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The Morning Report 4/1/20

Good morning, kids. Midweek, the start of a new month, and confusion continues to reign supreme about the nature of the Oriental Lung AIDS. The statistics are a complete hash partly because the Communist Chinese who unleashed this pestilence on the world are either lying or not forthcoming with the data we need, and the Democrat-Media Complex is using this as a last desperate wunderwaffe with which to be rid of President Trump, we the people and “We The People.” I’ll delve more into the alarming stirrings of totalitarianism in a moment. The fact that the DMC is also parroting virtually verbatim the line coming straight out of the Beijing offices of the Communist Party Central Committee is both revelatory and despicable. 

Unfortunately, even some of our own outlets can’t resist taking shots at the President whose actions early on definitely mitigated the actual spread of this disease, the morbidity and lethality of it in context to all other manner of disease and afflictions still a matter of debate, over his initial comparing it to common flu. Here’s what the President Tweeted on March 9th:

“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” 

So, after yesterday’s presser, The Daily Caller did a story on that quote with this headline:

“Trump Finally Abandons Saying Coronavirus Is Not As Deadly As Seasonal Flu”

Writing that is like hacking your arm off and then jumping into a school of tiger sharks for a relaxing dip. The headline would have been equally accurate without becoming political fodder for the Left by phrasing it thusly:

“Trump Reverses Position On Chinese Coronavirus; Not “Like the Flu. It’s Vicious”

First of all, before the trolls earn their $1.50 in Soros-lucre, my intention is not to defend Trump but to rip the gotcha sensationalism of the media, sadly in this instance an outlet that should know better. Second, and more importantly, even as the numbers of infected and even deaths climb, given the nature of the Chinese government, the nature of the media and sadly the nature of the bureaucracy in DC, fully weaponized and politicized in service of the Democrats, Trump’s initial assessment is a hell of a lot closer to reality. Matt Margolis at PJ Media writes: 

… Earlier this month, Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated that the mortality rate of the coronavirus was about 2 percent. “If you look at the cases that have come to the attention of the medical authorities in China, and you just do the math, the math is about 2%.” The World Health Organization estimated a 3.4 percent mortality rate. President Trump endured a lot of criticism for saying that he had a “hunch” that the WHO’s estimate was too high.

“Well, I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number. Now, and this is just my hunch, and – but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this. Because a lot people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor. They don’t even call a doctor,” Trump said. “I think that that number is very high. I think the number, personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.”

That would make Trump’s “hunch” correct. That’s not to say the coronavirus shouldn’t be treated seriously. Assuming that the .66 percent fatality rate is the most accurate estimate, that’s still higher than the seasonal flu, which has a mortality rate of .1 percent, and H1N1 (swine flu), which had a mortality rate of .03 percent…

Yes, Peking Pulmonary Pox is not like common flu, yes there is no vaccine for it, and yes it is lethal. Yet even if “the experts” current predictions of 100,000 to 200,000 dead are even close to being accurate, is our reaction to it in terms of a medical prophylaxis that brings the world to a halt the right thing to do? Much like after he was elected when he was beholden to the very people in politics who did all they could to sabotage him for their assistance and advice, he is beholden on people like Fauci and Birx for advice in making the right decisions. And that’s not a good place to be in. Adam Selene writing in American Greatness: 

The Chinese virus is a clarifying agent. Among other things, one can see the choice between republican and progressive government – the rule of the people on the one hand and the rule of experts on the other. President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden perfectly embody this choice in response to the crisis.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the way the two men approach the expert advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and member of Trump’s COVID-19 Task Force.

Trump is adamant that he will listen to and consider what Fauci has to say, but in the end he, as the elected president, will determine the right course of action. For Trump, politics is the overarching art: immunology and epidemiology are subordinate sciences. Biden promises the opposite, saying “If I’m elected president, I will always lead the way with science. I will listen to the experts and heed their advice. I will do the opposite of what we’re seeing Donald Trump do every day.”

This is the choice before us. Are we to be ruled by experts as if they are our guardians simply because they might be smarter than us in specific fields, or are we to rule ourselves?

The supposed legitimacy of the former approach comes from fear. We are told the world is too complex. We need the experts to guide us, protect us, and save us. We need an elite guardian class to rule over us because we cannot make it on our own. But this cowardice makes us nothing more than slaves, not citizens…

Again, given all the facts as we know them and guided by our past experience in similar situations and common sense, I am still sticking to my belief that while this Chi-Com plague is certainly to be taken seriously, we are going to destroy a hell of a lot more lives than those who have and will tragically succumb to it. It’s funny, as in hypocritical in the extreme, how Leftists who hold life so cheaply (think abortion, euthanasia) are now up in arms about saving just one even if it means wiping out our economy forever. I seem to recall a quote from Bernie Sanders’ and Malig-Nancy Pelosi’s hero Josef Stalin, “the death of one is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic.” Not in any way do I believe that, but they sure as hell do. To the tune of over 150 million and counting in just over a century, but I digress.

What we are sorely lacking, or I should say what the Democrat-Media Complex is ignoring and obfuscating, is CONTEXT.

… National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the death toll could reach 200,000. Another model says 82,000 will likely die, with daily deaths peaking in mid-April at more than 2,000. By comparison, the last pandemic – the so-called swine flu – claimed 18,000 lives.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he’s extending the federal government’s “social distancing” guidelines through April. In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam announced a “stay at home” order through June 10. School systems are starting to consider whether they will even be able to open in the fall.

It’s unprecedented, to be sure. But the problem with all the numbers being bandied about is that they lack any context.

On its own, 3,000 fatalities might seem like a tremendously large number. But that’s before you learn that an average of 7,700 people die in the U.S. every single day.Which means that over the past week, when the coronavirus took 2,000 lives, nearly 54,000 people died from other causes…

The link to the editorial at Issues and Insights is very much worth your while. Tragic as the death toll may ultimately be, when you put things in context to all other causes of death, what we are doing with the quarantining, especially if it continues past the end of this month is insane – and dangerous. In keeping the economy in a coma and imposing restrictions on our movement, tempting even more draconian measures, we add fuel to the already raging fire of anti-American Leftism and risk snuffing out the republic itself. Maybe not now or next year but within a span of years that G-d forbid we may be around to witness.

CHINESE CORONAVIRUS, FICTIONS AND FACTS

Going over the links, there seem to be some inklings of hope coming from the task force as well as around the country. Washington state, the initial hotspot is reporting a considerable drop in hospitalizations, a NYC doctor predicts the end in sight, Fauci concurs on the drop, HCQ should be used and possibly a 100-year-old smallpox vaccine might also do the trick, an actual vaccine is still a way off but is coming, Julie Kelly wants an end to the quarantine ASAP, profs pushing back on lockdown data vis a vis a future outbreak, Trump rips Ned Lamont lying about our stockpile of supplies, GOP reminds everyone that Malig-Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment obsession is the real killer, De Bolshevik is a friggin’ grandstanding ingrate, and Oriental Lung Gleet gives us two choices: bad or worse. Meh, lift the quarantines and use common sense if you’re sick, old or susceptible.

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE LUNG MARCH 

GM retools for mask production, Mike Rowe boosts an economic re-boot, Trump wants infrastructure but Old Yeller is yelling (and he’s not wrong), especially given what Malig-Nancy Pelosi wants, voters support the relief but hate the pork, time for all sectors to mobilize, Bezos’ big bug bonanza, and Venezuela as a harbinger vis a vis Chinee Floo.

POLITICS, 2020 ELECTION

Trump beats the Joey Penetrator, Rona McDaniel reads November tea leaves, GOP Rep wants to get the Kennedy Center money rescinded, Biden and Brock PACs join forces but cause potential Dem Party rift, and part 3 of David Horowitz’s look at the Leftists’ plot to take us down. Read the whole series at Frontpage Mag.

CLINTON/OBAMA COUP, CONGRESSIONAL PERSECUTION, SPYGATE, DEEP STATE, MUELLER DECEPTION, SHAMPEACHMENT

Judicial Watch uncovers damning Clinton revelations that more than likely will result in nothing (no slam against Tom Fitton), and AG Barr also reveals the obvious with the same likely outcome.

DEMOCRAT-LEFTIST SCANDALS, CRIMES, CHUTZ-POCRISY, MESHUGAS

Tetra Min is a helluva drug…

AMNESTY, IMMIGRATION, BORDER CRISIS, BORDER SECURITY

Now, if they dug a tunnel to smuggle toilet paper…

FIRST AMENDMENT, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER BIG TECH 

Even Joe Scarborough is repulsed by Mike Lindell being blood-libeled in the media for being a great American, CNN’s less-than-cunning stunt of cutting away from Trump backfires, Fauci slaps around Jm J Acosta, NBC should have its broadcast licenses revoked, Rabbi Fischer preaches on the word games, Rush Limbaugh returns to the airwaves after two week absence, they won’t let you pray but you can kill a baby, Texas City, TX relents on that score, and the media coverage is virtually all centered on NYC. Gee, I wonder why.

ABORTION

Planned Pazuzu-hood must have its blood sacrifices, virus or not.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL

Chi-Coms finally come clean, Rick Scott rips WHO as Chi-Com puppets, Josh Hawley wants $6 trillion in small bills, cash, decontaminated, possible Brazil travel ban eyed, despite the death toll (and I want to see the breakdown of actual causes), Italians say “basta cosi!”, dropping like flies in Iran but still attacking US troops in Iraq, Spanish reporter gives context on tragedy going on there, non-virus-related Joo-hate in France, and Israel tries helping cancer fight virus and gets slapped for its trouble.

DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS

Whoa. So this is kind of alarming, no?

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, THE BUREAUCRACY, WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE

Just what we need, an earthquake in Idaho, the question answers itself, and state sovereignty is suddenly a thing again.

THE ECONOMY, STUPID

No bottoming out in sight, “as Chinese COVID-19 accelerates remote working, are cities prepared?” And Ken Blackwell rips Dem energy policy as lethal to Black prosperity.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY

NY DAs not thrilled with Warren Wilhelm Klink freeing cons from the klink, Houston’s mayor a complete dolt, and connecting the dots between Nazi collaborator Soros’ pot advocacy and plague panic.

RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, JUNK SCIENCE, LYSENKOISM

Time to undo the plastic bag bans.

ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

Our intrepid science reporter with a nice diversion.

CULTURE WARS, HITHER & YON

Three essays echoing my warnings about the current crisis used as cover to shred the Constitution, Christian Toto on, er, “viral” video, and here comes the hype for season two of The Mandalorian.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in some links may or may not reflect my own. I include them because of their relevance to the discussion of a particular issue.