Delingpole: Trump Was Right to Shut the Gates on Plague Pit Europe

President Trump has suspended all travel from mainland Europe. If this sounds excessive you clearly haven’t been paying attention to just how bad things have got with the coronavirus in parts of the continent.

Northern Italy, especially, is experiencing horrors more redolent of a Medieval plague than of an advanced economy in the 21st century.

This thread, reportedly from a doctor working in an Accident and Emergency department in a Northern Italian hospital, gives a grim taste:

The current situation is difficult to imagine and numbers do not explain things at all. Our hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid-19, they are running 200% capacity

We’ve stopped all routine, all ORs have been converted to ITUs and they are now diverting or not treating all other emergencies like trauma or strokes. There are hundreds of pts with severe resp failure and many of them do not have access to anything above a reservoir mask.

Patients above 65 or younger with comorbidities are not even assessed by ITU, I am not saying not tubed, I’m saying not assessed and no ITU staff attends when they arrest. Staff are working as much as they can but they are starting to get sick and are emotionally overwhelmed.

In other words, many of Italy’s hospitals are overwhelmed. Every day they are having to make terrible Sophie’s Choice style decisions about which patients to save and which ones should be condemned to death — because they simply don’t have enough staff or equipment to keep them all alive.

Unless Trump takes drastic action — presuming it isn’t already too late — then this is the fate that awaits America too.

That’s why he was absolutely right to act in this dramatic way and for at least two good reasons.

First, political: it’s imperative — especially for those of us who believe that a second Trump term is America’s only hope — that by the year-end, when with luck the pandemic will have passed or at least diminished, President Trump emerges as a man who handled this crisis decisively and effectively. It would be just too awful if, despite his many achievements, Trump ended up handing the election to Joe Biden because of a public perception that he’d been dilatory in protecting America from the 21st century’s answer to the Black Death.

Second, geopolitical: Trump is right to shut off continental Europe because — in plague terms — it is the equivalent of one of those diseased carcasses that besieging armies used to fling with their ballistas over the city walls.

This is a consequence of its open borders policy. Under the European Union’s Schengen Agreement — one of the bloc’s defining features and by their own reckoning, greatest achievement — there is almost complete freedom of movement across national borders. Which means that everyone from gun- and drug-smugglers to terrorists to coronavirus victims can travel from one end of the continent to the other, with individual states virtually powerless to protect their own borders or citizens.

School Canceled Because of Coronavirus? A Homeschooler Offers Some Tips.

For those parents who haven’t already converted to home schooling to remove their children from public school those cesspools of leftist indoctrination

COVID-19 is in the news with new cases reported every day. The list of schools, colleges, and other institutions suspending their efforts is also adding up. But there’s one education sector that may get away with minimal disruption: homeschoolers. Families that take responsibility for their kids’ education have a distinct edge in terms of flexibility and adaptability when it comes to unexpected events like … well … a worldwide pandemic that has people on edge.

“Closing schools and using internet-based teleschooling to continue education” was the scenario envisioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Nancy Messonier in a February 25 press conference. “You should ask your children’s school about their plans for school dismissals or school closures. Ask if there are plans for teleschool.”

Teleschool? Homeschoolers are so on that. Or if they’re not into teleschooling, they have a stack of books and papers, kitchen-counter science experiments, video lectures … The list goes on, and much of it adds up to the “social distancing measures” of which teleschooling is supposed to be part.

What’s “social distancing”? As Messonnier noted, social distancing is “designed to keep people who are sick away from others.” That means breaking up large gatherings where germs can be shared and spread.

Discouraging gatherings is an important move from a public health perspective, but it’s enormously disruptive to businesses, government bodies, and organizations that are designed around assembling large numbers of people in one place. That means big challenges for, among other institutions, traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Homeschoolers, however, have an edge because their efforts are not inherently constructed around large gatherings.

That doesn’t mean that homeschoolers never get together. Contrary to accusations from critics, family-based education is not an inherently solitary venture.

Homeschooling often involves group lessons that take advantage of specialized expertise, collaborative projects, field trips with homeschooling associations, sports teams, and more—which means that homeschoolers have changes to make in a time of pandemic, too, in terms of reducing or eliminating outings and activities. But that doesn’t mean cutting down on education; these days, there are loads of relatively easy work-arounds for homeschooling families.

If you’re new to family-based education, and especially if you’re busy with your own remote work, you may find it best to go with a comprehensive online program, like a virtual publicly-funded charter school or tuition-charging private school.

Virtual private schools are available anywhere in the United States, while the availability of charters depends on your local laws. Arizona, where I live, maintains a list of virtual charter schools, but you’ll need to do a bit of research for your own state.

Besides full schools, the Internet is a treasure-trove of learning materials that don’t require you to trek to a bookstore, a lecture hall, or even to wait for package delivery. Classic literature is available for free in electronic format through Project Gutenberg, Khan Academy has long since expanded beyond its original mission of delivering math lessons, the American Chemical Society gives away a complete chemistry curriculum, and a variety of lesson plans are freely available from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Edsitement. If you’re interested, I’ve prepared a downloadable list of resources.

I’ve never met a conference software that I’ve loved—video sometimes freezes, audio drops out, and connections fail. That said, my son has used both Blackboard and Zoom in the course of his lessons, and he and his peers as young as 10 or so took to it naturally, even troubleshooting glitches as needed. Conferencing software will accommodate presentations, feedback, shared screens, and other means of simulating a classroom across distances and without putting students in one place to share germs. Teachers and students can even transfer files back and forth.

Skype is an excellent stand-by for online meetings with teachers. Yes, your kids can be verbally quizzed in a foreign language across that platform while the teacher looks on to check for cheat sheets or other shortcuts. The kids might then receive messaged feedback through the same software.

For teamwork on projects, I think working online may be more effective than getting a bunch of kids together in one room. Recently, I got to listen to a bunch of 14- and 15-year-olds collaborate on a script for a skit that they edited in Google Docs. For presentations, they’ve worked the same way in Google Slides. One nice feature is that the technological solutions really cut down on the “I left my work at my friend’s house” factor. No, you didn’t, kid; it’s sitting in the cloud.

(Incidentally, collaborative software doesn’t make teenagers act any less like teenagers. If forced to listen in, you will still want to bang your head on a table.)

When it comes to sharing short pieces of work, art, and the like, my son and his friends sometimes take photos of their efforts and text them to each other or to an instructor. That’s a quick and easy solution in many cases when uploading and downloading documents is more effort than necessary.

The hard part isn’t finding work for your home students to do; it’s keeping them focused. Every child is different, and some are more self-directed than others.

Yes, you will have to check on them even if you’re not directly administering their lessons. That can be a challenge for new homeschoolers, but my experience is that most kids respond better to mom and dad than they do to teachers they barely know and won’t see after the year’s end.

Socializing is where the “social distancing” recommended for our virus-ridden times bites deep. But I have to imagine that cell phones, social media, and video chat make easier work of dealing with the requirements of the pandemic than what our ancestors suffered when they dodged polio or the Spanish flu. The kids can all complain to each other over their favorite apps about the privations they’re suffering in these hard times.

Fast delivery, downloadable books, and streaming video do away with a bit of the sting, too. The kids can still consume current media and discuss their favorite shows and novels—just not face-to-face for a while.

And here’s the thing. If you try homeschooling, you may discover that it’s not just a good way to keep COVID-19 at bay, but an effective approach to education more generally and a good fit for your family. If so, well, welcome to a happy, healthy, and growing club.

US conducts airstrikes in Iraq in retaliation for attack that killed 2 Americans

Never underestimate the ability of the U.S. military to pick the time, place and target of their own choosing when they go for ‘payback’.

The U.S. military conducted airstrikes in Iraq on Thursday in retaliation for a recent rocket attack that killed two American service members and one British service member and wounded 14 others, according to two U.S. officials, one of whom characterized the strikes as defensive in nature.

It was unclear what targets were being struck by U.S. military aircraft, but earlier in the day, senior Pentagon officials had blamed Iranian-backed Shia militia groups for Wednesday’s attack on Camp Taji in Iraq.

“Yesterday’s attack by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups consisted of multiple indirect fires that originated form a stationary platform and was clearly targeting coalition and partner forces on Camp Taji,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Thursday. “But let me be clear, the United States will not tolerate attacks against our people our interests or our allies.”

Esper continued, “All options are on the table as we work with our partners to bring the perpetrators to justice and maintain deterrence.”

Anthony Fauci says coronavirus crisis could last 8 weeks

In a series of interviews with Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, Fauci gave his bleak assessment of what is still to come

White House coronavirus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Friday morning that the current state of crisis in the US would last for two months and that ‘it’s all on the table’ in terms of how much more severe things may become.

In a series of interviews with Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, Fauci gave his bleak assessment of what is still to come.

‘It’s certainly going to get worse before it gets better…there’s no doubt we have not peaked yet,’ he said.

Asked directly if America was heading towards a complete shutdown like China and Italy, he would not rule it out.

‘I’m not sure we’re going to get to that.

‘I think that would be really rather dramatic, but I can tell you that all things are on the table.

‘We just have to respond as things evolve over the days and the weeks,’ he said.

There has been a dramatic shift in tone from the government in the last several days.

At the start of the week, President Trump was advising Americans not to panic and even said the virus would ‘go away’.

He then shut the border to Europeans, and said on Thursday that even US citizens who test positive for the virus would not be allowed to come home.

Fauci’s prediction was that there will be at least another several weeks of the current mode of crisis, but that it could last up to two months.

‘It will be at least a matter of several weeks. It’s unpredictable, but if you look at historically how these things work, it will likely be anywhere from a few weeks to up to eight weeks.

Trump to Declare National Emergency to Speed Virus Response

President Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency on Friday over the coronavirus outbreak, invoking the Stafford Act to open the door to more federal aid for states and municipalities, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The president said he will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. in Washington. Trump spoke Friday with Emmanuel Macron, the French president tweeted, about the pandemic, and agreed to organize a video conference with world leaders on Monday to coordinate research efforts on a vaccine and treatments and work on how to respond to the economic fallout.

Trump is under increasing pressure to act as governors and mayors nationwide step up actions to mitigate the spread, closing schools and canceling public events. Declaring a national emergency would allow the government to marshal additional resources to combat the virus, and also marks a symbolic turning point for the president, who has repeatedly compared the coronavirus to the seasonal flu and insisted that his administration had the outbreak under control.

An emergency declaration would allow a state to request a 75% federal cost-share for expenses that include emergency workers, medical tests, medical supplies, vaccinations, security for medical facilities, and more, according to a letter Democrats sent the president earlier this week.

Only a few emergency declarations for public health threats have been made since the 1960s, and only two have targeted disease outbreaks, when President Bill Clinton in 2000 declared emergencies in New York and New Jersey in response to the West Nile Virus.

It’s Not Just Food And Hand Sanitizer — Panicked Coronavirus Shoppers Are Stocking Up On Guns And Body Armor

I remember someone opining that since concealable body armor (not the ‘tactical’ plate carriers and IBA gear but the level II stuff that will stop the vast majority of handgun rounds, although the former does have a place in the inventory), was so available these days, that many people ought to take into account that people bent on mayhem will probably be wearing it (think ‘Smite Them Hip and Thigh‘ people) and should also consider getting it themselves depending on where they lived.

Stores across the country selling ballistic body armor, tactical gear, and firearms are seeing a huge increase in sales due to the worsening coronavirus outbreak in the US………

“I think with the way things have escalated quite quickly around the world and in the US in just the last couple of weeks, it’s very hard to tell what’s going to happen next, and I believe it is better to be safe than sorry,” Kevin Lim, the owner of Bulletproof Zone, a tactical gear retailer, told BuzzFeed News. “That’s what our business is about, after all, keeping people safe.”

According to Matt Materazo, the founder of Gladiator Solutions, a ballistic body armor and tactical outfitting store, the coronavirus outbreak has changed the kind of orders his store has received. He said typically the majority of his business has been big bulk orders from the law enforcement and the first responder communities. Now, it’s a lot of small orders.

“We don’t usually get these one, two sales,” he told BuzzFeed News. “They’re not particularly preppers, they’re people who are seeing what’s going on and saying to themselves, ‘where is this going?’”

Materazo wouldn’t share specific sales numbers, but said the increase has been considerable. “I do of course get a certain amount of my business from the prepper community, but the majority of the uptick isn’t coming from the prepper community, it’s the general civilian population,” he said.

The surge in interest around tactical gear due to the outbreak is happening across the country. Many of the stores BuzzFeed News reached out to had posted messages on their websites apologizing for longer-than-normal wait times due to higher-than-usual demand.

Rhode Island Gun Control Bills Stall over Coronavirus Concerns

And another one for ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. Not that it’s going to totally stop them.

Wednesday gun control bill hearings for the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee were cancelled over concerns that a “large crowd” of hearing attendees could contribute to the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.

WPRI reports that Rhode Island’s state’s health director, Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, made a “strong suggestion” the hearings be postponed. In light of the anticipated crowd of citizens, she noted that “the virus can be spread among people [in] close contact — less than six feet apart.”

Alexander-Scott observed, “Cancelling or postponing large events is an important tool to limit the spread in Rhode Island,”

Among the reasons a large crowd was expected at the hearing was the fact that approximately 17 bills dealing with guns were scheduled for consideration.

One of the bills “defines ‘assault weapons’ and bans selling them if they are not registered.” Another bills “defines large-capacity weapons feeding devices and bans them,” too.

Another bill that would have been discussed was designed to prohibit “teachers from being offered an incentive to get firearms licenses,” while yet another would have put new storage requirements and penalties in place for law-abiding gun owners.

The Associated Press reported that the “hearing on gun control measures” will be rescheduled, but provided no time-frame in which the rescheduled hearing might occur.

Coronavirus drives gun sales in San Gabriel Valley area among Asian Americans who fear being attacked

Gun sales in the San Gabriel Valley, a region east of Los Angeles, have soared in recent weeks among Asian Americans who fear being attacked over the outbreak of the coronavirus, according to reports.

Attacks on Asian Americans have been on the rise amid the outbreak of COVID-19. Earlier this month, a video emerged on Facebook of a man on a New York City subway spraying Febreze at an Asian subway straphanger, the New York Post reported. Police are investigated the incident as a hate crime.

And last month, an Asian woman was attacked at a New York City subway station. A man noticed that she was wearing a face mask and called her a “diseased b—-.”

At Arcadia Firearm & Safety, a gun store in San Gabriel Valley, owner David Liu told CBSLA he’s had a surge of sales in recent weeks from Asian American customers who are concerned over the possibility of similar attacks.

In the City of Industry, the store Gun Effects and Cloud Nine Fishing, has also experienced more Asian American customers buying firearms.

“Our staff is not accustomed to this kind of rush,” owner Dennis Lin told KABC. “But this made it really, really crazy.”

Lin said he believes the fear over the coronavirus is exaggerated.

“Just people discriminating,” he said. “We forget, we’re all people. We’re in America, we’re not in China.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Asians make up slightly less than 30 percent of the San Gabriel Valley’s 1.85 million residents.

(Washington) Statewide death toll from coronavirus rises to 30

I transferred out of Washington state a bit less than 30 years ago and have never been back. Nothing personal to our friends there, but I think I’ll keep trying to increase that record.

The statewide death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 30 on Wednesday, after a third Snohomish County man died along with three others in King County, health officials said.

The Snohomish County man, who is in his 80s, was one of three residents of the Josephine Caring Community in Stanwood who previously were confirmed to have the virus and were taken to a local hospital. No further details were available about the three additional King County deaths.

So far, 26 people have died from COVID-19 in King County, three in Snohomish County and one in Grant County. The number of confirmed cases in Washington state is now 366, according to new numbers posted Wednesday by the state Department of Health……………

Gov. Jay Inslee said at a Wednesday morning news conference that the true number of cases is believed to be much larger – on the order of 1,000 or more.

Large Gatherings Banned in Puget Sound Metro Area

Inslee also announced a ban Wednesday on gatherings and events of more than 250 people in virtually the entire Seattle metro area to try to stop the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak .

The ban covers King, Snohomish and Pierce Counties and affects gatherings for “social, spiritual and recreational activities. These include but are not limited to: community, civic, public, leisure, faith-based, or sporting events; parades; concerts; festivals; conventions; fundraisers and similar activities.”

Coronavirus USA Update: US Death Toll At 32; 150 Million Americans May Get Infected

Two top U.S. medical experts told members of Congress Wednesday the COVID-19 outbreak now raging across 36 states and inflicting 32 deaths as of Wednesday will dramatically worsen and might lead to the infection of up to 150 million Americans, or about half the total U.S. population.

Rear Admiral Dr. Brian Monahan, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress and the United States Supreme Court, told senators during a closed-door meeting he expects 70 million to 150 million people in the U.S. will become infected with COVID-19, as reported by NBC News.

Speaking mostly about how members of Congress can better protect themselves against the coronavirus, Adm. Monahan said senators and congressmen shouldn’t travel abroad if they don’t have to. He said there are as yet no restrictions on domestic travel.

Adm. Monahan also told those present that coronavirus testing will only be administered to members of Congress. On the other hand, Congressional staffers should see their doctors if they experience any COVID-19 symptoms. Adm. Monahan also reaffirmed a consistent message that ultimately, 80% of those that contract the coronavirus will be fine.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most common novel coronavirus symptoms that might appear 2 to 14 days after exposure are fever, cough and shortness of breath. It urges people to call their doctors if they develop symptoms, and have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19.

Also on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee about the country’s preparedness for the fast-spreading COVID-19 outbreak. He pointed out the coronavirus will continue to spread because containment measures and contact tracing have failed to prevent community spread of the highly-infectious coronavirus.

“Is the worst yet to come, Dr. Fauci?” aked Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

“Yes, it is,” Dr. Fauci replied.

Dr. Fauci said while the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is being contained in some respects, the U.S. is seeing more cases emerge through community spread, as well as international travel.

“I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” said Dr. Fauci. “How much worse we’ll get will depend on our ability to do two things: to contain the influx of people who are infected coming from the outside, and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country.”……………

Why ‘flattening the curve’ may be the world’s best bet to slow the coronavirus

For many countries staring down fast-rising coronavirus case counts, the race is on to “flatten the curve.”

The United States and other countries, experts say, are likely to be hit by tsunamis of Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks without aggressive public health responses. But by taking certain steps — canceling large public gatherings, for instance, and encouraging some people to restrict their contact with others — governments have a shot at stamping out new chains of transmission, while also trying to mitigate the damage of the spread that isn’t under control.

The epidemic curve, a statistical chart used to visualize when and at what speed new cases are reported, could be flattened, rather than being allowed to rise exponentially.

“If you look at the curves of outbreaks, they go big peaks, and then come down. What we need to do is flatten that down,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told reporters Tuesday. “That would have less people infected. That would ultimately have less deaths. You do that by trying to interfere with the natural flow of the outbreak.”

The notion that the curve of this outbreak could be flattened began to gain credence after China took the extraordinary step of locking down tens of millions of people days in advance of the Lunar New Year, to prevent the virus from spreading around the country from Wuhan, the city where the outbreak appears to have started. Many experts at the time said it would have been impossible to slow a rapidly transmitting respiratory infection by effectively shutting down enormous cities — and possibly counterproductive.

But the quarantines, unprecedented in modern times, appear to have prevented explosive outbreaks from occurring in cities outside of Hubei province, where Wuhan is located.

Since then, spread of the virus in China has slowed to a trickle; the country reported only 19 cases on Monday. And South Korea, which has had the third largest outbreak outside of China, also appears to be beating back transmission through aggressive actions. But other places, notably Italy and Iran, are struggling.

For weeks, a debate has raged about whether the virus could be “contained” — an approach the WHO has been exhorting countries to focus on — or whether it made more sense to simply try to lessen the virus’ blow, an approach known as “mitigation.”

That argument has been counterproductive, Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said Monday.

“I think we’ve had this unfortunate emergence of camps around the containment camp, the mitigation camp — different groups presenting and championing their view of the world. And frankly speaking, it’s not helpful,” Ryan told reporters.

Caitlin Rivers, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said any lessening of spread will help health systems remain functional.

“Even if we are not headed to zero transmission, any cases that we can prevent and any transmission that we can avoid are going to have enormous impact,” she said. “Not only on the individuals who end up not getting sick but all of the people that they would have ended up infecting. … And so the more that we can minimize it, the better.”……..

11 Examples of Bloomberg’s Folly on Defensive Gun Use

Earlier this month, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked how he justified his push for more stringent gun control when he is guarded by an armed security detail.

Bloomberg’s response? He is a wealthy businessman and politician who faces threats that normal Americans do not, so it’s just fine for him to pay others to protect him with guns that he’d put the rest of us in prison for possessing.

The reality is that Bloomberg, as a wealthy white man living in upper-class neighborhoods, is statistically far less likely to be a victim of violent crime than most other Americans.

But you’d never know it from the way he spends hundreds of millions of dollars advocating gun laws that reserve armed protection for the special few.

Every day, many Americans without Bloomberg’s wealth and power rely on the Second Amendment—not private security—to defend themselves against threats to their lives and livelihoods. In fact, almost every major study on defensive gun use has found that Americans use their firearms defensively between 500,000 and 3 million times each year.

Last year, The Daily Signal began a monthly series highlighting just some of the countless times that the right to keep and bear arms made all the difference for ordinary Americans whom Michael Bloomberg wants to disarm. (You can read the stories from January 2020 here.)

February similarly provided ample evidence in favor of an armed citizenry and against Bloomberg’s claim that only the select few can be trusted with guns.

  • Feb. 2, Arlington, Texas:  An armed neighbor came to the rescue of an elderly woman who was being attacked by pit bulls, pulling the dogs off her and shooting one of them when it continued its attack, police said. The woman survived, but suffered serious bite injuries to her head and neck. Other neighbors, alerted by the gunshot, soon arrived to help tend to the woman’s injuries and stop the bleeding.
  • Feb. 4, Spotsylvania County, Virginia:  When a neighbor called for help after discovering a man in the process of burglarizing her car, a good Samaritan and his wife jumped into action, pulling their vehicle in front of the fleeing thief and yelling at him to stop. Police said the thief drew a firearm, but the good Samaritan also was armed and shot him once in the leg. Police charged the man with several offenses, including brandishing a firearm and petit larceny.
  • Feb. 8, St. Mary’s, Ohio:  A woman shot and killed her husband during a domestic dispute in which he physically assaulted her and threatened to stab her with a knife, police said. The woman immediately called 911 and told a dispatcher: “He was beating me. He was going to kill me. He had a knife.” Although police initially took the woman into custody, her arrest photo shows clear injuries to her face and neck consistent with self-defense. A grand jury declined to indict the woman.
  • Feb. 8, West Salem, Ohio:  When a pitchfork-wielding man tried to kick in his door, a homeowner grabbed his handgun and held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. Police discovered that, in addition to the pitchfork, the man had a loaded firearm, drugs, and a wallet belonging to another homeowner in the neighborhood. Police charged the intruder with burglary and said he is a suspect in several other armed offenses in the area.
  • Feb. 12, Yellow Springs, California:  A well-known Hollywood stuntwoman and her husband attempted to ambush the stuntwoman’s ex-husband and his new wife outside the ex-husband’s home, police said. The ex-husband got out of his car to get his mail when the stuntwoman and her husband opened fire on the couple with multiple guns. The ex-husband, however, was a concealed carry permit holder and armed. He returned fire, ultimately killing both attackers.
  • Feb. 14, Palm Bay, Florida:  A man used his firearm to defend himself and his girlfriend from the woman’s armed ex-boyfriend, who attacked them in their home on Valentine’s Day. Police said the ex-boyfriend stole a handgun from a friend’s mother, shattered the couple’s glass door, and threatened them with the handgun. The woman hid with her young son in a bedroom as her boyfriend retrieved his own gun and got into a shootout with the ex-boyfriend. Both men were wounded, and the ex-boyfriend fled, police said. They arrested him when he checked himself into a hospital; he faces several felony charges, including attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
  • Feb. 18, Spencer County, Kentucky:  A man returned home in the early afternoon to discover an intruder inside. He confronted the intruder, ultimately shooting and killing him in self-defense.
  • Feb. 22, Allouez, Wisconsin:  A concealed carry permit holder used his firearm to defend himself from a robber without firing a single round, police said. The permit holder was plowing snow when a man approached, held a large knife to his chest, and demanded money. The permit holder said he would get his wallet from his truck. He retrieved his firearm from the door frame, and the would-be robber fled when he saw it.
  • Feb. 24, Elmore County, Alabama: A homeowner used his handgun to defend his wife and young child during a confrontation with an irate neighbor. The neighbor – who had previous confrontations with others in the neighborhood – began banging on the homeowner’s door at 4:55 a.m. When the homeowner answered, police said, the neighbor shouted expletives and tried to rob him. The homeowner, fearing his neighbor was reaching for a gun, shot him several times in self-defense, wounding him.
  • Feb. 27, Chicago:  A concealed carry permit  holder defended herself from a robber who pulled a gun on her and demanded her property. The woman retrieved her own handgun and exchanged fire with the robber as he fled.

Michael Bloomberg is more than wealthy enough to afford to pay armed men to protect him. Most Americans are not so fortunate.

We don’t have former law enforcement officers on hand when the convenience store we’re in gets robbed. We can’t rely on an armed detail to jump to our defense when we’re assaulted. We don’t live in gated communities with 24/7 security.

We have only our Second Amendment rights. And they are worth insisting upon.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar Destroys NBC Hack and Liberal Media on Availability of COVID-19 Test Kits (Video)

The Trump Coronavirus Task Force held another press briefing in the White House on Tuesday evening.

The press conference was led by Vice President Mike Pence who was joined by top US health leaders including HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Surgeon General Jerome Adams and Larry Kudlow, the Director of the National Economic Council.

During questioning the NBC reporter Geoff Bennett accused the administration of not supplying COVID-19 test kits to medical facilities.

Reporter Geoff Bennett: So when can the American people expect to see these test kits available at doctor’s offices and urgent care clinics?

HHS Secretary Alex Azar: By the end of this weekend we had 1.1 million test kits that originally shipped. We have another one million that are either in transit or waiting for orders. So we actually have a surplus capacity already that have been produced… The tests are out there.

The tests are in every public health lab in the country. They’re in hospitals. They’re in labs.

But I think there is a false premise in your question. Which is a notion that just because I as a person can say, “Oh, I’d like to be tested for the novel coronavirus.” I should be walking into any minute clinic or any other facility and just walking in and saying, “Give me my test.”

That’s not how diagnostic testing works in the United States or frankly almost any place in the world… We’ve always been clear if their doctor or public health physician believes they should be tested it needs to always be clinically indicated to receive a test.

And with that Secretary Azar destroyed ANOTHER liberal media lie.

Wheat Ridge man who shot and killed home intruder won’t be charged

It took prosecutors this long to figure this out? PC idjits they are

A Wheat Ridge man who shot and killed a 24-year-old man during a November home invasion will not be charged after prosecutors determined it was a justifiable homicide based on Colorado’s Make My Day law.

The 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office will not file charges against the homeowner, whose name was not revealed in a Wheat Ridge news release on Tuesday.

“This was a difficult case for our detectives as well as both families who were devastated by the death of the intruder,” Wheat Ridge police Chief Chris Murtha said in the news release. “Regardless of the crime that was committed, one family lost a loved one and another is faced with the long-term impact of taking a life in the course of protecting his family.”

Takwon Wilson was shot to death late on Nov. 6 inside a home on the 4600 block of Parfet Street, the news release said.

The male homeowner told police that the intruder, who he did not know, was aggressive, the news release said. The homeowner said he feared for his family’s lives and his life.

The resident fired one shot, killing Wilson, according to the news release. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Man fatally shoots another man who threatened him

Well of course no suspects were ‘at large’. The one and only suspect was taking up space at the morgue. Geez, these copy writers.

A man told Chandler Arizona police early Wednesday that he shot and killed another man who had threatened him, according to police officials.

Chandler police arrived at a home near Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard at about 3 a.m. to find a man who was dead, said department spokesperson Detective Seth Tyler.

Before officers arrived, the shooter called police to say he shot a man who threatened him, said Tyler.

Investigators spoke with the man, Tyler said.

As of Wednesday morning, no suspects were at-large and no arrests were made, according to Tyler.

Man claims self-defense in Eleven North apartment shooting death

Nashville is going to save some money for White’s attempted murder trial. It appears he decided to meet the Judge/Jury/Executioner a bit early.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Metro Police are investigating a claim of self-defense in a deadly shooting that occurred in the parking lot of Eleven North Apartments on 300 11th Avenue North in North Gulch on Monday night.

According to investigators, 26-year-old Wontez Graham exchanged shots with the now-deceased victim, 23-year-old Timothy K. White. Investigators have recovered both of their pistols.

The shooting call came in around 8:50 p.m. White was found on the ground suffering from critical injuries after being shot. He was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he died during surgery.

Graham was not on scene when investigators arrived but came back and spoke to investigators saying he had just parked his car at the apartment complex when a hooded man walked up and pulled out a gun.

Graham said he pulled his own gun from the door of his car and exchanged shots at the man whom he thought was going to steal his car. Graham and his girlfriend fled the scene to a nearby grocery store before they returned to the scene with Graham’s father. Both Graham and his girlfriend provided statements to police.

White, at the time of his death, was facing charges of two counts of attempted murder and was out on bond. He was charged with shooting into a car with two women inside in East Nashville back in 2017. One of the women suffered a gunshot wound to the upper back. White was to appear in court in September.

Italy confirms nearly 200 people died from coronavirus in 24 hours: report.

Nearly 200 people have died in Italy from the novel coronavirus in one day, NBC News reports.

The Italian Civil Protection Agency confirmed to the news agency that the country, which has the worst outbreak of COVID-19 outside of China, recorded 196 deaths between Tuesday to Wednesday. NBC News reports a total of 897 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the country thus far.

The confirmation comes after earlier reports placed the total number of COVID-19 cases in Italy at 10,000 on Wednesday.

Why Deaths from Coronavirus Are So High in Italy.

…..One factor affecting the country’s death rate may be the age of its population—Italy has the oldest population in Europe, with about 23% of residents 65 or older, according to The New York Times. The median age in the country is 47.3, compared with 38.3 in the United States, the Times reported. Many of Italy’s deaths have been among people in their 80s, and 90s, a population known to be more susceptible to severe complications from COVID-19.

Both new from Jim.

The Joy Of Helplessness

Difficult situations come to everyone. We each handle them in different ways. In THE JOY OF HELPLESSNESS the author points out that many times these difficulties are a door to something better. Not everything that we experience has to end with us frustrated, angry or puzzled. Perhaps there is some joy hidden in what you are going through? It would not be a bad thing to discover it.

HOW DO I HANDLE THIS?

We all have difficulties that we deal with in life, some harder than others. Often we do not know what to do in the midst of these dark times. While this little book is not The Answer, hopefully it will point the way to help us come through those difficult places.

Spain: Madrid to Shut Down All Schools for 2 Weeks Amid Coronavirus Spike

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s health minister reported a sharp spike in coronavirus cases in and around Madrid and said all schools in the capital region, from kindergartens and universities, would close for two weeks starting Wednesday.

Quarantine: Italians Told to Stay Indoors Via Loudspeakers

Italians are being told to stay inside unless they need to buy medicines by health authorities patrolling neighborhoods with loudspeakers as the coronavirus quarantine begins to take hold.

Germany-Austria Spat Over Anti-Virus Facemasks

A German export ban on masks that protects against the coronavirus has angered Austria and Switzerland. “It can’t be that Germany is holding back products for Austria just because they happen to be stored in a German location,” said Austrian economy minister Margarete Schramboeck. “These products are for the Austrian market, and unilateral moves by Germany are just causing problems in other countries,” she added.

 

Coronavirus: South Korea’s infection rate falls without citywide lockdowns like China, Italy

South Korea has seen a steady decrease in new coronavirus cases for four consecutive days, despite being one of the worst-affected countries outside China, although global attention has shifted towards outbreaks in Italy and Iran.

As of end-Monday, it had 7,513 cases and 54 deaths. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there was an increase of 131 cases from Sunday to Monday.
The country averaged more than 500 new infections a day for the past two weeks, but last Friday, this number dipped to 438, then 367 on Saturday and 248 on Sunday. The daily number of confirmed cases is reported the following day.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in  on Monday noted his country’s “slowing trend” of new infections but warned: “We should not be complacent at all.”

His point was underscored by the KCDC, which said that among the new patients were more than 60 people who were infected while working in close proximity to each other at an insurance company call centre.

“The total number of new confirmed cases is on a downturn but there are concerns over such mass infection cases”, said KCDC Deputy Director Kwon Jun-wook.