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Rules are for the little people and by any objective measure George Stephanopoulos would qualify as a little person.But Georgie’s chosen profession and affiliations automatically granted him ‘elite’ status – the equivalent of adding a foot to his diminutive chassis. George Stephanopoulos: Senior political advisor to Bill Clinton, Democrat operative at ABC News and charter member of Ezra Klein’s JournoList. So normally he’d get a pass for not following rules others are expected to adhere to. But apparently this is not  the case when it comes to the Wuhan Cooties – or the Hamptons, where there currently are no actual...

Have we all just witnessed the largest psychological operation in world history? Utilizing media to create a global mass hysteria pandemic, The psyop was used to cripple world economies and push forward the vaccine agenda of Bill Gates and his plans for id2020. Bill Gates is out there telling the world he is going to save it from a virus. This is the same guy who wants to depopulate the planet. Furthermore, he could not keep his computer operating software clean from viruses. Oh the irony! Empty field hospitals with no patients ever in them. Medical workers being laid off...

The price of oil futures has collapsed catastrophically. In fact, the prices collapsed into negative territory in the near term. This bizarre situation, prompted by lack of consumer demand and lack of storage facility, led the irrepressible Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to tweet: "You absolutely love to see it. This along with record low-interest rates means it's the right time for a worker-led, mass investment in green infrastructure to save our planet." This tweet was too dumb even for her – an extraordinary bar, given her past commentary – and she deleted it. But she then reiterated the point in...

Former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said during the 2008 financial crisis that lawmakers should “never let a crisis go to waste,” and many Democratic lawmakers appear to be heeding that advice -- using the coronavirus pandemic as a jumping-off point to renew calls for a historic expansion of government. Emanuel repeated his mantra again last month, this time in connection with the new crisis. “Start planning for the future. This has to be the last pandemic that creates an economic depression. We're going to have more pandemics, but this has to be the last economic depression,”...

You might have laughed at your buddy who was sweating a bet on how many quarterbacks would be taken in the first round of last year’s NFL draft. This April? NFL draft betting is the only game in town, unless you’re really into the Belarus Premier League. Without much other action to offer, BetMGM pumped up its NFL draft props. There are more than 160 NFL draft prop bets at BetMGM, from which team will draft Tua Tagovailoa to whether the Dallas Cowboys’ first pick will be an offensive or defensive player (offense is +200, defense is -250). A couple...

Poor old Bill Carlisle explains how he ran into a Female Hercules (1954). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

It is that time again, dear Morning Briefing readers, for me to express my dismay about some of the more heavy-handed government responses to our current coronavirus crisis. I will forego the disclaimers this time. Whiners are going to whine and we have important freedom-loving things to discuss on this fine Thursday morning. There has been more talk this week about eventually reopening businesses and relaxing some stay-at-home orders but that doesn’t seem to be resonating with many people who are just tired of this, already. They want things to happen now. Restlessness abounds in the Quarantine States of America,...

“Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:5).

Between March 19 — the day the state’s stay-at-home order went into effect — and April 19, citations for speeding more that 100 mph have increased by 87%, according to a California Highway Patrol news release The monthlong period saw 2,493 citations given for the excessive triple-digit speeds compared to 1,335 in the same time frame a year ago, the release stated. During a speed enforcement operation on the 5 Freeway in Southern California last week, CHP officers pulled over 14 drivers traveling more than 100 mph. The fastest was clocked at 119 mph, according to the Highway Patrol. And...

Big companies like Ruth Chris, Potbelly and Shake Shack that are receiving large coronavirus-related Small Business Administration loans have caused an uproar. But far less attention has been paid to who the SBA excluded from relief: People who work in the sex industry.

Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday launched into a fiery takedown of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying state and local governments with cratered finances because of the coronavirus pandemic should be allowed to file for bankruptcy rather than rely on federal aid. “My breath is taken away,” Murphy, a Democrat, said of the Kentucky Republican during his daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton.

Beijing (AFP) - China announced Thursday it will give another $30 million to the World Health Organization to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, days after Washington said it would freeze funding. The US, which is the WHO's biggest contributor, accused the organisation last week of "mismanaging" the COVID-19 crisis, drawing ire from Beijing as both countries spar over the deadly virus. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the new donation would be in addition to a previous $20 million committed, and would help "strengthen developing countries' health systems". He added that China's contribution to the UN...

Southern New Hampshire University, known for being on the cutting edge of collegiate learning, plans to slash tuition for incoming freshmen as it drastically revamps how it conducts on-campus learning beginning in the fall. As part of the changes, tuition will be cut 61%, from $31,000 to $10,000 starting in the 2021-2022 academic year. Under the plan, incoming freshmen and transfer students with freshman standing will receive full tuition scholarships for the first year. The scholarships, which will be available to 1,050 on a first-come, first-served basis, won’t include the cost of room and board. With the COVID-19 pandemic and...

Gradually it is dawning on people that the big losers in COVID-19 are fracking, airlines, hotels, restaurants, newspapers, and New York City. The first three are resilient because they have weathered many a business cycle but he latter three are devastated. One industry in peril that does not get mentioned is the automotive industry, particularly those who service vehicles. Automobiles are sturdier and last longer. My car is 10 years old and I see no reason for it not to go another 10 years, especially as I have averaged less than 10,000 miles annually in the last 6 years. Projecting...

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Wednesday he will not make a decision on the state’s expiring “stay-at-home” order intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus until next week. The order, which went into effect March 31, is set to expire April 30, or next Thursday. The Republican governor said he is waiting to make decisions on what comes next for the state to avoid potentially having to reverse them in the future. In the meantime, the police in his state act like Hitler’s Gestapo! Winslow, Arizona police recently arrested a business owner for staying open. Several people complained to...

ussia's Severnoye Design Bureau has stopped development entirely of its Project 23560 destroyers, also known as the Lider class, and the Project 22350M frigate, an expanded derivative of the Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov class. The company has said these ships are among its most promising future offerings and the halting of the two programs has raised questions about its long-term financial stability. Russian newspaper Interfax reported the new developments at Severnoye, which is part of the country's state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation, on Apr. 18. The information was reportedly contained in an annual review of the shipbuilder's activities in 2019, which...

More from the British Shorthair cat family. Mama Anabel is having a time getting one of her children to sit still while she bathes them. Video, 3 minutes, 14 seconds

As we, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, respond to the Wuhan pandemic by hunkering down, whimpering at the thought of society reopening and search in vain for a new set of brown trousers to wear with our fashionable face mask, an interesting experiment is underway in Europe. In Sweden, which has done basically nothing at all in response to the virus, the death rate per one million of population remains significantly lower than American states that have instituted the most draconian regulations. https://twitter.com/RencapMan/status/1252897000812613632/photo/1 That’s right, you can actually have your economy and a...

A judge in Harris County, Texas, on Wednesday ordered residents to start wearing face masks in public for 30 days beginning next week — or possibly face a fine. But Judge Lina Hidalgo’s action, which intended to help stem the spread of the coronavirus in the third most populous county in the U.S., drew immediate pushback — including from the state’s lieutenant governor, who called the move “the ultimate government overreach,” and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who wrote that "commonsense guidelines" should never lead to "unjust tyranny." Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick noted in a Twitter message that Hidalgo’s order – affecting...