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On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) stated that he “wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights” when he implemented his state’s stay-at-home order, but that he did consult with legal counsel. Murphy began by defending the order by arguing that there won’t be an economic recovery until there’s a “complete or near complete healthcare recovery.” And that more testing in the state would be helpful in reopening. Murphy later defended deeming liquor stores an essential business, saying that the decision was based on input from addiction and recovery experts...

Protection measures against the coronavirus continued to tear through the employment ranks, with 5.245 million more Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The new filings bring the crisis total to just over 22 million, nearly wiping out all the job gains since the Great Recession. The total was a bit worse than the 5 million expected from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

This is the latest in a continuing series of thoughts, half-columns, policy observations, and parenting journals during life spent inside. It’s all very odd how normal this has becomeThe first time I wore gloves to the store I kept them in my pocket, determined to not need them. The idea felt weird. “What am I, Michael Jackson?” I thought. But sitting in the parking lot of the Safeway at 2:00 am (the best time to go, if your grocery store is 24 hours), I was uneasy: will I or won’t I? By the time I got to the automatic doors...

It’s looking more like the experts got the handling of COVID-19 wrong. Maybe really wrong. In analyzing the data from countries who took dramatically different measures in response to COVID-19, from the most severe restrictions to very few restrictions (countries that keep and share good data, not China or Iran) it appears they are all showing essentially the same spread, spikes, flattening and decline. This includes Sweden and others that did not shutdown. The same phenomenon is playing out among individual states in the U.S. Some went into Stalinist lockdowns (Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer) while others never locked down at...

Boy, have House Democrats got a plan for you. How’d you like to get $2K a month during the entirety of the pandemic? Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) are sponsoring the Emergency Money for the People Act. The EMPA will throw 2000 bucks your way “until employment returns to pre-COVID-19 levels.” The way the pair see it, a one-time $1,200 as part of the $2.2 trillion economic stimulus ain’t gettin’ it. Tim explained in a press release: “The economic impact of this virus is unprecedented for our country. As millions of Americans file for unemployment week...

A 99-year-old Second World War veteran has raised more than £13m for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his garden. Captain Tom Moore, who lives with his family in Bedfordshire, completed the final four 25-metre lengths with a special guard of honour by the 1st battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment....Capt Moore’s original target was to raise £1,000 ahead of his 100th birthday. But donations to his Tom’s Walk for the NHS fundraiser have since soared past £13m.…He has received multiple messages of thanks from NHS workers, sports personalities and politicians.... Moore, who aimed to complete the walk before he...

A formal review is to be launched into why people from a black and minority ethnic background appear to be disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The move follows calls for the government to investigate the number of deaths of people from the BAME community and those working for the NHS, during the coronavirus pandemic. Sky News analysis found out of the 54 frontline health and social care workers in England and Wales that have died because of COVID-19, 70% of them were black or from an ethnic minority. Our analysis also found that four of the five health trusts in England...

It was gunplay, off Clifford Avenue, like so much gunplay lately and forever in the city of Rochester. A quick series of shots and wounded young men, the fire department washing down the scene a few hours later and a collection of bottles and Mylar balloons a few hours after that. It’s been that way for decades. But Sunday was different. A dozen hours after a young life was lost, scores and then hundreds, over several hours, gathered near the scene and moving through the neighborhood. Without masks, without social distancing. Mingling and talking and drinking. While you sat home,...

It seemed Tennessee would be the first state to join the Constitutional Carry club in 2020.  From an earlier article on Ammoland: On 27 February, 2020, at 1 p.m., Governor Bill Lee announced he is proposing Constitutional Carry for Tennessee in 2020. Both Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Majority Leader William Lampeth endorsed the idea of Constitutional Carry. A specific statute was not in place when the announcement was made. With all three leaders endorsing the popular idea of Constitutional Carry, a bill seemed almost certain of passage. From tn.gov: “I applaud Governor Lee’s commitment to Tennesseans’ Second...

PING LIST Some of you have asked to be placed on the COVID-19 Update Ping List. Those who give me a request, will be placed on the list before the next Update is posted. If a person has expressed an appreciation for the data I'm presenting, I may add that person to the Ping List. Some folks don't like to be on ping lists, and I won't mind if you would rather I remove your name from the list. COVID-19 Update As of 04/15/2020 00:00 PDST Good morning everyone. Thank you for stopping by to check out the COVID-19 Update....

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has confirmed that double-voting by mail took place in the March 3, 2020, Super Tuesday primary, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. Days before Super Tuesday, citizen watchdog group Election Integrity Project California sent a letter to Padilla requesting his office look into possible double voting in the 2020 primary election. More than a month later, in a letter dated April 7, 2020, Padilla confirmed double-voting in one case and suspected double-voting by a number of other registered voters on Super Tuesday, according to the letter obtained by Breitbart News. Padilla confirmed in at least...

The United States Chamber of Commerce is siding with the World Health Organization (WHO), slamming President Trump’s decision to halt American taxpayer-funding of the global bureaucratic group due to their pro-China stances in the midst of the Chinese coronavirus crisis. On Tuesday, Trump announced that he would be halting all American taxpayer funding of WHO for helping China mismanage and cover up the spread of the coronavirus in late January and early February. Since 2010, American taxpayers have gifted (emphasis mine) WHO with $3.5 billion in funds to operate as a largely unaccountable global body. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice...

Had I been asked in late 2019 what would eventually break American global dominance, I’d have said the rise of China. Projections indicated that by 2030 or so, China would overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy. When was the last time the U.S. had not been the largest economy? According to the late economic historian Angus Maddison, it was about 1880. And what nation was the largest economy in that year? China. My thinking, pre-pandemic, was that the psychic shock of America’s eventual demotion might trigger cultural and political turmoil, as the nation would find itself forced...

According to the media, it sounds like the world is ending. We do not hear anything about how we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy. I suspect New York City will bounce back very soon, much quicker than anyone would had anticipated because they will reach herd immunity.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Hebrew Worship Words Shuwr (Shir) Psalm 8:49Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;    I will sing the praises of your name. Psalm 33:3 Sing to him a new song;    play skillfully, and shout for joy. Psalm 144:9 I will sing a new song to you, my God;     on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, New International Version (NIV)(End of Scripture Passage) . "Shuwr" implies a strolling minstrel, a man or woman singing and playing a stringed instrument. Strong's Concordance 7891 shir: to sing Original Word: שַׁיר...

BERLIN - The annual Oktoberfest, the world’s largest beer festival, is unlikely to take place this year due to the coronavirus crisis, the premier of the southern German state of Bavaria said on Thursday. The Oktoberfest attracts around six million visitors to Munich every year, with many traveling from abroad. Revelers sit together on long communal tables to swig beer, eat sausages, pretzel or pork knuckle, and listen to oompah bands. Bavarian premier Markus Soeder told journalists he was very skeptical whether this year’s festival - scheduled from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 - could take place and said he...

A CNN report received widespread criticism after it repeated Chinese propaganda and cited a Chinese state media outlet as its source. The CNN report’s lead paragraph originally said on Tuesday: A Chinese naval flotilla headed into the Pacific over the weekend, evidence that the People’s Liberation Army Navy has done a much better job controlling coronavirus than the US Navy, according to a story posted on the PLA’s English-language website. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted: “Is @CNN actually publishing this #China Communist Party propaganda as news?” One Asia expert, Isaac Stone Fish, tweeted... “I’m horrified that CNN published this. Its...

The World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948 with the lofty goal of ensuring the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all people. In the years since, the organization has been instrumental in controlling or eradicating communicable diseases and investing in healthcare capacity across the globe. However, the WHO is now facing rising international criticism over outsized Chinese influence in the organization’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The WHO Director-General (DG) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been an outspoken advocate for the Chinese government’s COVID-19 response. On January 28, Tedros met with Chinese President Xi...

Governors from seven East Coast states formed a coalition on Monday, led by New York, to develop a joint reopening plan. Three governors from the West Coast formed a similar plan. The 10 states, mostly led by Democrats, together make up 38% of the U.S. economy. As part of Cuomo’s effort, McKinsey & Co. is producing models on testing, infections and other key data points that will underpin decisions on how and when to reopen the region’s economy, the sources said.

The governor has been providing regularly scheduled briefings at 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to provide the latest updates. On Monday, he provided new details on a Virginia-specific model from UVA, talked about statewide responses at long-term care centers, and said he would have a decision by Wednesday on how long to postpone the re-opening of non-essential businesses. Last Friday, he announced plans to establish a nursing home task force, proposed the release of inmates with less than year left in their sentences, and emphasized a need for volunteers. On April 8, he announced that he was postponing...