Chinese Consulate Asks Wisconsin State Senator For Praise In Resolution. He Gives Them A Resolution They Won’t Forget.

After receiving emails from the Chinese consulate asking him to pass a resolution praising China for its fight against the coronavirus, which originated in China, Wisconsin Senate President Roger Roth (R-Appleton) wrote a resolution slamming China for lying about the coronavirus.

“When [Roth] received the first one dated Feb. 26, he saw it was from a hotmail account and disregarded it as a prank,” the Wisconsin Examiner reported. “Then on March 10, 2020, he received a follow up, and Roth says he had his staff start digging, reaching out through government channels. They were able to confirm that the email requests were legitimate — and they were told Chinese diplomats routinely use private email accounts because they are faster.”

The Chinese sent Roth a draft of the resolution that they wanted him to use which was full of communist propaganda and said, “there is no need to overreact.”

The main section of the communist propaganda resolution stated:

Whereas China’s action has been critical to the global fight against the epidemic, and China has adopted unprecedented and rigorous measures for disease control and prevention, including locking down Wuhan, a metropolis of 11 million people, house-to-house temperature checks, postponing the return to work after the Lunar New Year break of hundreds of millions of travelers, construction of hospitals of more than two thousand beds on green fields within days, bringing in medical teams from across the country to Hubei Province. These measures have been effective in curbing the virus from spreading to other parts of China and the world. As a result, the daily number of newly confirmed cases in China has dropped sharply to double digits, over 60,000 (to be updated) people have been cured and discharged from hospital, and the case fatality rate has remained lower than SARS, EBOLA and MERS; and

Whereas China has been transparent and quick in sharing key information of the virus with the WHO and the international community, thus creating a window of opportunity for other countries to make timely response

“Then I got mad, because that’s when [COVID-19] cases started cropping up here and you saw the problem exacerbated as we started to learn the truth,” Roth told the Wisconsin Examiner. “I just sent them back a one-word response. I said ‘nuts.’”

“Then a couple of days later I said that we are going to introduce a resolution, it’s just not the one that the Chinese government wants,” Roth continued. “We’re going to introduce one that speaks the truth to the lies that I believe are being told around the world, so that’s how we ended up with the resolution as it was introduced.”

Roth put together the following resolution, in response to the request from the Chinese consulate, condemning China for its actions during the pandemic and for other acts of tyranny [emphasis original]:

Relating to: acknowledging that the Communist Party of China deliberately and
intentionally misled the world on the Wuhan Coronavirus and standing in
solidarity with the Chinese people to condemn the actions of the Communist
Party of China.

Whereas, the State of Wisconsin is currently in a state of emergency due to the
rising spread of the Coronavirus that originated in the Wuhan Province of China, as
the number of infected individuals in Wisconsin rose to over 700 and also consisted
of 8 deaths as of March 26, 2020; and

Whereas, the Chinese people are a great people, and heirs to one of the greatest
civilizations in human history, held hostage by a brutal and oppressive regime these
past 70 years; and

Whereas, the Communist Party of China has engaged in a continued pattern
of human and natural rights abuses perpetrated by the country’s communist
administration, including the Communist Party’s treatment of Tibet, the internment
and “reeducation” of 1.5 million Muslim Uyghurs in concentration camps, the
enactment of a one-child policy responsible for aborting hundreds of millions of
children, the majority of them female, a record of organ harvesting and forced
sterilization, crackdown on the Tiananmen protests, and restrictions on individual
expression and religious practice; and

Whereas, the Communist Party of China has repeatedly demonstrated a lack
of interest in respecting international norms, including a history of currency
manipulation, intellectual property theft, and restricting Chinese market access,
while receiving the condemnation of numerous American Presidents and Legislators
from both political parties for these practices; and

Whereas, the Communist Party of China, led by President Xi Jinping, has
moved to consolidate power, scrapping term limits to create a de facto life term for
the President of China and continually squashing democratic-based initiatives in
and outside of mainland China; and

Whereas, the Chinese government is currently engaging in a barrage of
misinformation throughout all corners of the globe, attempting to pass off the
responsibility of their negligent and reckless response to the virus; and

Whereas, the Chinese government has imprisoned their own citizens who
dared disseminate accurate information on the Coronavirus, destroyed early
samples of the virus, refused to release timely and accurate information on the virus,
and continued to allow infected individuals to leave the Wuhan Province after
reasonable evidence of person-to-person contamination was present; and

Whereas, reports have indicated that had the Chinese Government acted in a
more efficient, transparent, and responsible way, cases worldwide of the virus may
have been limited by 95 percent; and

Whereas, on February 5, 2020, the first confirmed case of Coronavirus was
identified in Wisconsin; and

Whereas, on February 26, 2020, and again on March 10, 2020, the Chinese
Consulate reached out to the Wisconsin Senate President requesting that the Senate
pass a resolution — written by the Chinese Consulate — including propaganda
and falsehoods such as:

“China has been transparent and quick in sharing key information of the virus with the WHO and the international community, thus creating a window of opportunity for other countries to make timely response”

Whereas, the Wisconsin State Senate deems it necessary and prudent to
combat the spread of misinformation propagated by the Communist Party of China
and the need to push back on the claims that the virus originated anywhere but
China; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the senate, That the Wisconsin Senate acknowledges that the
Communist Party of China has deliberately and intentionally misled the world,
suppressed vital information on the statistics and spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus
both domestically and abroad, allowed millions of individuals to travel outside of the
province and country despite clear warnings that the virus could be transmitted
person-to-person, and engaged in active suppression and persecution of individuals
looking to truthfully discuss information related to the Coronavirus, which has led
to a global pandemic the likes of which has not been seen for generations; and, be it
further

Resolved, That the Wisconsin Senate hereby stands in solidarity with the
Chinese people, condemning the actions of the Communist Party of China in the
strongest possible terms, and acknowledges that millions, both in China and around
the world, are at risk of illness and death due to the negligence and hostile actions
of the Chinese Communist Party.

Not all that long ago, I speculated that if the bug got loose in other nursing homes, we’d see results like this.

Coronavirus infections continue to rise at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home; 32 dead

The number of veterans living at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home who have tested positive for the coronavirus continues to increase while one additional resident has died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

A dozen additional veterans have now tested positive, meaning more than half the residents at the state-run home for the elderly and infirm have contracted the virus, officials for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said.

Currently 32 veterans have died from COVID-19 and 88 have contracted the virus. Six other residents have died of other causes since the first veteran tested positive from COVID-19 on March 21. When the virus was first detected there were about 210 residents at the home.

Staff at the Soldiers’ Home has recently partnered with Holyoke Medical Center and Baystate Health to improve testing and is now getting results within 24 hours, officials said.

Tests of all employees show 78 have contracted the disease while 222 employees have tested negative, officials said.

Intruder shot and killed by homeowner in Fredericksburg

GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A 19-year-old man was shot and killed after he broke in to a Fredericksburg house early Saturday morning, according to the Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office.

The homeowner, a 73-year-old man, told police he woke up to a “loud banging noise” outside of his home near the back patio around 12:45 a.m. Saturday.

When he went to check, the man saw Cleto Neri Solorzano, 19, of Fredericksburg on the back porch. Solorzano began attacking the man, pushing him into the home and hitting him with a blunt object. Police report Solorzano put the man into a chokehold causing him to lose consciousness.

The man’s fiancee’ told police she woke up during the fight and asked Solorzano to stop attacking, but he ignored her. According to GCSO, she got a handgun from the bedroom and fired a warning shot out the patio door, but Solorzano continued to attack the man.

Fearing for her safety and seeing her fiance’ unconscious, she fired another shot, hitting Solorzano in the head. The man called 9-1-1 after he regained consciousness, police say.

Solorzano was taken to Hill Country Memorial Hospital, and later to University Hospital in San Antonio. He died from his injury, according to police.

GCSO is investigating and believe that drug use was involved.

 

Antis Talk ‘Gun Safety’ During Pandemic, NRA Teaches It Online

Even before the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic panic, when people began rushing to gun stores—many for the first time—gun prohibition lobbying groups have been preaching against allowing such businesses to operate, and against buying firearms, while the National Rifle Association has taken a different, and decidedly proactive approach.

This NRA email says it all: “In response to the growing number of first-time gun buyers during the coronavirus outbreak, the National Rifle Association’s Education & Training Division is pleased to announce the launch of four new online gun safety courses.”

According to the NRA message, the courses include:

  • Gun Safety Seminar
  • NRA Basic Pistol Shooting Course – Distance Learning
  • NRA Basic Rifle Shooting Course – Distance Learning
  • NRA Basic Personal Protection In The Home Course – Distance Learning

Each course, lasting from one to eight hours, is available at NRAInstructors.org.

In a recent statement, Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, welcomed all the new gun owners to the shooting fraternity.

“We encourage all new gun owners to seek competent training,” Gottlieb said. “Learn to handle your new firearms safely, and remember it’s up to all of you to protect your rights. It’s sad and at the same time uplifting that so many Americans will no longer be fence-sitters. They’re joining the ranks of gun owners and will soon understand, if they don’t already, why so many of their friends, neighbors and even family members have remained so zealous in their efforts to protect the rights you now hope to exercise and enjoy.”

Likewise, Joe DeBergalis, executive director of NRA General Operations, says in the NRA email, “The NRA recommends that all new gun owners seek professional training at the range, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a head start on learning the basics of firearm safety at home. New gun owners, old gun owners, it doesn’t really matter. Taking one of these classes moderated by a certified NRA instructor can only make you safer, and that’s our primary goal.”

“These courses will provide an option for first-time gun owners who don’t have the ability to take an NRA certified instructor-led class at their local shooting range at this time,” DeBergalis, continued. “While there is no replacement for in-person, instructor-led training, our new online classes do provide the basics of firearm safety training for those self-isolating at home.”

By contrast, the Michael Bloomberg-supported Everytown for Gun Safety lobbying group has been urging people to pressure the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security to reverse course and declare gun stores “non-essential.” This, even after admitting in an email blast, “It has been reported that gun sales have been going way up…A flood of guns at this precarious moment compounds the risks of death and serious injury during this incredibly stressful time.”

But the NRA is doing something about that, and CCRKBA has counseled all of these new gun owners to take advantage of available safety training.

Second Amendment activists have frequently argued “If you’re not teaching gun safety, you’ve got no business preaching about gun safety.” Translation: Firearms instructors provide genuine gun safety training, while so-called “gun safety” organizations are gun prohibition lobbying groups in disguise.

There is a considerable difference between just telling people to lock up their firearms and support a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” and actually providing competent instruction on the safe handling of firearms, whether they are handguns, shotguns or semi-auto modern sporting rifles.

It is important for new gun owners to be able to tell the difference between the two.

DOJ: ‘Expect Action’ to Protect Churches From Tyrannical Local ‘Social Distancing’ Orders

On Saturday, Department of Justice (DOJ) spokeswoman Kerri Kupec announced that Attorney General William Barr would take action to protect churches from tyrannical local government orders that destroy their religious freedom.

“During this sacred week for many Americans, AG Barr is monitoring govt regulation of religious services,” Kupec tweeted. “While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly & not single out religious orgs. Expect action from DOJ next week!”

This statement follows a week of legal clashes as Democratic mayors have explicitly banned drive-in church services where parishioners remain apart in their cars with the windows up. Police in the city of Greenville, Miss., have slapped worshipers with $500 fines and mobbed a drive-in service, apparently aiming to prevent attendance.

“One of the police officers said the mayor wanted to make an example of our church,” Temple Baptist Church Pastor Arthur Scott, whose drive-in service was targeted by police handing out $500 fines on Wednesday, told Todd Starnes. “I told them to get some more tickets ready because we will be preaching Sunday morning and Sunday night.”

“Government is clearly overstepping its authority when it singles out churches for punishment, especially in a ridiculous fashion like this,” Ryan Taylor, director of the Center for Christian Ministries at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said in a statement. ADF is representing Scott in a lawsuit against the leaders of Greenville. “In Greenville, you can be in your car at a drive-in restaurant, but you can’t be in your car at a drive-in church service. That’s not only nonsensical, it’s unconstitutional, too.”…………

Roman Authorities Investigating Jesus For Violating Stay-In-Tomb Order

JERUSALEM—Roman authorities are investigating controversial religious leader Jesus of Nazareth for violating the Empire’s clear “stay in tomb” order. After crucifying him and laying him in the tomb, Roman guards put Him under strict orders to stay there and not come back, rising victorious over sin and death.

But Jesus, answering to a higher authority, refused to stay dead and busted out of the tomb, establishing a kingdom that would never end — again, in clear violation of the government’s orders.

“Jesus is a dangerous rebel, refusing to bend the knee to Caesar and not abiding by the law of sin and death,” said one Roman official. “He clearly broke the law by leaving the tomb, and we’re going to be issuing a citation and placing him under mandatory quarantine for these crimes.”

After coming into contact with many large groups over the course of approximately 40 days, Jesus ascended into heaven and is currently thought to be reigning on high.

Authorities are also investigating Him for planning to gather with a large multitude of every tribe, tongue, and nation. He says he currently has no plans to obey any earthly king on the matter, pressing ahead with the gathering of those who believe He died and rose again and trust Him alone for their salvation.

Gretchen Whitmer: A Dangerous Object Lesson for all Americans

Democrat governors and mayors are starting to become drunk on power. – In Kentucky, the Democrat governor has police recording the license plate numbers of church parishioners and issuing them $500 tickets for being parked in the church parking lot.

In Philadelphia, the Democrat governor has police arrest a man for attempting to board an empty subway car without his mask on.

In California, the Democrat governor has police arresting a lone Santa Monica man on an empty beach for the crime of attempting to swim in the ocean.

In New York City, the Democrat Mayor not only orders churches to remain closed to any and all parishioners, but threatens to shut them down permanently if they do not bend to his will.

But none of those governors and mayors can hold a candle to Michigan’s Democrat Governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer has been such a despot in exercising her nebulous emergency powers during the Wuhan Virus crisis that she is now the subject of an online recall petition that had collected over 80,000 signatures within a few hours of its being issued on Saturday.

Rather than simply ordering the closing of “non-essential” businesses, as pretty much every other governor has done, Whitmer has taken things much further, ordering law enforcement officers to go into the stores remaining open and rope off sections selling items she deems to be “non-essential.” This would be items like plant seeds and American flags:

You can’t buy seeds with which to grow your own food or a flag to hang out over your front porch, but hey, you can buy pot and lottery tickets, because the state government can’t afford to lose the tax collections it receives on those items. Isn’t life in Michigan grand?

Two Fridays ago, Whitmer decided it would be a great thing for her political ambitions (she wants to be Joe Biden’s vice presidential nominee) if she banned hydroxychloroquine after President Trump had spoken highly of it as a treatment for Wuhan Virus. Four days later, as mountains of evidence proving the President’s claim became public, she was forced by public outrage to withdraw that stupid order.

The budding 3rd-world dictator has banned travel by motorboat on the state’s many lakes and other waterways, and late this week took the draconian step of banning any travel between residences in her state. That means that residents not only are banned from getting in the car or walking across the street to visit friends or family, they also cannot travel between two homes that they might own, or travel to rental homes that they might own and run as a business.

This woman with the plastic face is, in other words, stumbling, bumbling, falling down drunk with power. She isn’t just the drunk who hangs out at the local power bar, she’s the raging town drunk who closes down the power bar at 2:00 a.m. and spends the rest of the night walking through the streets slugging from a bottle of MD 20/20.

Gretchen Whitmer represents an object lesson for all Americans to heed. The people of Michigan are finding out how dangerous it is to elect someone with no real qualifications or life experience that might have prepared him or her to handle such a big job. Whitmer won the governor’s office based on being physically attractive, carefully polled talking points written by a team of talking points monkeys and having tons of out-of-state money to spend, much of which came from front groups funded by George Soros

Even worse than her inexperience and lack of preparedness for a crisis, Whitmer’s radical leftist ideology leaves her prone to crave the rush of exercising power over the common people who all leftists seek to dominate and control. In this regard, she is proving to be the very worst of all the governors in America.

The apparent consideration of her as a potential Biden running mate now renders this wretched human being as not just a threat to the freedoms of the Michiganders who so stupidly chose to elevate her to a position of power, it makes her a threat to all Americans. Because let’s face it: Joe Biden is too elderly and obviously impaired to handle the office of the presidency. Were he to be elected in November, his vice president would inevitably rise to the presidency within a few months of Inauguration Day.

So, regardless of where you live, pay attention to the actions of this power-mad woman. Because the actions she is implementing today from the governor’s mansion to control the lives of Michigan residents are what she would love to be doing to you some day from the White House.

Oh yeah, and, Happy Easter, everyone!

That is all.

Today, April 11:

1783, General George Washington for the Americans, and General Guy Carleton for the British issue orders for ‘all acts of hostility’ to cease between their forces, effectively ending the American Revolutionary War

1970, Apollo 13 blasts off from Cape Kennedy.

I feel for Hobie and the rest of you in Virginia. While I liked working at Ft Eustis, I don’t miss living there one bit. At least the rally held in Richmond seems to have influenced the demoncraps enough that they dropped the magazine, suppressor and semi-auto ban…for now.

Gov. Northam signs red flag, one-handgun-a-month, other gun legislation into law

RICHMOND, Va. – New gun laws are coming to Virginia.

Gov. Ralph Northam signed multiple pieces of gun legislation into law.

These include:

  • Senate Bill 70 and House Bill 2, which require background checks on all firearm sales in Virginia
  • Senate Bill 240 and House Bill 674, which establish an Extreme Risk Protective Order, creating a legal mechanism for law enforcement to temporarily separate a person from their firearms when they represent a danger to themselves or others. This is more commonly referred to as a red flag law.
  • Senate Bill 69 and House Bill 812, which reinstates Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month rule
  • House Bill 9 requires gun owners to report their lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement within 48 hours or face a civil penalty.
  • House Bill 1083 increases the penalty for recklessly leaving firearms in the presence of children.

In addition to signing the above five things into law, Northam also proposed amendments to these bills

  • Senate Bill 35 and House Bill 421 allow localities to regulate firearms in public buildings, parks, recreation centers, and during permitted events. The governor’s amendments look to clarify the exemption for institutions of higher education.
  • Senate Bill 479 and House Bill 1004 prohibit individuals subject to protective orders from possessing firearms, require them to turn over their firearms within 24 hours, and certify to the court that they have turned over their weapons. The governor amended this legislation at the request of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance with the goal of enhancing safety for victims by allowing judges to hold the respondent in contempt of court if they fail to comply with the certification requirements.

Buckeye homeowner shoots intruder breaking into his house

BUCKEYE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) says a man shot an intruder he caught breaking into his house. This happened Thursday afternoon at a home near Palo Verde and Buckeye roads.

MCSO says the homeowner shot and injured another man who was allegedly breaking into the home. The suspect was transported to the hospital. His current condition is not known.

Detectives are continuing to investigate what happened.

This has got to be feeling just like a big fat burr under the saddle

Bloomberg to Gun Culture: “Help Me!”

Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, for finally admitting that gun owners are correct.

Oh, I’m certain that he didn’t mean to do it; after all, the non-opinion piece titled You Just Panic-Bought a Gun. Here’s How to Handle It Safely was written by Alain Stephens, not Bloomberg himself, but as it was published in Bloomberg’s anti-gun organ The Trace on March 20th, and as Bloomberg is its owner and publisher, that means he owns, in every sense of the word, what it says.

https://www.thetrace.org/2020/03/you-just-panic-bought-a-gun-coronavirus-safety/

I imagine that galls Bloomberg terribly, since he has told us for nearly two decades that no one needs a gun. Now, despite his best efforts, his anti-gun magazine is acknowledging the awkward truth that people want guns to protect themselves and their families in a crisis where the police may be late to arrive (if in fact they arrive at all, given how many city police departs are stretched to the breaking point with many officers out sick) and so in acknowledgement of that fact, The Trace is reluctantly giving these new gun owners advice on how to safely handle their new firearm.

The irony of this situation is that neither The Trace, nor any other anti-gun organization, nor even Michael Bloomberg himself has experience in this regard. His position has always been abstinence-only when it comes to firearm education, and like an abstinence-only parent who discovers that his child is having premarital sex, his choices have become “Ignore the situation and hope it goes away” and “Accept reality and seek advice from a professional.” As ignoring the situation almost always leads to unfortunate consequences like unplanned teenage pregnancies or negligent discharges which result in injury or death, Bloomberg, has decided – most likely unintentionally, and almost assuredly to his great gall – to take the mature course of action and seek the advice of experts.

Unfortunately for Bloomberg, those experts whose advice he has sought are precisely those people whom he and his various anti-gun organizations (Everytown, Moms Demand Action, March for our Lives, et al.) have vilified. After the article’s obligatory references to “numerous studies” about the inherent dangers of gun ownership, the first given piece of firearms safety advice are the Four Rules of Gun Safety:

  1. Treat all guns as if they are loaded.
  2. Never let the muzzle of the firearm point at anything you are not willing to destroy.
  3. Don’t place your finger near the trigger until you are ready to fire.
  4. Always identify your target – and what lies in front of and behind it.

Accompanying these rules are a link to the blog of Springfield Armory, a manufacturer of semi-automatic weapons including the much-maligned AR-15 rifle, a firearm which Bloomberg would dearly love to make illegal.

https://blog.springfield-armory.com/four-cardinal-rules-for-handgun-owners-what-you-need-to-know

What’s more, in that same blog post Springfield Armory is quoting Colonel Jeff Cooper, the man who not only created the Four Rules but was also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Rifle Association. Yes, you read that correctly: an article in Bloomberg’s anti-gun The Trace just went to the NRA for help. Isn’t it curious that, after years of calling the NRA and its members awful people who value guns over safety, the very first piece of firearm safety instruction comes from the NRA? Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, for admitting that the NRA actually teaches firearm safety.

Oh, but the hits don’t stop there. Not only is there a link to an instructional YouTube video titled How to Use an AR-15 by Lucky Gunner (the ammunition drop-shipping company which was sued by the Brady Campaign after the Aurora, CO shooting), there are also links to other YouTube videos made by the Tactical Rifleman and Legally Armed America channels. Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, for endorsing the instructional content of  YouTube gun channels.

This whole article has been a parade of amazement, but the part of it which left me most amazed was that its paragraph on safe storage did not take the opportunity to state that firearms and their ammunition must be stored separately. I don’t know how this tacit admission that it’s a terrible idea to keep your self-defense firearm locked up separately from the ammunition needed to operate it ever made it past the editors, but it did, and I find myself worrying about the future career prospects of The Trace’s editor-in-chief.

Unfortunately this article, and therefore Michael Bloomberg, never actually took that final step of admitting that in a self-defense situation the time needed to retrieve ammunition kept separately from a firearm can result in the death of innocents, but given all of the other admissions in this article I’ll gladly forgive this oversight. I will also take this opportunity to state for the record that if your self-defense weapon is a pistol kept properly holstered on your body, not only can you keep it loaded and ready to deploy to defend yourself or loved ones, but you are also keeping it safe and out of the hands of your children, thereby negating the need to lock it up during the day.

Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, for admitting that guns keep us safe, that citizens can responsibly own the AR-15, that firearm education is necessary, and that gun owners were right all along. Now it is up to you to decide if you wish to keep to this new philosophy or revert back to your abstinence-only worldview once this crisis has passed. As you do so, please keep in mind that many new gun owners will be doing the same, and now that they have skin in this particular political game they may no longer be as receptive to your old views as they once were. Bear that in mind, lest you alienate a now-growing segment of your readership.

Too bad. So sad…..not

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York closing centers, laying off staff

NEW YORK — Planned Parenthood of Greater New York has begun laying off and furloughing employees and will temporarily close a dozen of its health centers, citing a strain on resources posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The organization — which formed in January through the merger of five Planned Parenthood affiliates, including the Mohawk Hudson affiliate in the Capital Region — began terminating and furloughing staff on Monday, according to emails obtained by the Times Union. Staff will be reduced by about 28 percent across all departments, either through permanent termination, or through furloughs and reduced hours through June 30.

The temporary closure of health centers will leave some communities, such as Rome and Oneida in Central New York, with no nearby options for sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing or abortion services, according to staff at those centers.

Fauci [head National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)] Says U.S. Virus Deaths May Be 60,000, Half of Projections.

One of President Donald Trump’s top medical advisers slashed projections for U.S. coronavirus deaths on Thursday, saying that only about 60,000 people may die — almost half as many as the White House estimated a week ago.

The falling projection, the result of aggressive social distancing behaviors Americans adopted to curb the spread of the virus, may accelerate Trump’s effort to develop a plan to urge Americans to leave their homes and return to work next month.

“The real data are telling us it is highly likely we are having a definite positive effect by the mitigation things that we’re doing, this physical separation,” Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC in an interview.

“I believe we are going to see a downturn in that, and it looks more like the 60,000, than the 100,000 to 200,000” projected fatalities, he said. “But having said that, we better be careful that we don’t say: ‘OK, we’re doing so well we could pull back.’”

Birx Projections

Deborah Birx, the State Department immunologist advising the White House’s coronavirus task force, projected March 31 that as many as 240,000 Americans could die as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, even with another 30 days of stringent public health restrictions.

That analysis caused Trump to retreat from ambitions to urge Americans back to work by Easter. But as the outbreak has appeared to plateau in New York, the U.S. epicenter, Trump’s aides have begun initial planning to urge a re-opening in May.

Well, if a homeowner called the police to report shooting s burglar, I’d expect the police to find a man with a gunshot wound.

Homeowner shoots, wounds suspected intruder in Phoenix

PHOENIX — A homeowner in Phoenix shot and wounded a suspected intruder early Wednesday, police said.

The shooting occurred near 17th Avenue and Union Hills Drive around 3:45 a.m.

Phoenix police officers responded to a call of a burglary and found a man with a gunshot wound.

The suspect was taken to a local hospital in serious condition.

His wounds are not life-threatening, according to police.

Why Owning A Gun Is A Completely Rational Insurance Policy Against Danger
Owning a gun is like keeping a spare tire in your trunk, a first aid kit at home, or an emergency savings account. We hope never to use them, but we’re glad we have them.

The social and economic uncertainty surrounding the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic has Americans understandably concerned about their personal safety. In March 2020, the FBI reported the highest monthly number of firearms background checks ever recorded: 3,740,688. Compared to March of the previous year, Americans bought 1.1 million more guns in a single month. Ammunition is also flying off the shelves, with sales in some states increasing more than 4,000 percent.

Many recent first gun-buyers are people who were previously either ambivalent or even opposed to gun ownership. Several such people have reached out to me with questions about which gun they should buy. Many fellow firearms instructors report the same experience.

It’s easy to see why Americans are worried. While we live in a generally high-trust society, catastrophes can easily disrupt the delicate social order on which that trust depends. As it is sometimes said, we are all only nine meals away from anarchy.

Desperate people do desperate things. Economic goods are human goods, and while the current lockdowns are necessary to contain the pandemic, they carry real human costs. Many of these costs — joblessness, homelessness, mental health issues, and drug abuse — lend themselves easily to criminal behavior.

Always Be Prepared

Am I saying society is on the brink of collapse? No, we are far from an apocalypse. The point is simply that the world is and has always been a risky place, so it makes perfect sense to be proactive and prepared. When things are peaceful and prosperous, we often don’t pay attention to danger because things are going so well. But in times of great social and economic stress, we are more attuned to things that might go wrong.

Having a disaster plan isn’t as foreign as some might think. We routinely make decisions aimed at mitigating risks. We purchase insurance, maintain emergency savings, and get flu shots. We keep spare tires, jumper cables, flashlights, and fire extinguishers handy, and buy extra supplies just in case we might need them.

Unless you happen to be naively optimistic, you’re already a “prepper.” Even if you’re relatively “lucky,” you can bet something catastrophic will eventually befall you sometime in your life. Better to be prepared than to be caught off guard.

Prepping for improbable events isn’t necessarily irrational; it is often wise. Consider this: In 2017, more than 2.7 million people were injured in 6.4 million car crashes. With 327 million people in the United States, this means the baseline probability of you getting injured in a car accident each year is slightly over 0.8 percent.

Now, a 0.8 percent chance might be perceived as pretty good odds. After all, that’s a 99.2 percent chance you won’t be injured. But .8 percent of 327 million still comes out to 2.7 million people each year, which is no small number. Are you willing to bet you’ll never be one of those unlucky few? Probably not.

Although your chances of getting into an accident are small, consider what you stand to lose if you do get injured. Making preparations, such as buying insurance or carrying road flares, isn’t irrational, despite statistical improbability.

The Odds of Violent Crime Are Higher than You Think

With that point in mind, let’s look at the odds of violent criminal victimization. In 2018, 3.3 million people ages 12 and older were victimized in 6 million violent crimes. There were 23.2 violent victimizations per 1,000 U.S. residents ages 12 and older, meaning 2.3 percent of Americans 12 and older were victims of violent crime in 2018. This is much greater than the baseline odds of injury from motor vehicle accidents, for which preparation is rational.

If you have a 1-in-50 baseline chance of being violently victimized each year, wouldn’t it be rational to take prudent measures to protect yourself? I think so.

That is exactly why millions of ordinary Americans own guns. Firearms are extremely effective in preventing injury and do not require a great deal of effort to use and keep around. Guns are a perfectly reasonable, cost-effective, safe, and convenient form of risk mitigation.

Owning a gun is like keeping a spare tire in your trunk, a first aid kit at home, or an emergency savings account. We hope never to use them, but we’re glad we have them. None of this indicates paranoia. Carrying a gun is similar to carrying insurance, except it’s better: You actually get to collect the benefits without having to incur serious harm.

Insurance against national catastrophe makes pretty good sense when you consider the past few hundred years of failed states, civil wars, and less-than-ideal regimes. Among other things, the track record of state-sanctioned citizen slaughter, vigilante violence, and racial conflict shows that when societies do go bad, they tend to go extremely bad. Think of the hundreds of sovereign nations that no longer exist due to war and internal strife.

Police, of course, serve a valuable public function. But most police responses come after crimes have already been committed. Less than half of all personal crimes are even reported to police. Moreover, in times of crisis, police are stretched thin. At the time of writing this, 17 percent of the New York Police Department is out sick, and many police departments are not performing arrests or even responding to “minor” crimes.

All this highlights the need to be self-reliant. Ultimately, we are our own last line of defense. We may delegate some of our protection to civil authorities, but the natural right to protect ourselves is inseparable from our humanity.

Gun Owners Aren’t Paranoid, They’re Smart

Some people believe you’re more likely to harm yourself or someone else with a gun than to use it in self-defense, but that isn’t the case. The findings of more than 19 surveys specifically designed to measure the number of defensive gun uses all confirm that defensive uses are vastly more common than criminal uses. A small sampling of these can be viewed on the Active Self-Protection YouTube channel, which has collected several hundred video clips of successful civilian self-defense encounters.

The often-heard charge that gun owners are paranoid and fearful is just naive psychoanalysis unsupported by credible research. Indeed, a recent study has found that gun owners report lower levels of fear and victimization than those who don’t own guns. If anything, there is a lot of irrational fear directed toward firearms as inanimate objects, something famed firearms instructor Jeff Cooper calls “hoplophobia.”

To all the new gun owners out there: Welcome to the Second Amendment community. We’re glad you’ve decided to take the protection of yourself and your loved ones seriously. Get training, be responsible, and be prepared.

Idris Abdus-Salaam.
Not to be light about it, but anyone not make a guess on motive?

3 victims, suspect identified in stabbing at Pilot

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating a stabbing and an officer involved shooting incident after Knoxville gas station employees and a suspect were killed Tuesday morning.

TBI identified the three deceased victims as 57-year-old Joyce Whaley, 51-year-old Patricia Denise Nibbe and 41-year-old Nettie R. Spencer. The deceased suspect was identified as 33-year-old Idris Abdus-Salaam, a North Carolina truck driver,

Three Pilot employees are dead and one customer injured after a stabbing and an officer-involved shooting at an East Knox County Pilot truck stop.

According to the TBI, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office received a report of the incident at the Strawberry Plains Pike location around 7 am on Tuesday. Upon arrival officers observed at least one person with stab wounds and a man identified by witnesses as the suspect armed with a knife in the Pilot parking lot.

According to officials, officers confronted the suspect and when he refused to drop the weapon, one of the officers fired shots, striking the man. …

Four female victims were stabbed, the three employees were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth who was a customer was transported to a local hospital. The status of her condition is unknown.

Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam released a statement regarding the incident.

Today is a difficult day for the Pilot Company family. We are devastated to confirm the loss of three team members and the injury of a guest after an act of violence at our Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, location this morning. It is with heavy hearts that we extend our deepest sympathy to the families and loved ones of the victims. We are providing support and counseling to the families and our team. We are working closely with local authorities. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”