some of Bloomberg’s money for themselves.

Thanks to strong Second Amendment supporting legislators, who are true Republicans, and are committed to protecting constitutional rights, none of those bad bills passed.

We look forward to real Republican leadership in the Florida Senate next Session.

Below is a list of some of the worst bills that we worked to keep from passing this past session. In all, we dealt with a list of over 125 bills that could have spelled trouble for gun and hunting rights.  It is worth noting that the Florida House leadership and Governor Ron DeSantis were standing tall to protect Second Amendment rights the whole Session.

FLORIDA HOUSE BILLS

HB-117 CW License/ Requires Psychiatric/Mental Health Exam – by Rep. AI Jacquet (D) Requires a mental health evaluation by a licensed psychiatrist & a letter attesting that the applicant is of sound mind and competent to carry a firearm for CW License Applicants . DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-245 Firearms Prohibited – by Rep. Cindy Polo (D) Prohibits concealed weapon or firearm license holder from openly carrying handgun or carrying concealed weapon or firearm into any
child care facility.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-289 Background Check to Purchase Ammo – by Rep. Dan Daley (D) Requires background checks for sale or transfer of ammunition.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-451 Universal Background Checks – by Rep. Margaret Good (D) Requires a background check on all persons involved with the sale or transfer of any and all firearms. DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-627 Ban of Assault Weapons and Large-Capacity Magazines – by Rep. Carlos G. Smith (D) Bans sale, transfer and possession of a long list of so-called “assault weapons” and bans sale, transfer and possession of any magazine that holds or is capable of holding more than 10 rounds. DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-885 Gun Control by Local Governments – by Rep. Cindy Polo (D) to specifically allow
local governments to regulate firearms and ammunition and impose gun control.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-809 Fingerprint Database of CW License Holders – by Rep. Javier Fernandez (D) Creates a Permanent Fingerprint Database of CW License Holders;  Decreases the number of years that CW Licenses are valid. Requires PROOF of NEW training at every license renewal.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-923 Mandatory Storage of Firearms – by Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil (D) Mandating specific storage requirements for firearms by licensed importers, manufacturers, & dealers. DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-6009 Repeal of Firearms Preemption – by Rep. Dan Daley (D) Repeals the firearms preemption law to specifically allow citites and counties to regulate firearms and ammunition and impose gun control.   DIED IN COMMITTEE

FLORIDA SENATE BILLS

SB-94 Universal Background Checks by Sen. Lauren Book (D) DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-134 Repeal of Firearms Preemption / Sen. Annette Taddeo (D) DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-266 Mandatory Firearms Storage by Sen. Gary Farmer (D)   DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-270 Universal Background Checks by Sen. Gary Farmer (D) DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-310 Ban of Three-dimensional (3-D) Printed Firearms – by Sen.
Linda Stewart (D) Prohibits a person from printing, transferring, importing into this state, distributing, selling, possessing, or giving to another person certain 3D-printed firearms; requires persons in possession of a 3-D firearms to turn them in to a law enforcement agency or to FDLE or to destroy them before a deadline.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-398 Firearms Prohibited by Sen. Lori Berman (D) (Identical to HB-245)  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-428 Prohibited Places for Firearms by Sen. Oscar Braynon II (D) Prohibits CW license holders from carrying a firearms into any performing arts center or legitimate theater.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-460 Background Checks on Ammo by Sen. Lauren Book (D) Requires a background check on the sale or transfer of  ammunition.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-548 Excessive Data Collection on Firearms Purchasers by Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D) Requires the Department of Law Enforcement to create  a standard form to collect additional data on firearms purchasers. DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-558 Ban of “Large-capacity” Magazines by Sen. Randolph Bracy (D) Defining the term “large-capacity magazine” as more than 10 rounds.  Prohibits the sale, transfer, or possession of
large-capacity magazines.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

S8-586 Private Sales of Firearms by Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D) Prohibits private sale or transfer of firearms EXCEPT sales or transfers between two CW License holders. Requires such a seller or transferor to retain a copy of the buyer’s or transferee’s concealed weapons or firearms license and the serial number of the firearm sold, etc.   DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-634 Prohibiting the Lawful Ownership, Possession, and Use of Firearms – by Sen. Bobby Powell (D) Prohibiting a person from owning, possessing, and lawfully using firearms and other weapons, ammunition, and supplies for hunting, fishing, or camping within 1,500 feet of the real property which comprises any school, any house of worship, any government building, or any guarded beach.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-794 Bans Large-capacity Magazines by Sen. Linda Stewart (D) Prohibits POSSESSION or the importing, distributing, transporting, transferring, selling, or giving of large-capacity magazines (1more than 10)  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1208 Ban of Assault Weapons and Large-capacity Magazines by Sen. Gary Farmer, Jr. (D) Bans the sale, transfer, possession of any assault weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazine .  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1248 Mandatory Firearms Storage by Sen. Vic Torres, Jr .(D)  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1300 Assault Weapons Ban by Sen. Linda Stewart (D) Bans sale, transfer, possession of semi-automatic firearms.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1566 Fingerprint Database of CW License Holders by Sen. Oscar Braynon (D) DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1622 Confiscation of Firearms and Ammunition by Sen.Lauren Book (D). Authorizes Law Enforcement and the Courts to confiscate firearms and ammunition under certain circumstances.   DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-7028 by Sen. Bill Galvano (R) Massive Gun Control Regulations.   DIED IN COMMITTEE

EDITORS NOTE: This NRA-ILA column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

VIDEO: The Vortex — The Commie Virus and the Dems love it — need it, in fact.

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TRANSCRIPT

Before we begin, we’d like to give you a quick update on affairs here at the studios. As you may know, the governor of Michigan yesterday put the state on lockdown until at least April 13. Since we are in Michigan, that impacts us, but not as much as you might think.

Since the apostolate functions quite often as a media outlet, we’re exempt from the shelter-at-home order when it comes to essential personnel. That means people here can come into work. So we have scaled back to a skeleton crew who are coming in just long enough to get done what can only be done in the studio, and then they go home and complete the work there. This way we strike an appropriate balance between keeping staff safe and still keeping you informed, just like the Marxist media is doing.

Which brings us neatly to our topic today, which comes with a serious warning. Watch out! This whole Chinese virus-event is being weaponized against President Trump by the Left and their Marxist media allies.

While we can talk about how the commies in China are responsible for this — whether they created this virus to dump on the Hong Kong protestors as some speculate, or they made it and it somehow escaped the lab — a few things are certain. They lied, which can’t surprise anyone. The communists in China, like their Marxist buddies everywhere, are stone-cold killers.

What is the essential difference between the Party of Death, the Marxist media and commies? Nothing. Commies, the Marxist media and the Dems are really, today, interchangeable labels. They all believe the same thing.

And they do not believe the same things as well. They do not believe in the sacredness of human life. They do not believe in free speech. They do not believe in the U.S. Second Amendment. They do not, most importantly, believe in God. It is, in fact, their rejection of the Divine that leads them to reject all the other things.

[Transcript unavailable]

So whether it was planned or just a crime of opportunity, that cohort is using this chaos as a way to “get Trump.”

When the Democratic child-killing governor of Michigan announced Monday that the state was going on lockdown, she, like other child-killing governors, couldn’t resist blaming Trump. Like all this was his fault and she and her other child-killing governors were left holding the bag, having to clean up his mess. Again, if you kill children, lying isn’t that big of a deal.

Not sure why so many people are unwilling to see the likes of the Marxist media or Democratic leadership for anything other than what they are, which is killers. What’s the difference between any of them and a mob boss, seriously? In fact, no mob boss in history — in fact, all of them combined — couldn’t reach the death toll of just one day’s worth of child-killing.

These murderers are all in league with one another. They cover for one another because they all have the same father.

Consider the fake outrage at Trump calling the virus from China the “Chinese virus.” But that’s what it is. Would they be as outraged if Obama, one of their club, ever said German measles or Spanish flu? Of course not. He’s not Trump, so they don’t have to “get” him.

All you have to do is look at the kerfuffle on Monday, as The New York Times changed its headline three different times to cover up the truth of what the Party of Death was doing to scuttle the economic stimulus package. Look at these headlines, or rather, the progression of them. We go from the factual headline of  “Democrats Block Action on $1.8 Trillion Stimulus” to “Democrats Block Action on Stimulus Plan, Seeking Worker Protections” to “Partisan Divide Threatens Deal on Rescue Bill.”

This is what this crowd does. They lie and cheat, all to cover for their killing of children. They want Trump gone because of that issue. And frankly, it was looking pretty dismal for them given the soaring economy, the best perhaps in the history of the world.

Then along comes a virus … and you know the rest. It’s Trump’s fault. He’s a racist. He closed the borders too soon. He didn’t act soon enough. We child-killing governors did not prepare over these past years to get our own state’s medical emergency response readiness up to speed, but that’s his fault.

Frankly, there is no reason to believe the Party of Death would want any of this to come to an end before election day, as long as they think they can score political points. They hate Trump — really hate him — and it’s all driven by their love of abortion, which is underlined by their rejection of the supernatural. That’s why they go on non-stop, hypocritically, about the natural world. “Save the planet,” “save the whales”…

Marxists love abortion — the godless, that is. That’s what the Marxist media, the Party of Death and the commies in China, who gave the world this pandemic, all have in common. And when it comes time for the election, don’t believe their point man’s garbage about being a believer. Joe Biden is just as Marxist as Bernie Sanders. He just hides behind religion and specifically the Catholic religion. His campaign has even produced a video — get this — showing Holy Joe talking about going to Mass and saying his Rosary.

[Transcript unavailable]

It’s revolting. So yes, don’t take your eye off the ball on this. Not a single thing on the agenda has changed. Trump has to go because of the abortion issue. It’s just the circumstances and weapons that keep changing. The game is the same.

The commie virus from China, the Party of Death believes, has given them a ray of hope for the upcoming election. Don’t let it happen.

EDITORS NOTE: This Church Militant video is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

The New York Times Blames Christians for Poor Coronavirus Response

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The religious right is anti-science. The religious right supports Donald Trump, and he welcomes their support. Therefore, America is doing much worse in our fight with the coronavirus than we could be. If Trump had not chosen to ally himself with those anti-science Bible-thumpers, the whole world would be better off. So posits an op-ed by Katherine Stewart in the New York Times (3/27/20).

Stewart’s article is entitled, “The Religious Right’s Hostility to Science Is Crippling Our Coronavirus Response,” and the subtitle is “Trump’s response to the pandemic has been haunted by the science denialism of his ultraconservative religious allies.”

Stewart opines, “Donald Trump rose to power with the determined assistance of a movement that denies science, bashes government and prioritized loyalty over professional expertise. In the current crisis, we are all reaping what that movement has sown.”

I noticed one response to this NYT op-ed, where the author asked sarcastically, “[It must be] all those evangelical Christians running Communist China and lying to the global community, right?” And no one ever seems to notice the irony of those who claim Donald Trump is some sort of dictator yet want the federal government to have unlimited power in responding.

I will grant one point to Sullivan: It does not help that there are reports of a few mega-churches in the country that are defying the orders to not meet together in large groups lest we infect one another. But those irresponsible ministers are the exception, not the rule. Shame on those pastors who are disobeying the government’s commonsense orders during the pandemic. They are putting other people’s lives at risk.

But the vast majority of churches in the country are using the tools available to us to “meet” and “hold service” in virtual ways, through the internet.

What is the basis of Stewart’s claim that evangelicals are anti-science? In previous articles, I have demonstrated the indispensable role that Christianity played in the founding of modern science.

It seems that her biggest argument that Christians are supposedly anti-science has to do with climate change. Many Christians, and I am one of them, do not buy into the notion of man-made, catastrophic, global warming. Sullivan writes, “Today, the hard core of climate deniers is concentrated among people who identify as religiously conservative Republicans.”

And the problem is? “Climate change” is the left’s new religion. But it is fraught with all sorts of problems. Climategate, which has been so conveniently forgotten, provided ample evidence that some global warming alarmists were so convinced by their theory that they ignored evidence that was contrary to it—and, worse, they even fudged the raw data.

If Christians are accused of being anti-science because we don’t buy politicized science, then so be it.

Competitive Enterprise Institute compiled a number of different predictions by the expert scientists in the last few decades. They called this article: “Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions.”

For example, Al Gore once predicted that the polar ice cap may disappear by the summer of 2014. It’s still there. Despite one failed prophecy after the next, no one ever seems to hold these people accountable.

When I saw this blame-the-Christians article in the NYT, I turned to Volume II of Philip Schaff of Yale’s History of the Christian Church, written around the turn of the twentieth century.

The great historian describes the unwarranted suspicion and hostility toward Christianity on the part of the Caesars and the Roman people around 200 AD.

Schaff writes:

“The common people also, with their polytheistic ideas, abhorred the believers in the one God as atheists and enemies of the gods. They readily gave credit to the slanderous rumors of all sorts of abominations, even incest and cannibalism, practiced by the Christians at their religious assemblies and love-feasts, and regarded the frequent public calamities of that age as punishments justly inflicted by the angry gods for the disregard of their worship. In North Africa arose the proverb: ‘If God does not send rain, lay it to the Christians.’ At every inundation, or drought, or famine, or pestilence, the fanatical populace cried” ‘Away with the atheists! To the lions with the Christians!’” (p. 43).

The early Christians were called “atheists” because they did not believe in the pantheon of Roman gods. Whatever bad happened—including “pestilence” (and the coronavirus is a pestilence)—in their ignorance they scapegoated Christians.

President Trump has been working very hard to fight this pandemic and to cause private and public entities to partner together to fight the common enemy. If he welcomes divine help as well, what is wrong with that? So have virtually all our presidents.

Scapegoating the Christians because of this virus is an old and failed policy. Too bad the “newspaper of record” would resort to this old tactic.

© All rights reserved.

Agony: Face-to-Face with Soviet Fascism — Part 2

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Knowing that Soviet Fascism never sleeps, I’ve written these words after Russia had annexed Crimea six years ago: “Those who haven’t read my books are wondering why I am spending so much time in my columns, presenting Stalin, who died 60 years ago. I have to repeat: I am a child of Stalinism, I know the system he created, know his Doctrine, which is alive and spreading throughout the world in the 21st century. The past always haunts the present. That is the reason I am writing about Stalin and his Doctrine, the essence of which is the creation of a One World Government under the Kremlin auspices. I called his Doctrine–Soviet Fascism. We former citizens of the Socialist countries are deeply disturbed, watching the implementation of Soviet Fascism across the world, including America. Only truth and facts equal reality.” This is a beginning of my column, written in August 2014, Soviet Socialism in the 21st Century: Stalin and His Henchmen Around the Globe.

Don’t you think that those exact words directly apply to the Globe in April 2020? I do. We are at war. The pandemic Agony is now in economic activities of America, and the minds of Americans threatened for them and their children’s future. We live in an unprecedented time—in the era of Soviet Fascism and we are vulnerable—we don’t know the enemy. To overcome current pandemic, knowledge of Russia, her Security Services, and the ideology of Soviet Fascism is a Must! Without this knowledge we will have another virus—Tsar-virus to kill as many people as possible to end Western civilization and the political system of the Constitutional American Republic left to us by our Founding Fathers…

Yes, we are at war in an asymmetrical, ideological war waged by Soviet Fascism against Western civilization, American capitalism and the free market. The last attempt was “Climate change” intended to bankrupt us and destroy the free market economy. Smart people have exposed the fraud. Coronavirus is the next attempt; a terror act killing innocent people. Western civilization can’t tolerate that. Besides, the crisis has fundamentally altered our lives and nation’s daily routine over the last weeks. We have to suffer another thirty days. Disrupted life elevates stress–while millions of Americans are forced to stay home as we attempt to flatten the curve of this virus and save precious lives. This is unprecedented for the land of the free and the home of the brave, but it is a reality today.

Not surprisingly, America has the highest numbers of Covid-19’ victims–we are the main target and we have the largest population. Therefore, today we are all in this together and only knowledge of our mortal enemy can save us. Don’t rely on Washington experts. They still are not aware of the Evil-ideology of Soviet Fascism that produced Covid-19 and some previous biological attacks. They don’t know Stalinism, the Soviet System and the Soviet or Stalinist Charlatans. They had missed a moment in history to learn the resurrection of Soviet Fascism and react accordingly. For me it is a necessity to call a spade a spade, to emphasize the nefarious evil and identify the ideology as Soviet Fascism in order to expose the deadly reality of our lives…

From Marxism to Soviet Fascism

The ideological fireball unleashed by Marxism in 19th century had a dramatic impact on life in Europe. Aggressive mob leaders fed on the public disorder and violence and their leadership attempted to produce the first socialist revolution in France. These events were followed by socialist revolt in Hungary and German Bavaria.  All three of those revolts failed quickly.  Western civilization rejected violent and destructive ideology–capitalism continued its development in Europe. I agree with Nietzsche that the envy of the poor is the main impulse toward revolution. Furthermore, history shows that the leadership of any political movement plays a crucial role in shaping the outcome of revolt–Lenin is the prime example of that concept and victory of the first Socialist revolt in Russia and creation of the first Socialist System in the USSR…

It so happened that Lenin had died soon after the revolution and the entire model of social organization has been created by Stalin. He made it a Law by his Constitution of 1936. Soviet Socialism was the only Socialism practiced in real life in the USSR. Later, Stalin designed a global application of his design-model and extensively practiced the expansion of Soviet Socialism and the Soviet System globally… It took Stalin twenty-nine years to establish the Chinese Communist State, the KGB and the Russian military delivered the result by 1949. Since then, both the Soviet Socialist model and the Soviet System had been implemented in the Chinese State’s structure from the top to the bottom identical to the Soviet one. Read What is Happening to America? The Hidden Truth of Global Destruction, Xlibris, 2012, pp125-145.

Don’t be confused with two words; Socialism and Communism—both are Marx’s fallacy, a fraud with a utopian concept to deceive you… However, the events in 1991 and the collapse of Soviet Union should’ve been discussed and analyzed. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Union did not collapse in 1991—it was Socialist economy that was unable to produce that collapsed. Yet, the other part of the Soviet System, all security services, have survived. I use the term KGB in talking about them. It was the force of the KGB that helped Socialism to deceive and fool people. In 1991 the fraud had died in the country where Socialism was born and practiced. Yet, the Soviet System, established by Stalin continues functioning and controlling the population…

The people of the KGB and the bureaucracy of the Soviet System were usurping governmental power and prolonging the life of the fake ideology. Though Socialism had already collapsed and was dead, the KGB had used and promoted the fake ideology, wrapping themselves in the Russian flag and carrying a cross, uniting religion and the force of the KGB together. The head of the entire Orthodox religion, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Russia, was a KGB agent. That entire process took place within all Soviet Republics, where the KGB had usurped the entire governmental power—Stalinist Soviet Fascism has been resurrected by the KGB and Vladimir Putin catapulted it into the Russian presidency.

Soviet Fascism in America

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” What an incredibly amazing forecast by Sinclair Lewis! Actually, he predicted the coming of Fascism after the total defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII. He was right. First fascism was resurrected in Russia in that exact way—“wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross” then, Soviet Fascism came to America. Soviet Fascism has been the main subject of my writings for over thirty years showing the way and exhibiting how it has happened in the reality of Russia’s political life and how it has transferred to America. It is the main subject of all my five books and over hundred columns. My third book titled An Agony: Face to Face with Soviet Fascism had been published by Intermedia Publishing Inc. 2012. President Lincoln was right: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we lose our freedoms it will be because we have destroyed ourselves from within.” Alas, we indeed have the enemy within…

In this respect, it is good time to remind you of Stalinist Political Correctness (PC), as the Dems are using it full scale in their politics to destroy America from within. PC is a concept much larger and wider in parameters than only America—it is a universal vehicle and a canon used to fight the political opposition conceived by Joseph Stalin—the maximum for all the countries of the Axis of Evil run by the Socialist mafia and Soviet Charlatans. Today, PC is fighting the American Republic with a wealth of different tactics, forms, shapes, and methods… Stalinist Political Correctness is a mechanism for preventing the Truth from being revealed. It is aimed at hiding or masking the Truth and replacing it with Socialist Dogma. It came to our country decades ago from Russia to destroy us from within, and I feel obliged to share my knowledge with you because the agenda of Political Correctness is Stalinist Dogma–fighting Western civilization toward the creation of a One World Socialist Government under Kremlin’s rule.”

Don’t be surprised—the Russian Socialist Revolution began in the Russian Duma (Parliament) in 1917. Under democratic slogans and using the fraud and deceit in the Duma, Lenin and his Bolshevik faction began the Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917. The surprise is that America’s Democratic Party repeated these same tactics to destroy a successful capitalism and political system of the American Republic left to us by our Founding Fathers. The infiltrated leadership of the Democrat Party joined and supports Putin’s KGB, which has been infiltrating America since the 20th century. Read my column: …and the KGB in the White House, June 1, 2017.

Socialist Mentality

The Dems continued to promote the fake ideology of Socialism, which has already collapsed and is DEAD. The fake ideology is helping them to cover-up the lack of Truth in the reality of their ideology—Soviet fascism. Pay attention to how I named the traitors: America’s Socialist mafia, Stalinist Charlatans or Soviet Charlatans. They all were inculcated into Socialist mentality during the last several decades. Did you notice that all the hot spots of Covid-19 are located in the states run by the Dems? This is a result inherited from the past. Socialist mentality doesn’t have a “culture of preparedness” and sense of responsibility—Political Correctness is its creed. Look at a real face of Soviet Fascism and its carriers: the Trojan House Bernie, who was lying and deceiving you for the last thirty years—China has lied and deceived us for seventy years, and Russia, for a hundred years. Please, read here my column: You Deserve the Truth about Socialism/Communism, March 2, 2020. Read also my columns about PC on New Right Network.

In the first part of this column I’ve asked you to find on the computer and read the Black Liberation Army Coordinating Committee’s Message to the Black Movement, A Political Statement from the Black Underground. This document was composed by the KGB under Chairman Yuri Andropov and spread among the Black community in America at the end of 1960s. “Divide and conquer” was and is one of the major fronts in the war waged by Soviet Fascism, using the racial diversity in America. Stalin’s devoted disciple Andropov has instituted the racial policy. His devoted disciple Putin implemented it in the 21st century. Reading the mentioned document will open your eyes and mind to see how the actual Soviet propaganda machine inculcated the Afro American mentality, reprogrammed their minds and created a Socialist mentality. To learn about Andropov, please, read my columns and Epilogue, pp. 341-342, What is Happening to America? Xlibris, 2012.

A noted socialist, Dem Rep. James Clyburn told colleagues “Coronavirus Bill Is Tremendous Opportunity to Restructure Things to Fit Our Vision.” I know his vision, it is described in my books and columns as a vision of Socialist mentality: to weaponized the pandemic, to destroy Trump, and to transform America. He is a product of the Soviet propaganda machine, which was very successful in the 20th century. Unfortunately, a Socialist mentality was instilled into the entire Dems leadership. The Dems Party presents a combination of America’s Socialist mafia, communists-Soviet Charlatans, and Progressive Squad under the supervision of Obama’s Deep State today. Those people have been undermining American interests for decades, cooperating with our enemies–the details are in my books and columns. Republicans who are not well-informed pertaining Russia and the “Axis of Evil,” are also helping the enemy. One of them is Richard Burr—an American Charlatan…

Covid-19 Pandemic: A Terror Act Against Humanity

President Trump admits, “We were attacked.” The questions arise: Who? When? How? And Why? Logically, the FBI and the post-Obama Intel must answer those questions, working 24/7. To succeed, I’d recommend that they read my books and columns. In my opinion Covid-19 is a man-made virus, designed by criminals, Socialists and Communists adhering to the ideology of Soviet Fascism. Not surprisingly, Socialist leader Maduro of Venezuela, is scorched in DOJ indictments for drug and trafficking-related crimes, including attempts to smuggle drugs into the United States. He is another face of Soviet Fascism across the globe today.

The investigation of Colid-19 Pandemic should be global, as all the countries of the Axis of Evil are adhered to the Evil ideology of Soviet fascism: There are some in the Democrat Party, too. That means the application of the KGB’s teachings and dirty tricks, especially “Operation Disinformation” are effective for all involved. Our Scientific community is also infiltrated by the KGB: Do you remember Trump’s and Fauci’s dueling narratives? I don’t like Dr. Fauci’s friendly relationship with Tedros Adhanom, the General-Director of WHO. In my opinion the latter is a KGB agent. Read about him and you’ll appreciate Trump’s intuition involving two Anti-Malaria drugs. In a war you use what you have. Two weeks have been stolen from the American people fighting for life against Terror. Yet, no panic. We need awareness of the ideology of Soviet Fascism and an analysis of the enemy’s identities and actions–it is our major task.

In the meantime, enjoy a message From Russia with Love Hundred Years Prior to Socialist Revolution by Russia’s beautiful poet Alexander Pushkin, being in quarantine about cholera in Boldino, addresses to us today!

“Excuse me, the inhabitants of the country,

In hours of mental torment

Congratulate you from confinement

Happy Great Spring Festival!

Everything will settle down, everything will pass Sorrows and anxieties will go away

Smooth roads again

And the garden, as before, will bloom.

To help the mind,

Sweep the disease by the power of knowledge And the days of hard trials

We’ll survive one family.

We will become cleaner and wiser

Not surrendering to the darkness and fear,

Perk up each other

We will become closer and kinder.

And at the holiday table

We will enjoy life again.

May the Almighty send on this day

A piece of happiness in every home!

A.S. Pushkin 1827”

© All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Agony: Face to Face with Soviet Fascism — Part 1

Welcome to the PC (Post Coronavirus) Era

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Lessons that must be learned.

The world has been sent reeling by the Coronavirus pandemic that has yet to run its course.

However, even though this deadly pandemic is still ongoing, it is not too soon to take stock of a number of critical issues.  In point of fact, it is probably best to begin this process before the pandemic ends and the public permits this global crisis to fade from their minds as it fades from the news reports.

To begin with, as I noted in my previous article, Because of the Coronavirus, Borders Suddenly Matter.  For all of the bogus slanderous claims hurled by the radical Left in the media and politics, securing borders against those infected with a dangerous virus is not a matter of racism and xenophobia – but survival.

Unlike most politicians, President Trump has the chutzpah to call things as he sees them.  This, by itself, is enough to traumatize the Left.  Trump has come to refer to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) by the term “China Virus,” sending many “journalists” into paroxysms of rage and disgust, claiming that referring to this virus that, in point of fact, originated in China, demonstrates that Trump is a racist.

Time for a reality check.

Various illnesses have traditionally been named for the locations where the diseases originated.  The devastating Spanish Flu of 1918 was so-named because, it originated in Spain.

In 1972, at the beginning of my career with the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), I became infected with a very serious illness that was referred to as the London Flu.  I was an Immigration Inspector at JFK International Airport at the time and consequently was exposed to a variety of pathogens brought to the United States by foreign visitors.  I wound up in the hospital and nearly died, my fever maxed at more than 105 degrees.  Some of my colleagues were similarly sickened by this particularly virulent illness.

The doctors and nurses who treated me all referred to my illness as the London Flu.  I doubt that they disliked Brits or Londoners.

Clearly the mainstream media and the radical Left despise the President and on a nearly daily basis demonstrate an irrational response to virtually everything he does and says.

But could it be that their extreme abhorrence of the term “China Virus” has a more deep-seated origin?  Perhaps it goes back to how they were educated in American colleges.

When misleading terms are used, such as the term “immigrant” instead of “alien” most write this off as being Politically Correct.  In reality this is nothing short of Orwellian Newspeak and it must always be described as such.

Today. as we will see, many of Ameria’s premier universities are under the influence of the Chinese government and other governments that are hostile to the United States.

Chinese Aggression Against the U.S.A. manifests itself in many ways, especially through widespread espionage.

The Communist, totalitarian Chinese regime is extremely sensitive to the way that they are perceived around the world.  They have infiltrated many universities around the United States for a number of significant purposes that include having their scientists, engineers, computer programmers and other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professionals trained in the United States, and maintaining strict control over those students when they are in the United States.

Many Chinese students are coerced in spying on the United States when they secure “Optional Practical Training” by working for American companies.

It has been recently alleged by the U.S. Department of Education that China and other countries have been allegedly pouring billions of dollars into American Universities that went unreported by those universities, in violation of U.S. laws.

On February 12, 2020 the Department of Education (DOE) issued a press release:  U.S. Department of Education Launches Investigation into Foreign Gifts Reporting at Ivy League Universities that included this subtitle:

Since July, the Department has uncovered more than $6 billion in unreported foreign gifts from countries including Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The DOE press release also included these excerpts:

The Department is also concerned Harvard University may lack appropriate institutional controls over foreign money and has failed to report fully all foreign gifts and contracts as required by law. This comes after Dr. Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was indicted for lying about his involvement with the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Plan and admitting that Harvard lacks adequate institutional controls for effective oversight and tracking of very large donations.

[ … ]

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations described foreign spending on U.S. schools as “a black hole” because colleges and universities “routinely” fail to comply with the law, and reported foreign money can come with strings attached that might compromise academic freedom.

[ … ]

Additional Information on the Department’s Section 117 Enforcement Actions:

  • Since July 1, 2019, the Department’s enforcement efforts have triggered the reporting of approximately $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign money.
  • Ten schools, including Cornell University, Yale University, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Texas A&M University, and Carnegie Mellon University reported approximately $3.6 billion in previously unreported foreign gifts.
  • The Department has opened eight civil compliance investigations since June 28, 2019.
  • The Department has reported its preliminary findings to Congress including:
  • The largest colleges and universities are multi-billion dollar, multi-national enterprises using opaque foundations, foreign campuses, and other sophisticated legal structures to generate revenue that is intermingled with domestic sources of funding from tuition, grants, and the like.
  • These colleges and universities actively solicit foreign governments, corporations, and nationals for funds although some donors are known to be hostile to the United States and may be seeking to project “soft power,” steal sensitive and proprietary research and development data and other intellectual property, and spread propaganda benefitting foreign governments.

At the beginning of the onslaught of the Coronavirus, President Trump quickly decided to bar the entry of nonimmigrant aliens from China to prevent the spread of the virus into the United States, invoking 8 U.S. Code § 1182(f), a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that he previously used to prevent the entry of aliens from countries associated with international terrorism and where our officials were unable to effectively vet those who sought entry into the United States.

As the disease spread through Europe, especially Italy, the President expanded the list of countries whose nonimmigrant citizens would be barred from entering the United States to try to slow the spread of the disease.

The Democrats, led by Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and the other “usual suspects,” attacked the President for being a racist and xenophobe.  They should have used a different term, “Leader!”

Now many other countries around the world have taken similar measures.  Dr. Anthony Fauci lauded Trump’s important decision stating that this single act, of closing our nation’s borders, has been one of the most effective measures take by Trump to help save lives in America.

For decades China has run roughshod over America.

Out of extreme corporate greed, the production of our essential pharmaceuticals has been shipped to China and other countries that do not have our best interests at heart, leaving America vulnerable.  China has now threatened to stop the flow of vital antibiotics to the United States and has actually accused the U.S. Army of planting the Coronavirus in China!

President Trump is the first president, in decades, to stand up to this Communist dictatorship that openly boasts it plans to dominate the world.  Trump’s actions have undoubtedly done much more than just ruffle some feathers in Beijing.

President Trump has gone on the offensive in his strategies to protect America and Americans.

Our nation has been rendered vulnerable to one of America’s most dangerous adversaries by corporations that seek cheap labor and no regulations and have moved production of vital supplies to China and other countries.  To be able to do this, the corporations have pumped huge amounts of cash into the campaign coffers of politicians who need the money to win their elections.  Not unlike prostitutes they will apparently do whatever it takes to satisfy their donors.

As I noted, in part, in a speech I gave in Washington several years ago:

The practitioners of the two oldest professions will assume any position, no matter how dangerous, ridiculous, uncomfortable or contrary to commonsense – for the right price!

The time has come to finally clean out the bordellos!

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

ISIS Discovers the Cure for Coronavirus: Jihad

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Of course! What else could it possibly be? My latest in FrontPage:

Worried about the coronavirus? Don’t be. All you have to do to make sure you don’t contract the virus is blow yourself up in a crowd of infidels. Well, yes, but there’s always a catch, now, isn’t there?

This sage advice for a coronavirus cure comes from the thoughtful medical researchers of the Islamic State, aka ISIS. The latest edition of the jihad group’s al-Naba newsletter tells Muslims to wash their hands frequently and avoid traveling into Europe in order to avoid contracting the coronavirus, but somewhat contradicts itself in also noting that the best way to turn away “the torment and wrath” of Allah is to wage jihad.

The coronavirus, says ISIS, is a “plague” sent by Allah in order to give “painful torment” for non-believers. This is by no means a novel idea in Islam. The idea that Allah will punish the unrighteous in this world is in the Qur’an: “So if they repent, it is better for them; but if they turn away, Allah will punish them with a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And there will not be for them on earth any protector or helper.” (Qur’an 9:74) The obverse of the idea that Allah will punish the unrepentant in both this world and the next is that if one is righteous, one will prosper in this world as well as in the next.

With that idea likely in mind, ISIS states that “the Muslims should not pity the disbelievers and apostates, but should use the current opportunities to continue working to free Muslim prisoners from the camps in which they face subjugation and disease.” In doing this, they need not worry about the coronavirus: “They should also remember that obedience to God — the most beloved form of which is jihad — turns away the torment and wrath of God.”

The most righteous deed of all, the one that is most effective in turning away Allah’s “torment and wrath,” is jihad. A hadith has a Muslim asking Muhammad: “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” Muhammad replied, “I do not find such a deed.” (Bukhari 4.52.44)

So while ISIS tells Muslims that they should take sensible precautions against the coronavirus, it also tells them that committing acts of violence against unbelievers will protect them from the virus anyway. Meanwhile, the jihad group asks Allah to make the coronavirus even more lethal than it is already, so as to “increase their torment,” as well as to “save the believers from all that.”

Also, the Qur’an teaches that Allah will place a Muslim’s good deeds on one scale and bad deeds on the other, and send them to Paradise or hell depending on which scale weighs more. A Muslim who is worried about his eternal destiny can decisively tip the scales in his favor by waging jihad, the deed that is greater than all others. He can seize the Qur’an’s promise of Paradise for those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111).

Of course, if one is killed, the points about avoiding the coronavirus are rendered moot, especially in light of the fact that a hadith attributed to Muhammad accords martyr status to those who die in a plague: “There are seven types of martyrdom in addition to being killed in Allah’s cause: one who dies of plague is a martyr; one who is drowned is a martyr; one who dies of pleurisy is a martyr; one who dies of an internal complaint is a martyr; one who is burnt to death is a martyr; who one is killed by a building falling on him is a martyr; and a woman who dies while pregnant is a martyr. (Sunan Abi Dawud 3111)

Another hadith adds that Muslims should not flee an epidemic: “Narrated Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) I asked Allah’s Messenger about the plague. He told me that it was a Punishment sent by Allah on whom he wished, and Allah made it a source of mercy for the believers, for if one in the time of an epidemic plague stays in his country patiently hoping for Allah’s Reward and believing that nothing will befall him except what Allah has written for him, he will get the reward of a martyr.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3474)

The only difference, then, between dying in the midst of one’s own jihad massacre and dying from the coronavirus is that in the former, some infidels die as well. For ISIS, that is a big difference, and one worth telling Muslims to wash their hands before they set out to murder infidels.

RELATED ARTICLES:

India: “Infected Muslims want to go and spread Corona to Infidels so they can die in hundreds of thousands”

Muslim World League leader focuses on “spreading awareness of moderate Islam,” calls for interfaith partnerships

Nigeria: Muslims stop vehicles and attack drivers with machetes, five dead, 14 injured

Pakistan: Muslim NGO denies food to poor Hindus and Christians amid coronavirus pandemic

India: ISIS sees chance for jihad in coronavirus pandemic: “Use this opportunity to fill the streets with blood”

India: Islamic movement Tablighi Jamaat accused of spreading coronavirus tied to al Qaeda, Taliban, Kashmir jihadis

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

When Can Life Return to Normal? 4 Signs to Monitor

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Americans can’t wait for the restrictions on their movements and interactions—widely known as social distancing—to end.

That’s completely understandable. The coronavirus crisis has widely disrupted modern life.

But as we learned Sunday, the Trump administration’s commonsense “stop the spread” increased mitigation strategy is with us for a while—at least till the end of April.

Based on the challenges we’re facing, this is a prudent decision.

While a firm date for the end of this biological battle in the United States is just unknowable at this point, it’s reasonable to ask: How will we know when we’re seeing some light at the end of the social distancing tunnel?

Here are some of the things we would want to see:

1. Numbers: Any decision to loosen social distancing restrictions has to be based on data, not emotion. For instance, a locality, state or region must see its confirmed COVID-19 case numbers decrease over a two week period (to account for the disease incubation period) before considering mitigation modifications.

Similar dips in hospitalization and death rates, as well as improved recovery rates, would also be a welcome sign. In addition, experts must develop a comprehensive nationwide reporting system so that the data can be comprehensively collected, collated, analyzed, and shared.

2. Testing: A robust diagnostic test architecture must be in place across the country. Optimally, testing should include not only testing for COVID-19—the disease derived from the SARS-CoV-2 virus— but also for the presence of possible immunity through serological antibody testing in people who may have self-resolved the illness.

Moreover, we need to have widely available testing with quick turnarounds, so that we have the data sooner to make the most efficient and effective public policy decisions in this dynamic situation.

3. Health Care System: Our health care system is under significant stress and strain—not to mention the immeasurable pressure on our intrepid doctors, nurses and medical staff, who are on the front lines working tirelessly to protect and heal us.

We have to get to a place where the health care system is no longer at risk of being overwhelmed, meaning it must have the necessary personal protective equipment to keep the medical staff healthy and enough ventilators for those in respiratory distress.

Taking care of our health care system means rebuilding the Strategic National Stockpile, which can be immediately dispatched to a COVID-19 hot spot if local supplies are on the verge of being exhausted.

4. Medicine: There is not yet a vaccine for this new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and no proven therapeutics or anti-virals.  However, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of some treatments, such as hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, under an emergency use authorization.

While an effective vaccine is likely at least a year away, proven therapeutics or anti-virals could arrive sooner, reducing pain and suffering. Effective treatments will likely reduce the hospitalization and death rates, too.

Social distancing is a major disruption to our lives in so many ways. It affects the economy and well-being of the American people, hurts the education of our children, and separates us from loved ones, including  those who may be vulnerable.

While social distancing may be painful now, it offers the possibility of reducing the overall level of pain we may have to endure during this crisis. Ultimately, we are social distancing to save lives.

Social distancing won’t last forever—and there are signs that we can watch for to see that it might be coming to an end.

COMMENTARY BY

Peter Brookes

Peter Brookes is a senior research fellow, focusing on weapons of mass destruction and counter proliferation, in the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Twitter: .

RELATED ARTICLES:

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When Can Life Return to Normal? 4 Signs to Monitor

5 Keys to Unlocking Why the World Health Organization Bows to China on COVID-19

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

Media Outlets Look to Cut Off Trump’s Daily Briefings While Publishing China’s Propaganda

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The lack of regular White House press briefings used to be decried as the end of democracy. Now it’s daily White House briefings that represent the end of democracy.

Actress Jane Lynch demanded on Twitter on Monday that President Donald Trump end his daily press briefings and that the media stop covering them.

Lest one think this is just one misguided voice in the dark crevasse that is celebrity Twitter punditry, there’s now a petition by the left-wing activist organization MoveOn.org to get news outlets to stop covering the briefings.

Many in the political punditocracy are hopping aboard this idea.

“I would stop putting those briefings on live TV—not out of spite, but because it’s misinformation,” liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said on her prime-time program.

“Enough is enough. Americans deserve so much better than what this president offers every time he approaches the podium,” wrote Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist. “He needs to give up the daily press briefings, and let the experts take control so that they can use these press conferences to reassure Americans in our time of distress and not cause more fear when we need it least.”

Perhaps worst of all, some major media outlets actually seem to be taking the ending of press briefing coverage seriously.

New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet explained why the Gray Lady doesn’t find the White House briefings worth covering.

“Nowadays, it seems they make little news. We, of course, reserve the right to show them live [via web streaming], if we believe they will actually make news,” Baquet said, according to The Washington Post. “But that hasn’t happened in quite some time.”

That doesn’t seem consistent, however, with his publication’s own reporting.

A March 25 New York Times article suggested that the media stop covering Trump’s press briefings because they are spreading what it calls “misinformation.”

Just as bad, in the Times’ view, the briefings are popular.

The Times piece began with this lead sentence: “President Trump is a ratings hit, and some journalists and public health experts say that could be a dangerous thing.”

Margaret Sullivan, media columnist at The Washington Post, wrote that the press needs to “adjust accordingly” to the press briefings because, in her view, they are more like political rallies and might serve his political ends.

“Trump is doing harm and spreading misinformation while working for his own partisan political benefit—a naked attempt to portray himself as a wartime president, bravely leading the nation through a tumultuous time, the [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] of the 21st century,” Sullivan wrote.

FDR didn’t use fireside chats for his political benefit?

This is basically just saying that the media need to stop covering the White House coronavirus briefings because they might help Trump.

All of this is coming from publications and an industry that formerly fretted over and lambasted the lack of regular White House press briefings before the coronavirus outbreak. Some even called them “an essential part of democracy.”

Now that everyone is watching the White House briefings, the media aren’t so keen on the daily ritual allegedly sustaining the republic. What gives?

The New York Times and other outlets that accuse the White House of spreading misinformation seem to have had no problem publishing literal Chinese propaganda.

In the past week, countless outlets, including the very same New York Times, published stories saying that the total number of U.S. coronavirus cases has surpassed China’s, despite the fact that there’s no reason whatsoever to trust the information coming out of an authoritarian communist regime that has repeatedly lied to its own citizens and to the world, sparking the greatest global pandemic in the past century.

Remember, it wasn’t long ago that most major media outlets were publishing stories about how Trump’s move to shut off travel from China was misguided, in part based on recommendations from the World Health Organization.

The problem is, the WHO relied on information provided by China, which turned out to be not only wrong, but likely a product of willful misrepresentation.

It’s good for the media to have a healthy skepticism of those in power. That said, however, one would think that skepticism should be directed most strongly at those in positions of absolute power, as in the case of the Chinese communist government.

Despite this, many in the media still seem more consumed with attacking the Trump administration—even through foreign proxies—than simply getting to the truth.

The bottom line is that neither the reduction, nor the uptick, in White House press conferences signals the end of democracy. Americans are stuck at home en masse, and many more than usual want to hear from the president and the administration in a national crisis.

The administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been far from perfect, but the media have hardly performed without serious and embarrassing fumbles. Cutting off the president now, when so many Americans are tuning in, would be a travesty.

When one reporter asked Trump at Sunday’s coronavirus task force briefing about outlets discontinuing coverage of the daily events, the president gave a reasonable response.

“I think the American public, ultimately, they should be the decider. If they don’t want to watch, they should not watch,” Trump said. “When [the media] don’t want the president of the United States to have a voice, you are not talking about democracy any longer.”

It might be past time, especially amid an international calamity, to hope the media will make a self-correction and restore some of their lost credibility at this time.

Cutting off the president’s microphone hardly restores confidence in a collective institution that seems hopelessly partisan and one-sided.

COMMENTARY BY

Jarrett Stepman

Jarrett Stepman is a contributor to The Daily Signal and co-host of The Right Side of History podcast. Send an email to Jarrett. He is also the author of the new book, “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past.” Twitter: .

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

A Virus Worse Than the One from Wuhan

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Socialism is an intellectual virus, and it’s more deadly than the one from Wuhan.

The Wuhan virus pandemic may teach us many new lessons before it’s over—in science, hygiene, interpersonal relations, economics, and more—but one thing is plainly evident already. Socialists need to self-isolate.

They are learning nothing from the crisis. Indeed, these righteous opponents of exploitation are exploiting it to promote their stale, toxic brew of concentrated state power as the solution to every problem—even when the state itself is complicit in the problem’s severity.

For example: “In pandemics, we are all socialists,” declares Ross Barkan in City and State magazine. Sorry, Ross, but you don’t speak for me. I’m not about to shun one virus and embrace an even worse one. Barkan thinks profit is the problem in health care and if we just turn the whole thing over to the federal government, we can eliminate profit and all get better health care for “free.”

But wait, there’s more! Just when you thought a virus calls for maybe medication or face masks, doctor-wannabe Barkan says it cries out for “rent stabilization available to anyone” and government ownership of utilities. That’s right. Illness in the land? Seize the power company!

Former bartender, now expert-on-everything Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declares that measures to combat the virus must include “making moves on paid leave, debt relief, waiving work req’s (requirements), guaranteeing healthcare, UBI (Universal Basic Income), detention relief,” etc. You’d think the federal government must be stricken with a bad case of a budget surplus and disappearing debt.

The amazingly accomplished problem-fixer Bernie Sanders took time out from selfless public service to claim that the pandemic is proof we have too many competing insurance companies. (Do you follow that?) Replace them, he says, with just one big one in Washington that dispenses Medicare for All. He freely admits he neither knows nor cares how many tens of trillions of dollars that might cost. Coincidentally, that’s precisely the same attitude my rat terriers take regarding their vet bills.

Boasting a resume no more complicated than “social activist,” Alexis Isabel shamelessly pronounces over her avocado toast that “this pandemic is showing how the US has failed by promoting individualism instead of collectivism.” Somebody please inform her that the virus originated in one-party, collectivist China, whose regime lied about it and jailed individual dissidents who tried to warn us about it.

Yes, these reactions to the pandemic confirm my worst fears about socialists. They are quacks, snake-oil salesmen, con men, shysters. While others are pouring out their hearts and treasures to actually help suffering people and solve a calamity, these pontificating mountebanks are proposing remedies akin to medieval blood-letting.

To socialists, I say: Here’s the kind of emergency in which you can shine. No need to wait for government action. In this panic environment, you can show the way! All you have to do is get your virus-free comrades together, sell your possessions and share the proceeds communally. If this form of “brotherhood” ever had a chance of success, surely it’s now. In a disaster scenario, people are willing to give just about anything a whirl.

Once you’ve assembled, then you can tax each other to your heart’s content. You can impose regulations on yourselves, the more the merrier. If you catch anybody getting rich by creating wealth for somebody without permission, you can vilify and expel them. You can even write personal checks to the government; indeed, send them everything you’ve got, if you want. The country will marvel at the example you’ll set.

Nothing prevents socialists from doing any of these things by voluntary agreement amongst themselves. That’s one of the great advantages of capitalism: You and your willing friends can practice socialism if you so desire, whereas a great disadvantage of socialism is that you can’t practice capitalism until socialism fails so miserably that even its sycophants throw in the towel.

But a safe bet is that in a world of some eight billion people, not a single socialist will make the slightest attempt to do any of these things. The whole idea of socialism—which explains the inherent hypocrisy of its advocates—is not to freely practice what you preach. It’s to use power to force others to practice what you preach.

No doubt that extraordinary moments require extraordinary responses, even from government. A case can be made that at least some measures to combat an invasive virus is a matter of national defense, the most legitimate purpose of government and the one that socialists are usually the most reluctant to support. The point of this article is not to offer all the right answers even if I knew what they were, but rather, to warn us all not to lose our heads, or inflate the capabilities of the state, or welcome a heap of new problems by drawing the wrong conclusions and imposing non-sequiturs as long-term policy.

In a powerful commentary in the March 20 edition of The Wall Street Journal, Kimberley Strassel puts it bluntly:

Here’s the lesson of the virus so far: Relying solely on government bureaucracy is insane. To the extent America is weathering this moment, it is in enormous part thanks to the strength, ingenuity and flexibility of our thriving, competitive capitalist players.

“Drug companies,” notes Strassel, “will save lives, even as Bernie Sanders is denouncing them.”

If the pandemic truly argues for a short-term boost in government spending, let’s remember that near-record peacetime deficits in a booming economy (mostly for stuff socialists favor and demand more of) put us in a terrible financial position to afford new spending. For its fiscal insanity, the federal government deserves not more power, money, and cult-like worship but the harshest calumny for its hopeless mismanagement.

Before we embrace more government to bail out a sinking private sector, let’s pause and appreciate that it’s the private sector—even in a crisis—that bails out the government sector every day of the week. Where would government be if there wasn’t a private sector to pay its taxes and buy its burgeoning debt? How much could it spend if private people and businesses didn’t earn it in the first place?

We should be naturally suspicious of any ideology that requires a deadly, worldwide pandemic to make its case superficially viable, if only for the short-term. Surely, the need to stuff the statist genie back in the bottle when this is over will be existentially urgent, or the long-term cost to our liberties and economy could outweigh any short-term victories against the virus. Yet, the collectivists are telling us that they want pandemic-like behavior from government now and forever, crisis or no crisis.

In the 14th Century, the Black Death wiped out about a third of the European population. In those superstitious times, governments responded in many counterproductive ways. But fortunately, the world did not descend into a permanent Dark Age. Centers of power and coercion actually began to break down as early as the Renaissance of the 15th Century, followed by the Reformation of the 16th and the Enlightenment of the 18th. The world was unimaginably freer in the 19th than it ever was before, and more prosperous by many orders of magnitude because of it. Socialism could have institutionalized the misery of the Black Death but fortunately the world was smart enough to move in other directions.

Socialism is an intellectual virus, and it’s more deadly than the one from Wuhan. There are hordes of Venezuelans, Cubans, North Koreans and former East-bloc citizens who attest to that. If anyone needs a short refresher course on the topic, here’s a list of recent articles that raise questions about government’s role in the present emergency instead of blindly endorsing its dubious and massive expansion:

COLUMN BY

Lawrence W. Reed

Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Ambassador for Global Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education. He is also author of Real Heroes: Incredible True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction and Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism. Follow on Twitter and Like on Facebook.

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

VIDEO OF THE DAY: America is winning together

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President Trump didn’t wait to take action on Coronavirus, from imposing swift travel restrictions on China to organizing a White House Task Force in January.

These early moves—which at the time drew criticism from some in Washington as an “overreaction”—have allowed America to slow the spread of the deadly virus today.

“Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war.”

Together, America has mounted a full-scale response to the pandemic. In the Rose Garden yesterday, a number of CEOs joined the President to explain how they’ve transformed their own companies to help fight the virus:

As great American businesses step up, citizens across the country are doing their part to slow the spread, too. “The choices and sacrifices we make will determine the fate of this virus and, really, the fate of our victory,” President Trump says.

READ: “What we at the FDA are doing to fight Covid-19”

POLL: Americans want better from their news media

A majority of Americans—60 percent, according to Gallup—support the President’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. A slightly smaller majority, 59 percent, approve of Congress’ handling of the crisis. The poll was conducted before President Trump signed the bipartisan CARES Act, which is supported by 77 percent of U.S. adults.

In fact, nearly all of the institutions surveyed by Gallup earned high marks from the public. Americans approve of the efforts by hospitals, state governments, schools, daycares, Federal agencies, and employers to confront the global outbreak together.

There was one exception: the news media. A majority of Americans, 55 percent, disapprove of how the media has handled the Coronavirus response.

Facts and results matter, especially during a crisis. Leaders across the country are putting politics aside to get to work. President Trump and Congress have joined forces on several major emergency-relief bills. Governors are implementing crucial public safety measures. Businesses are repurposing factories to make more masks and other medical supplies available.

Many in the media, however, continue to put ratings before country. Last month, Politico and others spread the false story that President Trump called the Coronavirus “a hoax.” This misinformation came after the Administration had already taken crucial steps to combat the pandemic, including travel restrictions on China in January.

Other pundits have actively rooted for the American response to fail. “On Friday March 20, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said President Trump was lying when he said the U.S. Navy hospital ships would arrive in Los Angeles and New York City in the near future” to help treat patients, Chrissy Clark wrote for The Federalist yesterday.

“Exactly a week later, the USNS Mercy arrived in the Port of Los Angeles.” And yesterday, the USNS Comfort docked at Pier 90 in New York City.

Washington pundits and reporters must start listening to the American public more and to each other less. As the country fights this Coronavirus together, timely and trustworthy information is essential. The news media should prioritize facts and constructive debate—not obsessive attacks on this President based on false narratives.

Americans have had enough, and they’ve said so clearly. It’s time to hear them.\