TheFrontPageCover
~ Featuring ~
'The Government Is Here to Help'
Nate Jackson
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PA Turnpike Authority Reopens
Closed Service Stations To Support Truckers
by sundance
{ theconservativetreehouse.com } ~ Math is math. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do the math, understand the logistics of the current extreme demand, recognize that fixed assets are limited, and realize if you shut down essential services for truckers the total supply-chain will suffer... On March 17th Pennsylvania officially shuttered all Turnpike service plazas in response to coronavirus concerns. However, the decision was ridiculously short-sighted as long-haul and regional Truckers depend on fuel stations, bathrooms and restaurants along the route. Thankfully PA officials realized their error and reopened the service stations yesterday. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has agreed to reopen all of service plazas that they shuttered earlier this week for Coronavirus. All 17 closed service plazas are set to reopen at 7 a.m. on Friday, March 20, according to a news release from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Restroom facilities will be available to drivers 24 hours per day starting at 7 a.m. on Friday. Porta-potties will remain in place for use at the service plaza locations for another week. The service plazas will be offering limited food options for take-out only from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday. After Friday, food will be served from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. except at North Midway and Valley Forge locations which will offer food 24/7. Fuel and convenience stores will be available 24 hours a day....
Claim they're going shopping: Border officials
allow hundreds of Mexican vehicles
to cross despite Trump ban
by Anna Giaritelli
{ washingtonexaminer.com } ~ Customs and Border Protection officials are defying the Trump administration’s directive to block all nonessential foreign travel into the United States from Mexico... allowing noncitizens claiming to be on shopping trips to continue entering, according to two officials involved in the implementation of the order. CBP employees in Arizona told the Washington Examiner Saturday they were instructed Friday night at the start of the executive order and again this morning not to turn around noncitizens who said they were coming in to shop, visit family, or for medical appointments. By Saturday morning, “hundreds” of vehicles that should have been blocked at the port of entry had been allowed through, two officials said. “We're letting them through. And that's pretty much the gist of it,” one official said. “Nobody's enforcing it. It was put up — the president put it out. The chief patrol put it out. And we're just not doing it.” “In plain English, it was a giant shit show," said a second official. "Nobody followed the directive, a plain and simple directive. You’re trying to keep the coronavirus from going north ... yet you just let it bleed through anyway, so you’re not doing the job you’re directed to. That’s what’s aggravating.” CBP’s Office of Field Operations officers who inspect vehicles at the border crossings were supposed to begin at 9 p.m. PT Friday turning away all noncitizens unless they had a permit to work in the U.S., are a legal permanent resident, or are a student. However, officers were told by supervisors not to do so, according to sources. Border Patrol agents familiar with operations at highway checkpoints located north of the ports of entry said employees at checkpoints were caught off guard late Friday when cars with Mexican license plates continued arriving since they should have been blocked at the border. Agents continued to see vehicles with plates from the Mexican state of Sonora, which runs up along the entirety of Arizona....
Coronavirus Is the Chinese
Government’s Curse Upon the World
by David Harsanyi
{ dailysignal.com } ~ The World Health Organization and other sensitive souls have instructed us to stop referring to the new strain of the coronavirus as the “Wuhan” or “Chinese” flu because of the racist connotations... I’m disinclined to curb my speech to placate Chinese propagandists, and it seems to me the aversion to those terms is less about racism than about averting blame. But in the spirit of comity, and avoiding disparaging an entire nation, I’m happy to call it the ChiCom Flu moving forward. There are many traditional naming conventions that don’t really make that much sense. Somewhat weirdly, for example, we often name diseases after the people who “discover” them—Hodgkin’s disease after Thomas Hodgkin, Parkinson’s disease after James Parkinson, and so on. But naming viral diseases after places—Guinea worm, West Nile virus, Ebola, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, etc.—is probably just intuitive. Viruses “come” from someplace, after all, and thus people gravitate to those names. I doubt we came up with “Lyme disease” because of some deep enmity toward Connecticut.Anyway, “COVID-19” or “H1N1” don’t exactly roll off the tongue. The latter was, until very recently, widely referred to as the “Spanish flu,” a virus that killed around 675,000 Americans and tens of millions of others around the world in the early 1900s. “Spanish flu” has now retroactively fallen into disfavor as well. And to be fair, there is some historical evidence that the virus may actually have originated in China or France, so if we must call it the French flu moving forward, so be it. But while the Spanish have a good case to be annoyed, the Chinese government does not. As Jim Geraghty notes, the communist Chinese have been far more effective in stopping the spread of information about the coronavirus than in stopping the spread of the coronavirus itself. Today, for example, China expelled most American journalists from the country. Early on, the communists destroyed samples and suppressed vital information that could have helped mitigate the damage of this new strain of the coronavirus. The government also silenced doctors who warned about the disease... https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/03/20/coronavirus-is-the-chinese-governments-curse-upon-the-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=coronavirus-is-the-chinese-governments-curse-upon-the-world?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1dZeFpETTNObU0yT1ROaiIsInQiOiI0RlA2dzE2dXFlcU00ckMyOUlkaERxY2FscjlNY1wvd204SlBWY3YrYWo5WXNsUmk5RzFoWGQ4OHR2ZEVEOHkzSk1HNkxkRXcya25PQ0UxWmcxOTBCUU9EVWNxNlkrNXNWR3VOb3QycWp1RXp5Z0FreWVmVkV1eG5VQ2o2RUFMcDgifQ%3D%3D
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The United States Needs Better Data
Immediately Before We Make Stupid
Decisions About Coronavirus
By Eline van den Broek-Altenburg & Adam Atherly
{ thefederalist.com } ~ Only a week ago, President Trump announced a ban on European flights to reduce the spread of coronavirus. In the seven days that followed... the media have been reporting garden-variety statistics and decision-making based on infographics rather than reliable and nationally representative data. It is time for accurate, unbiased data to redo the math. So, what data has been reported in the past seven days and what do we know? Here’s a short overview: Number of reported/confirmed COVID-19 cases. Per city, state, country, region, and worldwide. Reported deaths from COVID-19. Per city, state, country, region, and worldwide. Number of countries reporting cases. Data from China on infection rates and deaths. Images of overwhelmed hospitals in northern Italy. The defining graphic of the COVID-19 pandemic, “Flatten the Curve.”The first three bullets can be summarized by the words “reported/confirmed.” In the last seven days, we’ve seen a snowball of news messages pop up reporting things like “200 new cases,” “total 1,900 cases,” and “two more die of coronavirus.” We also see popups like “State x could have 16 more infections than officially reported,” “Coronavirus death rate still uncertain as mild cases go unreported,” “Limited data on coronavirus may be skewing assumptions,” and “Country x may be underreporting coronavirus numbers.” Yet how does the number of cases compare to current influenza cases, for example? We don’t know. Are numbers adjusted for population to make comparisons easier and meaningful? The media simply reports new cases without context and warns the public to stay home to stop the spread of the virus. We do have data, to some extent, from China and Italy. Yet there are many questions about the accuracy of the data from China, particularly given the Chinese government’s initial denial of the illness. Yet data from China has been provided and was swiftly reported in academic journals... https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/21/the-united-states-needs-better-data-immediately-before-we-make-stupid-decisions-about-coronavirus/?utm_source=The+Federalist+List&utm_campaign=5798569dc1-RSS_The_Federalist_Daily_Updates_w_Transom&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cfcb868ceb-5798569dc1-83771801 .
China is faking its recovery
from the coronavirus outbreak
by AARON COLEN
{ theblaze.com } ~ According to reports from the Chinese government, the worst of the coronavirus outbreak in the communist nation has passed... and even the hardest-hit regions have started returning to normal. Those reports are being disputed by local Chinese officials who say the government is using deceptive measures to create the appearance of normal business operations and productivity, according to the Chinese media outlet Caixin. Back to normal? For the first time since the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, was discovered, China has reported no new infections. For the past couple of days, the number of new reported deaths has been in the single digits. As a result, some of the businesses in China that were forced to shut down have begun reopening, and some travel restrictions have been lifted although that is creating some new issues, including a fear of imported COVID-19 cases. Not what it seems: Although the Chinese government, well-known for concealing or manipulating information, would obviously prefer the world seeing signs of strength and recovery, that might not be the case. Chinese whistleblowers tell Caixin they're working to create an appearance that things are back to normal when they're not: Beijing has spent much of the outbreak pushing districts to carry on business as usual, with some local governments subsidizing electricity costs and even installing mandatory productivity quotas. Zhejiang, a province east of the epicenter city of Wuhan, claimed as of Feb. 24 it had restored 98.6 percent of its pre-coronavirus work capacity. But civil servants tell Caixan that businesses are actually faking these numbers... https://www.theblaze.com/news/china-may-be-faking-its-recovery-from-the-coronavirus-outbreak-report?utm_source=theblaze-dailyAM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__AM%202020-03-21&utm_term=TheBlaze%20Daily%20AM%20-%20last%20270%20days .
The Caper Of The Kleptomaniac Copping
The Car’s Cases of Cottonelle
by Jeff Dunetz
{ lidblog.com } ~ Eugene Police Department reports that it received an online report where the rear window of an SUV was completely shattered and the thief took all valuables... including two cases of 30-roll toilet paper and some valuable business and personal items. Eugene police say anytime vehicles are left for extended periods of time, thieves see it as an opportunity. Locking a car is not enough. In order to deter criminals from breaking in, it’s important to not leave anything inside the vehicle or keep items out of sight. I get that, but who would think one would have to hide the toilet paper from a kleptomaniac? It’s insane! Pot is legal for recreational use in Oregon, perhaps someone’s smoking a bit too much. “Theft from a vehicle is one of the most common crimes in our area,” the Eugene PD noted in its Facebook post about the early-morning TP theft. Are police blaming the victim? This is a serious crime. The caper of the kleptomaniac copping the car’s Cottonelle cases. And because of the caper of the kleptomaniac copping the Cottonelle cases one consumer won’t be able to clean the crap from his crack. Perhaps the Eugene PD can see if retired Colorado cop Kenda can catch the kleptomaniac copping the car’s Cottonelle cases. Folks this toilet paper craze is getting sick. It’s not like CoronaVirus causes diarrhea it’s a respiratory illness. What are people like the Oregon crook doing? Eating toilet paper with some fava beans and a nice chianti? What a Crock... https://lidblog.com/steal-toilet-paper/ .
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The Government Is Here to Help'
Nate Jackson President Donald Trump made a couple of significant moves Wednesday for confronting the coronavirus pandemic. One was signing the second aid package passed by Congress. The other was taking a wartime posture. We’ll start with the latter.
“I view it as … [I’m] a wartime president,” Trump said. “I mean, that’s what we’re fighting.” He then elaborated, “Every generation of Americans has been called to make shared sacrifices for the good of the nation. In World War II, young people in their teenage years volunteered to fight. They wanted to fight so badly because they love our country. Workers refused to go home and slept on factory floors to keep assembly lines running. … The numbers of ships that they built during World War II, to this day … nothing like that has ever been equal. And now it’s our time. We must sacrifice together because we are all in this together and we’ll come through together. It’s the invisible enemy. That’s always the toughest enemy: the invisible enemy. But we’re going to defeat the invisible enemy. I think we’re going to do it even faster than we thought. And it will be a complete victory. It’ll be a total victory.”
One move Trump made along these lines was invoking the Korean War-era Defense Production Act. Fox News summarizes, “The act ensures the private sector can ramp-up manufacturing and distribution of emergency medical supplies and equipment. The move gives the White House the authority to increase production of masks, ventilators and respirators, as well as expand hospital capacity to combat the coronavirus.”
The president has yet to give any indication that he will use the act to mandate anything, but Trump evidently wants it in his back pocket. GM and Tesla have each voluntarily offered their manufacturing capabilities for producing medical supplies if needed.
Back to the aid package, the Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act by a vote of 90-8 Wednesday, and Trump signed it yesterday evening. NBC News reports, “The measure provides free coronavirus testing and ensures paid emergency leave for those who are infected or caring for a family member with the illness. The bill also provides additional Medicaid funding, food assistance and unemployment benefits.”
Congress will now turn its attention to “the big one” — a $1 trillion-plus spending bonanza that will almost certainly include multiple sizable payments to Americans, probably at a threshold income of around $100,000. It will also include aid for businesses most affected by “social distancing,” cancellations, and shutdowns. The hotel industry seeks $150 billion, and airlines want $50 billion. Another $300 billion may go toward financing loans for small businesses.
In any case, the economic shockwaves are being felt daily by American workers and their families. There’s no end in sight, so we should do what Americans always do: buckle down and fight. ~The Patriot Post
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