The Intolerance of Tolerance | PragerU and Hassedic Crisis!
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I know this is a lot but if you are behaving and staying in you have plenty of time on your hands so you can educate yourself by reading my memos: FREEDOM IS ONLY ONE GENERATION AWAY FROM EXTINCTION.
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CNN contributor and former Democratic Florida Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, was found drunk, in a Miami Beach hotel room that was strewn with drugs and drug paraphernalia!...More
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This beats trolling for fish:
TROLLING THE INTERNET, SCOURING THE NEWS AND FIGHTING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, ONE STORY AT A TIME:
1) THE PARTY of DIVERSITY has rejected a black woman, a white woman, a fake Cherokee woman, a gay man, a black man, an Asian male, a Samoan
female, one Mexican, one phony Mexican, and one Jewish man. Their two front runners are a bat-shytte crazy, 78-year old white male socialist, and one 77
year old straight white man who's nutty as a loon.
2) The California legislature proposed a bill that would bar retail stores from having separate boys and girls section. Violators would be subjected to heavy
fines. Beam me up, Scotty, because they're all nuts down here!!!
3) J.B. SHURK @American Thinker unloads on Joe Biden: "Joe Biden is hardly Lancelot to President Trump's dragon. The Democrats and the Deep State
needed a first class warrior; instead, their best option is a walking advertisement for Alzheimer's awareness. Today, he's a disoriented and stumbling shell of
an unimportant political hack who looks on in confusion while his wife does the fighting for him. He's a freak-show carnival attraction at best." Brutal!!!
4) Nineteen states are suing the Trump Administration for building the wall on our southern border. Let that sink in, Mr. & Mrs. America. These states are
trying to prevent the president from protecting our country from being invaded by illegal aliens, drug couriers, sex traffickers of young children, and disease
carrying Third World people. Both Democrats and Republicans are in on this treason.
5) JOE BIDEN IN ST. LOUIS: "We're going to unite this country, and folks who want to nominate a Democrat, a lifelong Democrat, a proud Democrat, an
OBiden-Bama Democrat, join us." How pathetic and sad.
6) The media puts every word Trump says under a microscope, but they hide Biden's gaffes and mental lapses caused by dementia.
7) FDR, 1933: "You have nothing to fear but fear itself."
Nancy Pelosi, 2020: "We have nothing to offer but fear itself."
8) QUESTION: Is Charles Schumer the most sickening, hateful, slimy, unethical, politician in D.C.? It's hard to think of someone worse. As they say to
Schumer in his home town of Brooklyn, Noo Yawk: "Shoomah, you schmuck, you!"
9) LAMESTREAM MEDIA: "Trump is directly responsible for [insert name of latest crisis]."
10) ACTOR MAX VON SYDOW has passed on at age 90. He is best known for his role as Father Lancaster Merrin in THE EXORCIST. What a scary
scene when, as soon as Father Merrin enters the child's house, upstairs the devil begins screaming "Merrin! Merrin!"
11) Liberals want the southern term "Y'all" banned because they say it's racist. People can get so educated that they actually become stupid. Next, these
fools may try to ban Noo Yawkers from saying "Youze."
Do you remember this scene from MY COUSIN VINNY:
Lawyer Vinny Gambini: "Is it possible dat two yoots, udder than the defendants, came into the Sack of Suds" ..... (Judge interrupts)
Judge Haller: "Two what, did you say two yoots? What is a yoot?"
12) LIBERAL GUILT: Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, is worth 27.5 Billion. She says that it is wrong to accumulate such
wealth ........ but she wants to keep it for now. Well, Mrs. Jobs, Bunker Boy is ready to relieve you of your guilt whenever you're ready.
13) HOLLYWOOD IDIOT Bette Midler bashed Trump for not wanting the number of corona virus victims to increase. It's the president's duty to protect
Americans! These left wingers are absolutely nuts.
14) WEEKEND AT JOE'S: Sundance @ The Conservative Treehouse writes "Most intellectually honest people have noted the leading Democrat front-runner for the presidential nomination, 77 year old Joe Biden, is slowly losing mental acuity. He might not have lost all his marbles, but there is definitely a
worsening hole in the bag." The lap dog media is desperately covering Biden's dementia. Joe's handlers will not let old Joe speak too long in public, and will
limit his personal appearances.
15) Joe Biden was in Michigan, campaigning at an automobile plant. He was confronted by an angry worker who knew that the week before, Biden said he
was going to appoint phony Mexican, Beto O'Rourke, to confiscate firearms from citizens. Joe told the man that he was "full of s..t", and that he would "slap
his face and kick his ass." Union members take note.
16) YOU MIGHT BE LIBERAL:
If you believe that Zip Recruiter was responsible for Hunter Biden getting his $83,000/month no-show job at Burisma Holdings, you might be a liberal;
If you think that humans are responsible for the weather, and not the sun, the position of the earth, and natural causes, you might be a liberal;
If you think the way to prevent communicable diseases from coming to America is to open our borders to disease carrying Third World aliens, you might be a liberal;
If you believe that killing a pre-born child is a good thing, but get hysterical if a sea turtle's egg is destroyed, you might be a liberal;
If you hate Catholics, Jews, military members, veterans, whites, males, cops, and rich people, you might be a liberal;
If you think American workers should be forced to join a union, you might be a liberal.
17) CARMINE SABIA @ The Western Journal: "The Democrat Party should create its own soap opera with its two remaining viable presidential candidates
and call it "The Old and The Useless."
18) Americans don't need to see Trump's tax returns. We already know he's rich. What we really need to see are V.P. Biden's medical records. Joe had
two brain surgeries in the past, and from what I'm seeing, they weren't very successful.
19) You cannot open AOL without reading an anti-Trump headline. But, when you read the story, it is the opposite of the attention-grabbing headline.
20) NY Times editorial writer, Mara Gay, said that the $500 million Michael Bloomberg spent on campaign ads could have been used to give $1 million to
every American. MSNBC Host Brian Williams nodded in agreement like a bobble-head doll. There are 327 million Americans, which would amount to $1.53
per person. When called out for her stupidity, Ms. Gay blamed racism for criticism of what she called her 'trivial' error. She was only off by $999,998.47! So
now, math is racist?
21) The media in the U.S. whines that it is called 'fake news' by Trump. So then, why do they say that calling the Chinese-originated corona virus the
"foreign virus, Chinese virus, or the Wuhan virus" is somehow racist? If Trump cured cancer these fools would shout "Trump bankrupts the pharmaceutical
industry."
22) THE E.U. DISAPPROVES: President Trump shut down travel from European Union countries because they have open borders, and have not taken the
corona virus seriously. E.U. leaders and the usual America-hating Euro-Trash are angry that Trump did not get their consent before shutting down travel
from their countries. Frau Merkel got her schnitzel twisted, whining that Trump acted unilaterally. Please be advised that Donald Trump does not need E.U.
approval to protect our citizens. FUHGGEDDABBOUDDITT!!!
23) If the lamestream media had real journalists, they would ask Trump's critics what they would do to contain the corona virus. Their only difference with
Trump's plan is that Democrats want open borders to let more diseased people enter the country.
24) FAKE NEWS CNN: "Saying 'the corona virus originated in China' is racist." These frauds repeatedly used this statement, and had no problem with it
until Trump said it.
25) MONIKA SHOWALTER @ American Thinker wrote about how the E.U. has betrayed Italy; they ignored Rome's pleas for help, as Italy's socialized
medical care system became overwhelmed to the point of rationing care. "Turns out the open borders globalist set-up is stiffing the Italians in their time of
need. First, the E.U. created the problem by failing to shut down their borders with China, enabling its spread into Italy in the first place. While President
Trump was acting swiftly to protect Americans from the lethal virus, the European Union was saying there was no crisis and calling President Trump a
xenophobe."
REPORTING FROM THE BUNKER IN STATEN ISLAND, NY.
I also predict that when this virus crisis and episode is behind us, I suspect Trump haters and the nation, as a whole, will come to realize we are lucky/blessed to have a businessman, who morphed into a politician, for president. Trump has dealt with markets, banks, economics, supply providers and a construction force all his working life and is now bringing that experience to government. Furthermore, by his very nature, he is an impatient man and realizes delay costs. Within a reasonable period, caused by these unique circumstances, he assembled a good team and for a man who has been accused of hating woman many, of whom, are prominent in key roles.
Trump will never receive his due but he is doing his best to build confidence in ourselves that we are coming to grips with a once in a life time challenge and his calling upon all Americans to put their shoulders to the wheel is even stilling criticism from the mass media and carping from the sideline by certain governors and opposing politicians etc.
We are at a critical junction point to slow the impact of the virus and diminish those who needlessly die from this tragic event that came from China. The steps being taken in changing government's response will serve us well in the future and that is a significant plus.
A lingering criticism, in my opinion, is Trump still speaks in superlatives, his use of certain words in not inspiring and he blanches at criticism but that is a small price to play for what he has and will accomplish in carrying out his ledge to make America Great Again.
But another view:
Will the Coronavirus Defeat Trump’s Reelection?
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Until the coronavirus outbreak, most conservatives were pretty confident President Donald Trump would get reelected. The economy was doing great, which is a good sign an incumbent president will win reelection. But the coronavirus may change things. We may end up in a recession.
Although only 58 people in the U.S. have died from it so far, the country is taking drastic action to reduce the spread of it. The flu kills at least 12,000 people in the U.S. each year, but the coronavirus is 10 times more deadly than the flu.
As a result, the extreme measures are hurting the economy and jobs. People are staying at home and avoiding travel and entertainment. Schools are shutting down. Retirees are losing their investments in stocks. Everyone has been affected to some extent. People panicking and overloading on supplies from grocery stores are making life difficult for others who can’t get the essentials like toilet paper.
And there’s no end in sight. Some experts predict two months, but they could be overly optimistic. Two months is a long time regardless for misery.
Trump didn’t cause the coronavirus. But he is being blamed for everything in regards to handling it. He’s done an excellent job despite the naysaying from Democrats and the mainstream media. He’s taking drastic action.
Cutting off travel from China was the right thing to do. But Trump was accused of being racist. Then after he did it, they criticized him for not doing it fast enough. But Barack Obama moved far slower than Trump dealing with the swine flu.
And then when Europe became a hotbed for the virus, as new cases in China dwindled, Trump cut off travel from there. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says 70% of the new cases of the virus are coming from Europe.
Newt Gingrich, who is currently living in Italy, observed, “When you realize that the current 1,016 deaths in Italy with a population of 60 million would be the equivalent of 5,400 deaths in the United States instead of the 41 deaths we have had so far, you can see what milder, slower and less aggressive responses might have cost in lives.”
Conservative columnist Rachel Marsden described the aggressive steps Russia has taken, which are working there. The country put up “barriers, closing its border with coronavirus hotbed China in late January, banning high-risk flights, maintaining strict screening at border checkpoints and placing Russian expats evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan in quarantine for three weeks — in Siberia.” As a result, there have been only 17 reported cases of coronavirus, despite 51,000 reported tests.
Joe Biden attacked Trump’s handling of the crisis, then turned around and plagiarized Trump’s plan. This comes as no surprise, since Biden has a history of plagiarism. Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for the Trump campaign, said Biden raised the “vile conspiracy theory that the President purposely allowed the coronavirus to spread.” This is dishonest considering how aggressively Trump has moved to prevent that.
Same with falsely accusing Trump of calling the crisis a hoax and not treating it seriously. What he actually said was a criticism of the “politicizing” of the coronavirus by Democrats as “their new hoax.”
Trump’s critics fault him no matter what action he takes. Jon Gabriel, the conservative editor of Ricochet, points out how the left criticized Trump for not getting tested for coronavirus right away. But after he got the test, they complained about why he was able to access the test before other people.
Trump’s speeches are criticized for either being too ominous or not worried enough, no matter how carefully he tries to walk that fine line between the two approaches.
Mike Huckabee observed, “So … how has the other side responded? You know, the people with such high standards of ‘character’ for others? Thus far, they have relentlessly attacked, mocked, criticized, second-guessed and undermined everything Trump has tried to do.”
If the crisis is averted after a couple of months, they’ll say Trump didn’t stop it fast enough. No matter how many people die, even if a small number, they will say it could have been smaller. Trump can’t win. When it’s all over, the Democrats will claim everything Trump did was wrong.
These vicious attacks are in contrast to previous outbreaks. The actor James Woods observed, “I remember the H1N1 and SARS epidemics. Everyone supported our president then. There was no hysteria and the doomsayers kept their mouths shut. Thousands of people died and yet the press supported the astonishingly tepid response by the leaders of the time. Why the hysteria now?”
What’s sad is liberal networks like CNN and MSNBC are so focused on nitpicking Trump that they are squandering time that could be spent giving people important information about the outbreak.
All the people significantly affected by this crisis — especially those losing working hours — may hold it against Trump. The Democrats will of course say the job interruptions could have been avoided. And if Trump had started to contain the virus faster, we wouldn’t have had to avoid public places and businesses.
What it’s going to come down to is will Americans believe the Democrats and mainstream media and fault Trump for much of the epidemic, or will they see through the lies and realize he did an excellent job addressing it? It’s going to be an uphill battle as the Democrats and media act as an echo chamber for each other. Trump is going to be in the fight of his life.
Gates and the Coronavirus: https://www.
Meanwhile:
Global warming is not settled science:
This appeared in The Oregonian, on July 13, 2014:
Guest columnist D.W.Nebert, MD
Daniel Nebert, MD, is professor emeritus at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
The 2013 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that "global warming is unequivocal and human influence has been the dominant cause since the mid-20th century". During his State of the Union speech (January 2014), Obama declared "the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact." As a physician-scientist who has carried out basic research for more than 50 years, I agree that we should not pollute the planet unnecessarily; however, I find these statements far beyond credulity!
Estimates of numbers of scientists who "believe" in global warming range between 5 per cent and more than 99 per cent. Those in disagreement have been called "skeptics", "deniers", and "nonbelievers". However, "believing" and "denying" are terms used in "consensus science", not in "basic science".
What's the difference? Basic science is defined as "knowledge about, or study of, the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observations". A theory (hypothesis) is tested by performing experiments and interpreting results either to prove or disprove the hypothesis in a way to minimize uncertainty. It's best if those doing the experiments are "blinded", i.e. samples are coded so that those doing the experiments are not biased toward any expected outcome. These experiments must also be repeated by other groups to confirm the original findings. Only after data have been properly collected, vetted, and thoroughly corroborated, do we have a conclusion––with the least amount of uncertainty needed to establish a scientific fact.
In contrast, consensus science is "what the majority in a particular field of study agree upon might be true". The consensus may or may not turn out to be confirmed by further research; for example, 15 years ago simulation models predicted that all Arctic ice would disappear by September 2013. In fact, Arctic ice thickness doubled between summer of 2012 and summer of 2013. Other forecasts 15 years ago included substantial melting of Antarctic ice, warming of global temperatures, and rising sea levels. Although CO2 levels have risen during the past 15 years, the Antarctic ice shelf has become thicker, there's been no increase in global temperatures, and (if anything) global sea levels have slightly decreased. Thus, these simulation models included much uncertainty and, to date, all have been proven to be invalid.
There are many instances in which "established science" has been overturned by further experiments. In other words, science is never completely irrefutable.
For example, "mad cow disease and the human equivalent Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease––were degenerative brain diseases of unknown cause. After ten years of experiments, neurologist Stanley Prusiner reported in 1982 that these diseases were caused by a virus-like protein which he named "prion" (derived from "protein" and "infectious"). Almost every scientist laughed, because "viruses had been well known to always be made of DNA or RNA". Prusiner persisted, however, because he was convinced the consensus was wrong. He proved to be correct and was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for his novel discovery. Prions are now realized to affect tissues other than brain and, in fact, are found even in lower organisms such as yeast.
For decades, peptic ulcer was believed to be caused by "mental stress" and excess stomach acid. Following many years of experiments, physicians Barry Marshall and Robin Warren reported in 1985 that peptic ulcer was caused by Heliobacter pylori. This finding forever changed the field of ulcer research: instead of treating ulcers with antacid medications and/or surgery, antibiotics could now kill the bacteria and cure the disease! Marshall and Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for this breakthrough.
It is a fact that Earth's climate has been changing for 4.5 billion years. Indeed, fossil records in the Americas over the past 16,000 years have confirmed countless serious droughts lasting many decades, sometimes hundreds of years. Climate is measured in centuries; today's global warming "scientists" are talking about weather (measured in months or years). Is it reasonable––when U.S. debt is increasing at a rate of $3.7 billion each day––for any taxpayer money to be spent on consensus science speculation?
This appeared the next day, in response to Dr. Nebert's article:
Thank you Professor Nebert.
You correctly point out that science is forever changing, just like our climate. If science is to continue making the remarkable progress it has over the last four centuries, it must never be allowed to fall into a look-alike that amounts to no more than tall tales, politics, and sugar pills. The original scientists who formed the first scientific society, the British Royal Society, understood this and adopted the motto "Take no one's word for it" to express their determination to avoid the domination of authority. They were resolved to keep the political and religious spheres from telling them what to believe, as had occurred with Galileo decades earlier.
Unfortunately, science, like all human activities, is subject to the encroachment of corruption. When vast sums of money hang in the balance, as for instance in drug trials, there is the ever-present danger of deliberate cheating or just inadvertent skewing of the data toward a positive result. A recent study of journal articles by Dr. Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute showed a tremendous skewing of published articles toward positive results likely to further careers. The medical community has been very wise to use double blind studies to nearly eliminate such bias. In other fields, such an approach is largely impractical.
How, then, is science audited? In many cases today, it is not. Papers that produce the results that scientific journal editors support get only 'pal-review' while papers that run contrary to a consensus are relegated to the rubbish bin. This is especially true of journals like Nature and Science.
Real science MUST be audited by a free and open discussion of the issues. When we are working on the frontiers of science, there are and should be sharp differences of opinion that get a full airing. At the just-concluded 9th International Conference on Climate Change in Las Vegas, speakers and their colleagues differed sharply over terrestrial versus extraterrestrial origins for the climate variations we have observed recently. Astrophysicist Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov from St Petersburg, Russia argued for a strong solar component while Professor William Gray from Colorado State argued the case for an ocean origin. Many others took varying positions in these two camps.
No one argued the case for Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming, although many thought that there might be a small anthropogenic component from man-made carbon dioxide.
Why was the fanatical warming crowd absent, although invited?
Because they know that their arguments cannot stand up to free and open discussion. And if they were to try and lose, they would face severe retribution from the government's contract monitors who enforce the 'settle science' demands of the Obama Administration. Losing in front of some 55 journalists from around the world would have been a financial disaster for them.
Again, THANK YOU, Professor Nebert for recognizing the similarities between medical and climate science.
Gordon J. Fulks, PhD
(Physics) Corbett, Oregon USA
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Will China be the ultimate loser?
By Victor Davis Hanson
<https://www.nationalreview.
Chinese president Xi Jinping arrives to speak at the Communist Party
congress in Beijing, October 18, 2017. (China Daily/via Reuters)
Its bad behavior in the wake of COVID-19 will leave it in its weakest global
position in memory. And the U.S. will emerge stronger.
Sometime in late November the Chinese Communist Party apparat was aware that
the ingredients of some sort of an epidemic were brewing in Wuhan. Soon
after, it was also clear to them that a new type of coronavirus was on the
loose, a threat they might have taken more seriously given the similar
Chinese origins of the prior toxic SARS coronavirus and the resources of a
Level 4 virology lab nearby.
Yet the government initially hid all that knowledge from its own people in
particular and in general from the world at large. Translated into American
terms, that disingenuousness ensured that over 10,000 Chinese nationals and
foreigners living in China flew every day on direct flights into the United
States (Washington and California especially) from late November to the
beginning of February, until the Trump travel ban of January 31.
All this laxity was also known to the Communist apparat in Beijing, which
must have been amused when Trump was roundly damned by his liberal critics
as a xenophobe and racist for finally daring to stop the influx on January
31 - the first major leader to enact such a total ban.
Yet, no thanks to the Chinese, America, so far, has been comparatively lucky
- despite the grave risks of damaging a multi-trillion-dollar economy with
the strictest quarantining, isolation policies, and social distancing in its
history. Half the country lives in the interior away from ports of entry on
the coasts. Medical care, sanitation, hygiene, and meat markets operate on
different premises than in China, the supposed fated global hegemon.
Transparency in a consensual society together with a free-market economy is
encouraging tens of millions of citizens to work in tandem and independently
to figure out creative ways to ameliorate the epidemic, politically,
medically, socially, and economically. The result is that as of mid-March,
the U.S., the world's foremost immigration destination and among the most
visited of nations, had suffered fewer virus fatalities than some European
countries a fifth or sixth of its population size.
No doubt when mass testing begins, the figures of known cases will soar, and
fatalities will rise. Yet while we know pretty well the number of Americans
who have died from the virus, we have in truth little idea of how many now
carry it or how many have recovered from it, without knowing what sickened
them or even whether they were ostensibly sick at all. In other words, the
rate of new cases identified by testing may exceed the rate of new deaths,
apprising us of a more precise - and perhaps lower - degree of viral
toxicity.
Whereas annual flu toxicity is adjudicated by modeling case numbers, and by
sophisticated and learned guesses at the number of likely infections, so far
the death rate of the coronavirus is calibrated a bit differently -
apparently predicated both on known deaths and known cases. When we make
facile comparisons between the flu and coronaviruses, they may prove valid,
but for now it's still wise to remember that annual flu cases could be fewer
than what is guessed at through modeling each year, and corona infections
may be higher than the current known numbers of confirmed positives. The
former reality might mean that the flu is at times a little more lethal than
we think and the corona virus a little less deadly. That is not to suggest
that most strains of flu are as lethal as the coronavirus, only that for the
vast majority of Americans the current U.S. COVID-19 case-to-fatality ratio
of 2 percent may eventually prove less, and influenza's commonly cited 0.01
lethality rate may prove higher. In any case, 98-99 percent of Americans may
well recover from the coronavirus - a rate that is not typical of most of
history's plagues.
The realities are paradoxical: If the coronavirus infects as many Americans
as an average flu strain, then ten times more Americans could die - mostly
over the age of 65 - even as the vast majority of all Americans will not.
Statistics change hourly, but the CDC as of the afternoon of March 16
reports that there are currently 3,437 cases of known coronavirus infections
and 68 deaths attributed to the virus, or about two deaths per 100 infected
- the majority of them again likely over 65.
To the degree that we are suffering death and economic hurt from COVID-19,
we can also attribute the toll to the Chinese Communist Party. Had it just
called in the international medical community in late November, instituted
early quarantines, and allowed its own citizens to use email and social
media to apprise and warn others of the new disease, then the world and the
U.S. would probably not have found themselves in the current panic. The
reasons China did not act more responsibly may be inherent in communist
governments, or they may involve more Byzantine causes left to be disclosed.
Add in the proximity of a Level 4 virology lab nearby Ground Zero of
COVID-19, which fueled Internet conspiracy theories; the weird rumors about
quite strange animals such as snakes and pangolins birthing the infection in
primeval open meat markets stocked with live animals in filthy conditions in
cages; and pirated videos of supposed patients dropping comatose in crowded
hospital hallways. With all of that, we had the ingredients of a Hollywood
zombie movie, adding to the frenzy.
Plus, 2020 is an election year - echoing how the 1976 swine flu was
politicized. The Left and its media appendages saw COVID-19 as able to do
what John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, and Andrew McCabe, the
Mueller team, and impeachment could not: destroy the hated Trump presidency.
China will rue what it begat.
That is, it will come to appreciate fully that the supposed efficiency,
ruthlessness, and autocracy of the Communist Party - what had so impressed
foolish American journalists who once marveled at Beijing's ability to enact
by fiat liberal pet projects such as high-speed rail and solar industries -
were China's worst enemies, ensuring that the virus would spread and that
China's international reputation would be ruined.
The coronavirus could be the straw that breaks the proverbial back of the
Chinese camel, stooped under the recent weight of a trade war with the U.S.,
the revelation of 1 million Uighurs in reeducation camps, the crackdown on
Hong Kong democracy protesters, and news of the sprawling Chinese
internal-surveillance apparat. The world is now both terrified and put off
by China, and such anathemas will only harm its already suspect and
misbegotten Silk Road neocolonial schemes.
Here in the U.S., COVID-19 will create bipartisan pressure to adopt policies
of keeping key U.S. industries - such as medical supplies, pharmaceuticals,
and military applied high-tech - in America. Americans will not again wish
to outsource the vast majority of their chemotherapy-drug, antibiotic, and
heart-medicine production to a government that cannot be trusted and that
sees such globalized output as a weapon to be used in extremis.
Although we cannot see it now, spin-off effects from the panic and frenzy
will eventually fuel more economic recovery. Oil prices are nearing record
modern lows, ensuring cheap gas for spring and summer American drivers.
Cheap mortgages and car loans likewise will spur buying, as will relief once
the virus wanes and splurging ensue.
It will be salutary for Americans to once again appreciate the value of
muscular labor, as those who grow food, transport it, and provide us energy
and sanitation while protecting us from danger, foreign and domestic, have
allowed millions of Americans to stay home, sequestered and quarantined but
safe with plenty of food, water, and uninterrupted sanitation and public
safety. In these days of crisis, we should not forget that millions of often
unmentioned Americans have made us the world's greatest energy and most
diverse food producer - a singular position that China, with over four times
our population, envies.
Before the outbreak, China was trying to game its trade war in terms of how
best to hurt the hated Trump administration. Ironically, its abhorrence only
strengthened the U.S. in ways no one in the pre-COVID-19 days could have
imagined.
Call it paradox, irony, karma, or even tragedy, but China emerges from its
deceit about the coronavirus outbreak in its weakest position since its
Westernization began under Deng Xiaoping. And the U.S., after some rocky
months ahead, if it stays calm, will likely reemerge in its strongest state
in memory vis-à-vis its rivals.
<https://www.nationalreview.
Chinese president Xi Jinping arrives to speak at the Communist Party
congress in Beijing, October 18, 2017. (China Daily/via Reuters)
Its bad behavior in the wake of COVID-19 will leave it in its weakest global
position in memory. And the U.S. will emerge stronger.
Sometime in late November the Chinese Communist Party apparat was aware that
the ingredients of some sort of an epidemic were brewing in Wuhan. Soon
after, it was also clear to them that a new type of coronavirus was on the
loose, a threat they might have taken more seriously given the similar
Chinese origins of the prior toxic SARS coronavirus and the resources of a
Level 4 virology lab nearby.
Yet the government initially hid all that knowledge from its own people in
particular and in general from the world at large. Translated into American
terms, that disingenuousness ensured that over 10,000 Chinese nationals and
foreigners living in China flew every day on direct flights into the United
States (Washington and California especially) from late November to the
beginning of February, until the Trump travel ban of January 31.
All this laxity was also known to the Communist apparat in Beijing, which
must have been amused when Trump was roundly damned by his liberal critics
as a xenophobe and racist for finally daring to stop the influx on January
31 - the first major leader to enact such a total ban.
Yet, no thanks to the Chinese, America, so far, has been comparatively lucky
- despite the grave risks of damaging a multi-trillion-dollar economy with
the strictest quarantining, isolation policies, and social distancing in its
history. Half the country lives in the interior away from ports of entry on
the coasts. Medical care, sanitation, hygiene, and meat markets operate on
different premises than in China, the supposed fated global hegemon.
Transparency in a consensual society together with a free-market economy is
encouraging tens of millions of citizens to work in tandem and independently
to figure out creative ways to ameliorate the epidemic, politically,
medically, socially, and economically. The result is that as of mid-March,
the U.S., the world's foremost immigration destination and among the most
visited of nations, had suffered fewer virus fatalities than some European
countries a fifth or sixth of its population size.
No doubt when mass testing begins, the figures of known cases will soar, and
fatalities will rise. Yet while we know pretty well the number of Americans
who have died from the virus, we have in truth little idea of how many now
carry it or how many have recovered from it, without knowing what sickened
them or even whether they were ostensibly sick at all. In other words, the
rate of new cases identified by testing may exceed the rate of new deaths,
apprising us of a more precise - and perhaps lower - degree of viral
toxicity.
Whereas annual flu toxicity is adjudicated by modeling case numbers, and by
sophisticated and learned guesses at the number of likely infections, so far
the death rate of the coronavirus is calibrated a bit differently -
apparently predicated both on known deaths and known cases. When we make
facile comparisons between the flu and coronaviruses, they may prove valid,
but for now it's still wise to remember that annual flu cases could be fewer
than what is guessed at through modeling each year, and corona infections
may be higher than the current known numbers of confirmed positives. The
former reality might mean that the flu is at times a little more lethal than
we think and the corona virus a little less deadly. That is not to suggest
that most strains of flu are as lethal as the coronavirus, only that for the
vast majority of Americans the current U.S. COVID-19 case-to-fatality ratio
of 2 percent may eventually prove less, and influenza's commonly cited 0.01
lethality rate may prove higher. In any case, 98-99 percent of Americans may
well recover from the coronavirus - a rate that is not typical of most of
history's plagues.
The realities are paradoxical: If the coronavirus infects as many Americans
as an average flu strain, then ten times more Americans could die - mostly
over the age of 65 - even as the vast majority of all Americans will not.
Statistics change hourly, but the CDC as of the afternoon of March 16
reports that there are currently 3,437 cases of known coronavirus infections
and 68 deaths attributed to the virus, or about two deaths per 100 infected
- the majority of them again likely over 65.
To the degree that we are suffering death and economic hurt from COVID-19,
we can also attribute the toll to the Chinese Communist Party. Had it just
called in the international medical community in late November, instituted
early quarantines, and allowed its own citizens to use email and social
media to apprise and warn others of the new disease, then the world and the
U.S. would probably not have found themselves in the current panic. The
reasons China did not act more responsibly may be inherent in communist
governments, or they may involve more Byzantine causes left to be disclosed.
Add in the proximity of a Level 4 virology lab nearby Ground Zero of
COVID-19, which fueled Internet conspiracy theories; the weird rumors about
quite strange animals such as snakes and pangolins birthing the infection in
primeval open meat markets stocked with live animals in filthy conditions in
cages; and pirated videos of supposed patients dropping comatose in crowded
hospital hallways. With all of that, we had the ingredients of a Hollywood
zombie movie, adding to the frenzy.
Plus, 2020 is an election year - echoing how the 1976 swine flu was
politicized. The Left and its media appendages saw COVID-19 as able to do
what John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, and Andrew McCabe, the
Mueller team, and impeachment could not: destroy the hated Trump presidency.
China will rue what it begat.
That is, it will come to appreciate fully that the supposed efficiency,
ruthlessness, and autocracy of the Communist Party - what had so impressed
foolish American journalists who once marveled at Beijing's ability to enact
by fiat liberal pet projects such as high-speed rail and solar industries -
were China's worst enemies, ensuring that the virus would spread and that
China's international reputation would be ruined.
The coronavirus could be the straw that breaks the proverbial back of the
Chinese camel, stooped under the recent weight of a trade war with the U.S.,
the revelation of 1 million Uighurs in reeducation camps, the crackdown on
Hong Kong democracy protesters, and news of the sprawling Chinese
internal-surveillance apparat. The world is now both terrified and put off
by China, and such anathemas will only harm its already suspect and
misbegotten Silk Road neocolonial schemes.
Here in the U.S., COVID-19 will create bipartisan pressure to adopt policies
of keeping key U.S. industries - such as medical supplies, pharmaceuticals,
and military applied high-tech - in America. Americans will not again wish
to outsource the vast majority of their chemotherapy-drug, antibiotic, and
heart-medicine production to a government that cannot be trusted and that
sees such globalized output as a weapon to be used in extremis.
Although we cannot see it now, spin-off effects from the panic and frenzy
will eventually fuel more economic recovery. Oil prices are nearing record
modern lows, ensuring cheap gas for spring and summer American drivers.
Cheap mortgages and car loans likewise will spur buying, as will relief once
the virus wanes and splurging ensue.
It will be salutary for Americans to once again appreciate the value of
muscular labor, as those who grow food, transport it, and provide us energy
and sanitation while protecting us from danger, foreign and domestic, have
allowed millions of Americans to stay home, sequestered and quarantined but
safe with plenty of food, water, and uninterrupted sanitation and public
safety. In these days of crisis, we should not forget that millions of often
unmentioned Americans have made us the world's greatest energy and most
diverse food producer - a singular position that China, with over four times
our population, envies.
Before the outbreak, China was trying to game its trade war in terms of how
best to hurt the hated Trump administration. Ironically, its abhorrence only
strengthened the U.S. in ways no one in the pre-COVID-19 days could have
imagined.
Call it paradox, irony, karma, or even tragedy, but China emerges from its
deceit about the coronavirus outbreak in its weakest position since its
Westernization began under Deng Xiaoping. And the U.S., after some rocky
months ahead, if it stays calm, will likely reemerge in its strongest state
in memory vis-à-vis its rivals.
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