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Key Points The U.S. shale patch bears some of the highest production costs in the world, requiring a breakeven price of between $50 and $55 per barrel. Now, with Saudi Arabia and Russia’s planned production increases to battle for market share exacerbating the price crash brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the sector faces what may well be a bloodbath. “U.S. shale is now economically unviable,” Chris Midgley, global head of analytics at S&P Global Platts, told CNBC. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Colorado-based Whiting Petroleum is a grim omen of things to come, experts say, as oil...

President Trump says he is invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) to clear up supply chain problems encountered in the manufacturing of medical ventilators. “Today, I have issued an order under the Defense Production Act to more fully ensure that domestic manufacturers can produce ventilators needed to save American lives," Trump said in a statement.

Pennsylvania's system of state-owned liquor stores, closed because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, resumed limited online sales Wednesday only to have the state’s Fine Wine & Good Spirits website fail to keep up with demand. The state's website is accepting a "controlled number" of daily orders but plans to expand as it develops more capacity. The website had an apology posted Thursday morning that told customers that “due to overwhelming demand, the online store is not available at this time.” People looking to reload their booze supply are urged to try again in the coming days.

Why is COVID-19 worse than past viruses? The 1968-69 Hong Kong flu caused 1 million deaths worldwide 6 months after the first case. COVID-19 has caused 50,000 deaths 4 ½ months after the first case. The link below contains a chart for the number of deaths from Pneumonia and Influenza in annual flu seasons (page S5). http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.323.4407&rep=rep1&type=pdf Notice something familiar? Each year there is a sharp, exponential increase in flu deaths, just like we see with COVID-19. How does the COVID-19 case/ death rate compare with past viruses 4 ½ months after the first case? I can’t find that data....

The economic fallout of government mandates meant to deal with the coronavirus pandemic is causing hospitals across the country to cut hours and furlough workers. In Cincinnati, Ohio, a March 17 order from the Ohio Department of Health halted all nonessential surgeries in order to preserve personal protective equipment in hospitals. The financial ramifications were severe, and it's estimated that the surgery cancellations cost area hospitals $1.2 billion per month, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. That disruption has forced hospitals to cut back on hours and consider furloughs for hundreds of hospital workers. A spokeswoman for Mercy Health said that...

RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number 24. Andrew Cuomo today at his daily briefing for the people in New York… CUOMO: You have projection models that have us hitting the apex, coming down from the apex. Models vary at how quickly you come down from the apex. But they all basically say you come down from the apex quickly. Models have it flattening out and continuing through the summer. How many lives lost? There’s only one model that we look at that has the number of projected deaths, which is the IHME model which is funded by the Gates Foundation....

This post provides a timeline of the ChiCom Virus thus far. HereÂ’s an interactive map of States issuing stay at home orders. It has dates for state actions.New York Slimes: See Which States and Cities Have Told Residents to Stay at Home IÂ’m not going to break out most state actions in the timeline below. IÂ’m focusing on responses from the President and the federal government. I am staying away from politics for the most part and I am not reporting fake news. There are a lot of tweets from the President. That should give you some context as to...

Attention-seeking narcissists. Oh--for good measure they join in for a rendition of a Socialist pop song.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign told Senate Republican candidate Jeff Sessions on Thursday to stop promoting himself as a Trump ally, lashing out at the former U.S. attorney general, whom the president soured on. “We only assume your campaign is doing this to confuse President Trump’s loyal supporters in Alabama into believing the president supports your candidacy in the upcoming primary run-off election. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Trump re-election campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner said in a letter to Sessions, a U.S. senator from Alabama before he became attorney general. Sessions was an...

Small coastal towns that have taken in an influx of NYC’s elite fleeing the coronavirus epidemic are now reeling from a spike in COVID-19 cases as the prices of Hamptons rental homes soar from $5,000 to over $30,000 for just two weeks. The exodus of the Big Apple's residents has caused some town populations to burgeon and practically double and rentals to skyrocket - but locals in these 'refugee' towns are becoming hostile and demanding city dwellers stay away from their vulnerable towns for fear they may bring the deadly infection. Suffolk County, home to the Hamptons, is seeing the...

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine announced Thursday a potential vaccine for the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. The vaccine has been effective on mice when delivered through a patch on the skin that researchers say feels like Velcro on the skin. Researchers say production of the patches and vaccine is scalable and if effective, can be produced in large quantities. Scientists are awaiting approval from the F-D-A for expedited human trials. It is the first study to be published after it was critiqued by other scientists “at outside institutions that describes a candidate vaccine for COVID-19.” During a news...

The colleges made these decisions in light of nationwide school closures, the cancellation of SAT and ACT tests this spring and several schools’ consideration of grading on a pass/fail or credit/no credit basis, all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcements help answer some high school students’ concerns about whether they will be able to satisfy course and test requirements to attend college. Prospective UC students can still submit SAT and ACT scores for admission next year in order to qualify for scholarships or satisfy UC admission eligibility and some university graduation requirements. But the UC says no student will...

RUSH: I want to play for you a political sound bite from David Plouffe. Oh, speaking of, you know, it reminds me of something. I’ve been thinking, and I want to run this by you. Who else would be mentally tough enough to stand up to all of this garbage besides Donald Trump? I don’t want anybody to think that what I’m doing here is a direct criticism of Trump. You know, I’ve heard all these media people pine away for Obama during crises like this. Obama was not good during this. Folks, I say this objectively. I can show...

A Homo erectus skullcap found northwest of Johannesburg in South Africa has been identified as the oldest to date, in research published in Science. The hominin is a direct ancestor of modern humans, experienced a changing climate, and moved out of Africa into other continents. The discovery of DNH 134 pushes the possible origin of Homo erectus back between 150,000 and 200,000 years. Credit: Therese van Wyk, University of Johannesburg. ____________________________________________________________________________________ An unusual skullcap and thousands of clues have created a southern twist to the story of human ancestors, in research published in Science on 3 April. The rolling hills...

Today is the 103rd anniversary of Woodrow Wilson’s speech to congress calling for a declaration of war on Germany. https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2020/04/02/woodrow-wilson-was-he-a-father-of-the-greatest-generation-or-globalist-disaster/ Why has this feature of the American system – congressional declaration of war as opposed to authorisation of military force – disappeared? Which method worked better? Is the rejection of the Democrats by the people at the elections of 2020 a fair judgement on Wilson’s presidency? Who were the fathers of The Greatest Generation?

The Oral Arguments in Duncan v. Becerra (The California Magazine Ban) were held today. I have attached the video. The Judges on the Panel were: Kenneth K. Lee (Trump Appointee) Barbara M. Lynn (Klintoon Appointee District Judge sitting by designation.) I think, but I am not certain that the third judge is Consuelo Callahan (GWB appointee) but she didn't say her name at the outset. (Can anyone check me on that?)

More troops are headed to the southern border to support federal agents during the coronavirus pandemic, according to several reports. The Department of Homeland Security requested the additional forces in mid-March, and the request was approved last week, according to a memo obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune. “The coronavirus pandemic has placed the country in a public health crisis and DHS is working with its partners across the government to take action to prevent the further spread of the virus in a ‘whole of America’ approach,” a CBP spokesperson told the U-T. The additional troops will supplement about 5,000...

CENTRAL — A Central pastor who has defied state orders limiting public gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic plans to put the state and city police on legal notice that restrictions on places of worship violate the state and U.S. Constitution and that the governments risk a lawsuit, the pastor's lawyer said Thursday. The Rev. Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church, has continued to hold in-person public services drawing hundreds to his church off Hooper Road even after Gov. John Bel Edwards ordered people to stay home and greatly limited public gatherings and other "non-essential" forms of public life and...

The U.S. government Thursday eased restrictions on blood donations from gay men and other key groups because of a drop in the nation's blood supply triggered by the coronavirus outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration's new policy aims to allow tens of thousands more Americans to give blood, including gay and bisexual men and people with recent tattoos and piercings. "We want and we need healthy people — all healthy people — to give blood," said Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, who announced the changes in a media briefing with the FDA.

Wichita, KS — Sedgwick County commissioners voted 4-1 on Wednesday to approve a recommendation to limit abortions as non-essential procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote came after pro-life activists made the commissioners aware that women from several states, including Louisiana – a COVID-19 hot spot – were flocking to the Trust Women Wichita abortion business for elective abortions. That recommendation will now be passed on to chief county health officer Dr. Garold Minns, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and Gov. Laura Kelly. Yesterday, in response to questions at a news conference about the Sedgwick County action aimed...