ACTION

As for all the Demo finger pointing, some issues about our national response to CV19 should be fairly debated at the proper time, in hindsight after-action. But those conclusions regarding those issues can’t be fairly assumed now, as the Demos and Leftmedia have done.

One of the physicians who has been a Patriot Post  resource for years is a former Army doc and an exceptionally gifted medical analyst. He graduated from a highly esteemed medical school at age 20 and completed seven medical specialty fellowships.

He offered the following assessment on the prospects for CV19 treatment and vaccines: “Healthcare providers from around the world are collaborating as never before to improve treatment results. Anti-viral, antibiotic, inhaled medication, and connective-tissue-disease medications have all shown promise and the world’s medical community has embraced the challenge. We get daily updates from our Seattle, French, and Italian colleagues from the trenches on what is working and what is not (avoid nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs!). Outcomes are improving. We are utilizing this information to treat our sickest patients.”

Regarding hopes of a quick vaccine, he notes, “Vaccine is many months away and double-blinded treatment protocols are not being considered (who wants to be in the ‘no treatment’ group?). A vaccine requires a stable locus on the virus (no mutation that would delete the antigen), safety and efficacy data, as well as the ability to mass produce the vaccine. This process usually takes 2-5 years and very few of these ever make it to market. Approximately 87% of would-be vaccines never make it to human testing. We are attempting to greatly accelerate the process, but only so many corners can be cut if we are to have a safe and effective product. It’s worth mentioning that we’ve had the SARS virus around for over a decade and have yet to develop a vaccine for it. A daunting task, but with many brilliant minds, the human spirit, and a healthy dose of prayer, we shall overcome.”

As for the vaccine now being administered in Seattle, the original epicenter of CV19 in the U.S., he adds, “While the vaccine doses being administered there are being used under a ‘compassionate need’ basis, it will take time to know if that vaccine has any effect on prevention.”

In other words, successful treatments and vaccines are not likely to emerge soon.

Additionally, regarding the rise and decline of CV19, Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist Michael Levitt believes the virus spread will be much more manageable than current risk assessments trumpeted by the mass media.

According to Levitt, “What we need is to control the panic. … We’re going to be fine. The real situation is not nearly as terrible as they make it out to be.” His analysis indicates that CV19 in the U.S. will follow a similar pattern to that in Asia and will peak sooner than thought. Let’s pray that assessment is correct.   

(For more on the efficacy of vaccines, visit this resource page.) 

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/69442?mailing_id=4940&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4940&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Trump further defended his position, arguing, “You have tremendous responsibility. We have jobs. … People get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death probably in far greater numbers than the numbers we are talking about with regard to the virus.”

The president’s senior economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, backed up his assessment: “We can’t shut in the economy. The economic cost to individuals is just too great. The president is right. The cure can’t be worse than the disease, and we’re going to have to make some difficult trade-offs.”

The mainstream media has been keen to play up the dilemma by claiming that Trump’s economic concerns are out of step with medical experts who warn that the threat posed by the China Virus pandemic is just beginning and will get much worse before it gets better.

However, Trump’s economic concerns are legitimate and echo the opinions of many Americans, especially those who find themselves out of a job, holed up at home, and wondering how they’ll pay the bills — especially when congressional Democrats elect to put partisan politics before the needs of the American people.

In fact, it is likely that one of the primary reasons behind much of the mainstream media’s criticism of Trump for his economic concerns is that his approval rating is rising. That can be most directly tied to his handling of the China Virus pandemic, as the most recent ABC News/Ipsos poll finds Trump with a 55% approval rating on the crisis — a dramatic increase over recent weeks. It appears clear that Trump’s daily press conferences informing the public of his administration’s actions to combat the pandemic have been welcomed by a majority of Americans. Quite simply, they see the president leading this fight.

Also on Monday, Trump signed an executive order forbidding price gouging and hoarding critical supplies. Attorney General William Bar explained, “Under section 102 of the Defense Production Act, the president has authorized to prohibit the hoarding of needed resources by designating those materials as scarce or as materials who supply would be threatened by persons accumulating excessive amounts. Once specific materials are so designated, persons are prohibited from accumulating those items in excess of reasonable, personal or business needs, or for the purpose of selling them in excess of prevailing market prices.” However, Barr also assured that this order did not apply to people who have stockpiled large amounts of toilet paper, nor to those individuals who have long prior prepared by accumulating large amounts of goods for personal consumption.

Finally, the Trump administration will for the first time use the Defense Production Act to procure 60,000 coronavirus test kits, following Trump’s invoking of the law last week even as he downplayed wanting to use it. “We’re a country not based on nationalizing our business,” Trump noted on Sunday, “The concept of nationalizing our businesses is not a good concept.” However, he did anticipate that “we may have to use it someplace along the chain.” Well, it appears clear that point has now been reached.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69444?mailing_id=4940&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4940&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

“The rescue package will send $1,200 checks to most Americans at a cost of $250 billion,” The Washington Times reports. “It set up a $367 billion loan program to help small businesses make payroll and $500 billion in subsidized loans for big businesses. The aid includes $250 billion in unemployment insurance benefits, $150 billion of stimulus spending for states and local governments, and $130 billion for hospitals.”

Importantly, “the deal bars any of the payouts going to President [Donald] Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, cabinet officials, Congress members or any of their immediately family.”

Following the deal’s announcement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had blasted congressional Democrats on Sunday for backing out of the bipartisan deal at the last minute, stated, “Democrats are finally taking ‘Yes’ for an answer. Help is on the way.” McConnell further noted that the $2 trillion relief package essentially amounted to a “wartime level of investment into our nation.”

News of the impending deal sent stock markets surging to the biggest one-day rise since 1933. This is welcome news to the millions of Americans who’ve witnessed their retirement accounts take a beating.

Trump expressed an unusually magnanimous tone following the agreement, declaring, “I also want to thank Congress, because whether or not we’re happy that they haven’t quite gotten there yet, they have been working long hours. I’m talking Republicans and Democrats — all of them, the House [and] the Senate. I want to thank Congress because they are really trying to get there, and I think they will.”

Trump also added a note of optimism, stating that he “would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” However, he readily acknowledged that such a goal was subject to change depending on the state of the pandemic. “We’ll be looking at a lot of things,” he noted. “We’ll also be looking at very large portions of our country, but I’ll be guided very much by Dr. [Anthony] Fauci and by [Dr.] Deborah [Birx].”

The relief bill is by no means a perfect package. It wasn’t before the Democrats’ obstruction gambit and it certainly isn’t any better after they finished with it. However, such is the nature of political gamesmanship, even during a national crisis. Essentially, what changed was that Democrats were able to gain more money for their special interests, in direct contradiction to liar-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s preposterous lie: “Everything we’re suggesting just relates to COVID-19. It’s not about making law for the future. … It’s not changing policy except as it applies here.”

Soon, the bill will head to the House, where it is expected to pass. There have been a few representatives on both sides of the aisle who have expressed reservations with the Senate bill, but liar-Pelosi is unlikely to derail the relief package a second time and risk further political damage.

In the end, the looming question is a troubling one: How many of the legislation’s “temporary” relief provisions will actually be permanent?   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69474?mailing_id=4942&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4942&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Democrats twice derailed the Senate bill over the last two days. What makes that even more appalling is that it was a bipartisan effort hailed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck scumbag-Schumer (D-NY) as recently as Saturday night.

Then House Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi flew back from House recess, offered her own $2.5 trillion alternative, and it all went to heck.

scumbag-Clyburn’s comments shed light on why. As millions of Americans are losing their jobs and income, getting pummeled in the stock market, and are generally worried about their future, the original aim for Congress was to send relief money as quickly as possible. That would go to individuals hurt by the crisis and to businesses to ensure that more jobs could be retained.

Yet here are just a few of the things Democrats have decided to demand (largely courtesy of the White House 1600 Daily email and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)):

• Audits of election results

• Airline carbon emissions

• Corporate diversity requirements

• Collective bargaining for Federal workers

• Expansion of wind/solar credits

• Bailing out $11 billion in debt for U.S. Postal Service

• Giving another $20 billion in cash to U.S. Postal Service

• $10k bailout for everyone with student loans

• $15 minimum wage at companies receiving assistance

• Retirement plans for community newspaper employees

The White House concludes, “And the list goes on and on — for 1,119 pages in Speaker liar-Pelosi’s bill, to be exact.”

The real aim? As Mark Alexander put it, “Democrats have disgracefully derailed emergency COVID-19 funding by claiming it helps corporations too much. They know that is a lie — relief for hard-hit corporate sectors IS relief for employees in those sectors, but the lie plays well in the Leftmedia.”

Democrats clearly want a recession, so dragging this out makes sense. Worse, the poison pills they insist on adding will likely slow the recovery, much like they did during Barack scumbag/liar-nObama’s administration.

Sen. Cotton rightly noted, “The Democrats see an opportunity in this crisis. Not to help the American people, but to hold an emergency relief bill hostage until they get their radical wish list. How long will … Americans across the country have to wait?”

And Rep. Dan Crenshaw delivered an appropriately blistering rebuke: “Do Dems want a recession? A depression? How can they justify this? This bill is critical for the livelihood of millions. Our country will be devastated without immediate help. Dems can lie all they want about ‘helping workers’ but now they are destroying their lives.” He added, “This will go down as one of the most cynical, disgusting, malevolent actions in history. Millions are losing jobs while they play these games.”

Nevertheless, Congress will (eventually) hammer out a deal, probably in the neighborhood of $2 trillion. And the relief to average Americans will be larded up with pork for Democrat constituencies, the $23.5 trillion national debt notwithstanding. Future generations will pay dearly for the Democrats’ cynical political hackery.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69445?mailing_id=4940&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4940&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

On the other hand, the youth of this country are on an indefinite coronavirus vacation. Most secondary schools have begun with a two-week hiatus concluding next week — although it will certainly be extended for at least another couple of weeks, if not the rest of the school year. But those in college will likely finish this semester by taking their classes online from home.

Protection only goes so far, though. Despite the loss of athletics and social events around campus, students determined to participate in the annual rite of spring break were crowding Florida beaches and nightspots. “If I get corona, I get corona,” said one reveler to The Washington Post. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”

That same feeling of invincibility was expressed by another young beachgoer: “It’s really messing with my spring break,” she complained. “I think they’re blowing it way out of proportion.”

But try telling that to the increasing number of Millennials  being admitted to hospitals due to the coronavirus. Many other young people are asymptomatic, however, and they’re bringing home more than just a tan. This is bad news for all those they come in contact with (especially the elderly), which is why these spring breakers are of greatest concern to public-health officials.

The adults have since taken charge, though, and an incensed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lowered the boom  on the celebration. While the state’s beaches aren’t officially closed, the bars and nightclubs are. And that may be enough to break up the party. “The message I think for spring breakers is that the party’s over in Florida,” DeSantis declared. “The bars are closed … so we would just tell those folks maybe come back next year when things are better.”

Nor is it just Florida beaches: The mayor of Ocean City, Maryland, was also urging people to stay home. “While we look forward to the time when we can welcome you again, now is not the time to visit Ocean City,” said Mayor Rick Meehan. As a nearby escape from the Beltway regions, the town was inundated last weekend with St. Patrick’s Day revelers despite the cancellation of their annual parade and a confirmation that a holiday weekend visitor later tested positive for COVID-19.

While it’s unlikely that many senior citizens were mingling with the spring-break crowd, many of those college students will be back home with their families soon. And with the incubation period of the virus estimated to be as long as 14 days, hitting a jam-packed beach clearly wasn’t the best of all ideas.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69357?mailing_id=4934&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4934&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

“This is a challenging time for all Americans,” Trump solemnly said. “We’re enduring a great national trial, and we will prove that we can meet the moment. I want to assure the American people that we’re doing everything we can each day to confront and ultimately defeat this horrible, invisible enemy. We’re at war. In a true sense, we’re at war and we’re fighting an invisible enemy.”

But sounding a note of hope, he added, “For those of you who are feeling alone and isolated, I want you to know that we’re all joined together as one people, eternally linked by our shared national spirit. We love our country — the spirit of courage and love and patriotism. No American is alone as long as we are united, and we are united. We’re very united. People are saying things now that three weeks ago — they didn’t talk that way. We’re very united. No force is equal to the strength of a unified America, united America, an America like we have it right now.”

“For those worried and afraid,” Trump concluded, “please know as long as I am your president, you can feel confident that you have a leader who will always fight for you and I will not stop until we win. This will be a great victory, this is going to be a victory, and it’s going to be a victory that in my opinion will happen much sooner than originally expected.”

Perhaps Trump thought it necessary to offer these comments because Friday’s White House briefing included a tiff between him and NBC correspondent Peter Alexander. “What do you say to the Americans who are scared?” Alexander asked. “Nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick, millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching right now who are scared?”

Trump unloaded: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter, that’s what I say.” He accused Alexander of “doing sensationalism,” and scolded, “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Trump’s assessment of the Leftmedia talkingheads has been correct since day one, and particularly so in this exchange. We are fighting two warfronts — one the China Virus and the other “journalists” who ask questions as if they are part of China’s state-run media.

Veteran journalist Brit Hume likewise unloaded on Alexander. “Legitimate question my a**,” Hume wrote. “It was the kind of bullsh*t gotcha question which hack WH reporters have been asking for decades. But instead of going off on the reporter, Trump should have said the whole briefing in all its particulars was a message to people who are scared.”

Clearly, Trump decided it was wise to offer a message of hope and encouragement. His actions, too, have been measured and taking in the full counsel of advisers.

One of his recent actions includes giving the green light to Ford, General Motors, and Tesla to use their manufacturing capability to make ventilators, though he will not nationalize any business. He also declared that the federal govern  ment would fund “100%” of National Guard activation and deployment in California, New York, and Washington, all states that he says “have been hit the hardest.” Words paired with action — that’s what the American people should expect from their chief executive.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69414?mailing_id=4938&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4938&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

On Sunday evening, as the Senate was preparing to move forward via a procedural vote on a $1.8 trillion stimulus bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck scumbag-Schumer threw a last-second wrench in the works. Democrats lined up to vote against moving the bipartisan bill forward, offering the ridiculous excuse that it did too much to help corporations and not enough to help workers. That argument simply doesn’t hold water, as moving the legislation forward would have allowed continued debate.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted as much when he blasted Democrats for obstructing the relief bill. “We had a high level of bipartisanship in five different working groups over the last 48 hours, where members who were participating were reaching agreement,” McConnell said. “And then all of a sudden the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House shows up, and we’re back to square one.”

House Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi had conferred with scumbag-Schumer hours before the Senate vote in a clear effort to derail the bill, as she and scumbag-Schumer work to create the false narrative that Democrats are the ones most looking out for American interests. The truth is they are still seeking to exploit a crisis to tank the economy with the hopes of reaping political benefit.

McConnell noted the negative economic toll the Democrats’ obstruction play would have, pointing to the fact that the market was almost certain to suffer another terrible day Monday. He concluded, “The notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd.”

While the growing economic pain is hitting home for millions of Americans, Democrats are exploiting the crisis to push their own political agenda. And don’t forget that these lawmakers, many of whom are millionaires like liar-Pelosi and scumbag-Schumer, continue to collect their paychecks. How about Congress forego their paychecks until the China Virus crisis has passed?

Even The New York Times was surprised by the Democrats’ sudden obstructionist move, worriedly noting, “In voting to block action, Democrats risked a political backlash if they are seen as obstructing progress on a measure that is widely regarded as crucial to aid desperate Americans and buttress a flagging economy.”

What may have ignited the Democrats’ gambit is recent polling showing President Donald Trump’s approval rating rising as he has worked tirelessly and in a bipartisan effort to address the pandemic. As Power Line’s Steven Hayward observes, “[Democrats] are in a panic about the fact that Trump’s approval ratings are rising at the moment, and they are desperate to keep Trump from having a ‘win’ on policy amidst this crisis. A package will pass, probably soon, and while it may have many defects and require many sequels, the political interests of Democrats demands that they delay and degrade the process as much as possible to diminish Trump. I doubt this would be happening if it was a year ago, or a year from now. But it’s election year, and deranged Democrats are desperate.”

McConnell plans to hold a second vote to move forward on the Senate’s stimulus legislation later today, but the markets already plunged this morning, which is exactly what scumbag-Schumer, liar-Pelosi, and company wanted.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69415?mailing_id=4938&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4938&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Coronavirus will be the coup de grace of the Democratic Party, as sensible Americans of all backgrounds understand amidst a highly contagious global pandemic that the United States needs more border enforcement, not less.

It simply makes no sense to permit millions of people from all over the world to pour into our country illegally, many of whom could be carrying the infectious virus and spreading it to Americans. So, contrary to the left’s talking points, border security and enforcement aren’t “xenophobic,” as Democratic presidential hopefuls commie-Bernie Sanders and loose lips liar-Joe Biden claim they are — far from it.

Building the wall along the porous southern border and enforcing sensible immigration laws is a matter of national security.

After all, the No. 1 responsibility of the president of the United States is to protect our citizens from any threat, foreign or domestic. This includes safeguarding our nation from the spread of highly contagious and infectious diseases that can cause severe illness or death. To date, at least 242,000 people have contracted coronavirus globally and over 9,800 have died from it. These numbers will continue to rise, especially in the U.S., where most have not yet been tested for the virus.

It’s just common sense to screen all those who are coming into one’s country — especially during a global pandemic — and that’s why the vast majority of countries worldwide are enforcing their own borders.

Hospitals in New York, California, Washington, Massachusetts and elsewhere are overwhelmed combatting the coronavirus. Many doctors, nurses and health care providers don’t have basic necessities such as protective masks, ventilators, hospital beds and other emergency equipment and resources to accommodate our own citizens.

Hence the need for social distancing and mass self-quarantining to blunt the spread of the disease. Yet far-left liberals like commie-Sanders and loose lips liar-Biden not only want open borders — as do the rest of their out-of-touch party — they’ve also pledged to give health care to millions of illegal immigrants. How is that even possible when the current U.S. health care system is already stressed to the max and struggling to provide adequate medical care for its own citizens?

This week, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. government will be converting two Navy ships into floating hospitals to provide relief to overcrowded medical facilities. Now ask yourself this: Does it make any sense to add millions more foreign nationals to our already strained health care system?

And who will be paying for millions of illegal immigrants’ health care if loose lips liar-Biden or commie-Sanders is elected president in November? The stark reality is that millions of Americans have lost their jobs due to the pandemic with more employment losses to come during this spiraling crisis. This crisis has affected all 50 states and brought the U.S. economy to a screeching halt. “As fallout from the coronavirus pandemic hits the economy, it’s slamming the American workforce: Some 18% of adults reported that they had been laid off or that their work hours had been cut, a new poll found,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

Restaurants and bars have closed nationwide as well as shopping malls, retail shops and scores of other businesses that have had to lay off their workers, who are now in need of unemployment insurance and other government benefits.

Yet the Democratic Party’s presumptive front-runners, loose lips liar-Biden and commie-Sanders, have failed to explain how their reckless open borders policy and promises of health care to millions of illegal immigrants will be supported by a deluged health care system and paid for by taxpayers — especially during an ongoing pandemic that’s estimated to continue for many months.

This is all the more reason Trump is poised to sail to reelection come November. He’s not only demonstrating bold and decisive leadership throughout this crisis, but the situation itself has proven the need for sensible border enforcement and the construction of the wall.

It’s unfortunate it took a pandemic and a near-collapsed U.S. health care system for voters to finally see it for themselves.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/69359?mailing_id=4934&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4934&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Silver linings accompany most catastrophic events, and one major one with the coronavirus is the remarkable way Americans (and people throughout the world) have come together to fight this outbreak.

Though the stock market has reflected a nation in panic, in other respects Americans, for the most part, have reacted responsibly, unselfishly and cooperatively, and I pray we are making substantial progress toward flattening the growth curve of this virus.

President Donald Trump and his extraordinary team of generals leading this war effort are implementing a multipronged approach to combat the spread of the disease, treat those infected with it, provide financial relief to those affected by it, calm the nation and stabilize our economy, which has been blindsided by this catastrophe.

I marvel at the professionalism of President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, and those aligned with them on the dais for the daily White House press briefings, all of whom are earnest, transparent, informative and responsive. They are optimistic and encouraging without providing false hope, diligently studying this problem around the clock, employing the best minds and seeking to eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic red tape to expedite solutions.

There is not a hint of partisanship in the air, only a unified commitment to defeating this enemy and restoring America to robust physical and economic health. None of us knows what the ultimate outcome will be, but I trust that the virus’ devastation will be strikingly less severe for Americans because of this assembled team of dedicated patriots.

By contrast, there is sadly plenty of partisanship and Trump hatred from the press. From the outset, many of them focused on little else but smearing Trump and his approach to eradicating the virus.

As I watched the briefings earlier in the week, I was taken aback by some of their “gotcha” questions, which were designed to impugn and embarrass Trump, rather than facilitate the flow of information to the public. Couldn’t these people suspend their bile for a minimal grace period given the nature and severity of the crisis?

I was struck by the rudeness of some of these vultures who should at least pretend to be on Team America instead of Team Anti-Trump. While some were asking helpful questions and eliciting important information from the panel, others accused Trump of racism for identifying China as the virus’ country of origin, and of inciting violence against people of Chinese descent in the United States.

One reporter asked Trump if we might be headed toward a virus-induced recession, and he acknowledged it is possible. Media outlets immediately blasted the headline “Trump Says We May Be Headed for a Recession,” which was sensational, inflammatory and intentionally misleading because they implied that Trump brought it up and that it was virtually inevitable.

One particularly despicable attack involved a misleading New York Times report that contained an incomplete quote from President Trump during a conference call with state governors. The report implied that Trump had callously denied the governors’ request for respirators, ventilators and other needed equipment and told them, “try getting it yourselves.” In fact, Trump had followed that statement with an assurance: “We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.” Even after it became clear this was “fake news,” one obnoxious reporter at the press briefing brought it up again, using the incomplete quote.

MSNBC anchor Katy Tur was aghast that the president’s team stood too closely together on the dais, and that Trump and others shook hands and touched the microphone, setting a bad example for social distancing.

Others couldn’t stand that the president’s team complimented him. Charles Pierce wrote in Esquire that the “sad part” of the briefings is “watching all of these accomplished, brilliant people, the people who have dedicated their lives to solving epidemic diseases at the highest level, standing there behind a vulgar talking yam, praising him for his brilliant work thus far.”

I find it ironic that the people most critical of President Trump for being “vulgar,” “rude” and self-absorbed display those characteristics themselves as they wallow in their paralyzing hatred, unable to do their jobs because of their toxic obsession over President Trump.

While some of these media critics are hellbent on disgracing Trump for neglecting the people’s interests, they are disgracing themselves as they wail on Trump and themselves neglect the people’s interests. Sadly, they are too bitter to see their hypocrisy. Happily, the American public is not.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/69361?mailing_id=4934&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4934&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

And little did we know that an act passed in 1996 would haunt us in 2020. Back then, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was signed into law, ensuring that information shared between doctors and patients is private and secure. The HIPAA website states, “Prior to HIPAA, no generally accepted set of security standards or general requirements for protecting health information existed in the health care industry. At the same time, new technologies were evolving, and the health care industry began to move away from paper processes and rely more heavily on the use of electronic information systems.”

But the technology of 1996 is not that of today. Essentially, HIPAA prevented healthcare providers and individual doctors from taking advantage of emerging information technologies — and it required patients to be in the physical presence of their doctor in order to have important conversations about their health.

Thus, the Wuhan coronavirus has made the standard office visit not only a challenge for those suffering the symptoms but dangerous for everyone else.

As Tiana Lowe writes at The Washington Examiner, “For decades, HIPAA has strangled the healthcare system, preventing providers from communicating with patients and sharing health data with other experts” and “they are forced to use antiquated electronic medical record systems and to communicate with patients primarily in person.”

This week, all that changed.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump took the bold step of ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to waive potential HIPAA penalties, thereby clearing the way for telemedicine. Now, a patient with coronavirus symptoms can consult with a real doctor from home.

Two healthcare providers, Kaiser Permanente and One Medical, are already offering this service to their patients. “Kaiser and One Medical can do this because patients aren’t paying to see their preferred physician,” writes Lowe. “They’re paying to get immediate, efficient care. You may wait weeks to see your private practice physician, who is financially incapable of circumventing the HIPAA stipulations that render telemedicine so difficult.”

As the nation’s coronavirus response continues to evolve, President Trump is getting rid of the red tape. Just yesterday during the daily coronavirus task force briefing, he announced that he’s directed FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn to “eliminate outdated rules and bureaucracy” in order to “get the rapid deployment of safe, effective treatments” out to the public as soon as possible. As a result, Americans will soon be able to access Chloroquine to alleviate the symptoms of coronavirus.

Trump, in fact, has been battling the bureaucracy since he took office. In 2018, he signed right-to-try legislation that allows terminally ill patients to try promising drugs that haven’t yet received FDA approval. Taken together, these steps may set a precedent by making quality care more efficient, affordable, and accessible long after we’ve conquered coronavirus.

The coronavirus panic has pushed the stock market to the brink, forced universities to teach courses online, turned millions of Americans into telecommuters, and shuttered restaurants, malls, and transportation hubs. But the good news is out there, including that American healthcare has a brighter future.

If only it hadn’t taken a national emergency to make it so.  

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/69358?mailing_id=4934&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4934&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Some years ago, I wrote a book titled “The Things That Matter Most.” It was a critique of the continuing impact the ‘60s generation has had on the country.

The coronavirus pandemic, too, offers us an opportunity to consider what matters most in our nation and individual lives. We are told to stay indoors, not travel, avoid restaurants and bars and crowds of more than 10 people. Many have been ordered to work from home. Some are being laid off or have had their hours reduced. Entertainment seems limited to the few things worth watching on TV.

Rather than lament this — and there is plenty to lament — how about seeing it as an opportunity? During Lent, some people give up certain things to practice self-discipline and demonstrate their devotion to God.

While there is a big difference between voluntarily giving up something and being forced to give up many things and while there’s a difference between a religious practice and an infectious virus, the principle remains the same.

What are you now giving up that you could do without? Put another way, what are you now focusing on that did not get your attention before the coronavirus?

Does being forced to stay indoors and spend more time with your spouse and kids (who are mostly staying home from school) offer an opportunity, or do you consider it a burden? If you are a workaholic who brings work home from the office in the pursuit of money and material things, what opportunities does this forced confinement offer and will you take advantage of them?

Has making money been your primary goal? Are you making less money because you are not working as much, or maybe at all? Are you having to re-order your priorities?

I recently moved. My wife and I are amazed at all the things we still have after donating many items to charity. We had to rent a storage unit for the overflow. Material things never fully satisfy and yet many of us continue to pursue them as if they do.

If you crave status, does that matter as much while you focus on handwashing and other virus-preventive measures? How often did you even think about washing your hands before the virus?

Last Sunday the president called for the nation to pray that God might remove the threat of the coronavirus and protect us from it. Other presidents — one thinks of Franklin Roosevelt’s call to prayer on D-Day, June 6, 1944 — have asked the nation to pray when the power of government seemed insufficient to overcome a serious challenge. Could this present a similar opportunity for those so inclined to seek a closer relationship with “the God who made us,” as Abraham Lincoln said in his proclamation for a day of “humiliation, fasting and prayer” in the midst of the Civil War?

If nothing else is working and if politicians are incapable of guaranteeing our safety, why do so many of us continue to look to Washington for help? Leaders can do some things, but can they do what is most needed?

Last question. When the virus is no longer a threat, will you return to your old ways? Will you again focus on money, things, status and work, or has this virus taught you a lesson, a lesson about what matters most for you, your family and the nation?

As pastor Lon Solomon, president and founder of Lon Solomon Ministries, likes to say: “Not a sermon, just a thought.”   ~The Patriot Post

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Except that it’s not.

This writer is a conservative who finds much of the progressive agenda wrongheaded at best and detestable at worst. But an agenda is not a person and hatred, simply for hatred’s sake, might be the most contemptible default position one can have — in the best of times.

In a time of national emergency, it may prove deadlier than the coronavirus that has precipitated that emergency.

One wants to point out that the Trump administration has done a lousy job reacting to the virus, while someone else wants to counter that there’s a double standard regarding how well the scumbag/liar-nObama administration handled swine flu and Ebola? Point and counterpoint. Tit for tat. Nah, nah, nah, nah nah.

Toward what end, other than to stoke division in a time when unity is desperately needed?

Columnist Micheal Goodwin reminds us that even during a world war, soldiers on both sides took a respite from the baser aspects of the human condition. “Starting earlier in December and culminating on Christmas Day in 1914, many allied British and French troops on one side and Germans on the other left their trenches and greeted each other on No-Man’s Land,” he writes. “The sudden fraternization happened on many spots along the Western Front, with soldiers swapping souvenirs, raising toasts, singing Christmas songs and playing ­soccer.”

He believes the same mindset should prevail in Washington, DC. “If warring European soldiers could do it a century ago, surely warring American political leaders can do it today,” he asserts. “God knows our nation needs a truce.”

Indeed.

Nonetheless, there is little doubt the partisanship that afflicts our Ruling Class will play itself out in whatever series of measures politicians attempt to implement during this crisis. Thus, conservatives will complain about possible loss of constitutional rights precipitated by mandatory shutdowns of various economic sectors, while progressives will complain about efforts viewed as sacrificing vulnerable Americans to protect the economy — all while reliably hysterical media pundits exacerbate the differences and fan the flames of panic for their own perceived advantages. Conservatives will rail against nationalization schemes, progressives against tax cuts, etc. etc., ad infinitum.

Here’s an idea: In a nation beset by large philosophical differences, how about inserting a sunset clause into every measure enacted by Congress during the crisis? According to the current worst-case scenarios, we are in for a long period of hard times. Perhaps such sunset clauses could be tied to information regarding when the transmission of the virus peaks and begins to wane. At that point, any measure related to the outbreak will either have to be renewed or it will automatically expire.

A heavy lift? No doubt. But one that would certainly mitigate the paralysis that inevitably arises when one side sees the other as seeking permanent changes, using coronavirus as a pretext. Indications that bipartisanship is already occurring are a welcome sign, and such clauses would further that end.

Perhaps financial markets should be temporarily closed as well. Since panic is the current worldwide default position, and most economies are in some form of suspended animation, it seems sensible to suspend the unprecedented and potentially catastrophic gyrations of financial markets as well. Price discovery, which is the basis of the entire system, can be determined at a later time.

Americans themselves? One hopes that self-quarantining and isolation might induce reflectiveness. Perhaps we might begin to realize that most of the issues we argue about, sometimes to the point of insanity, are reflective of our … luxury. The overwhelming majority of Americans are well fed (even to the point of obesity) and our definition of “poor” is the envy of a world where, for the overwhelming majority of people, simple survival is still a 24/7/365 effort.

And then there’s perspective. “For those who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s, there was nothing unusual about finding yourself threatened by contagious disease,”  writes self-described “80-something” columnist Clark Whelton. “Mumps, measles, chicken pox, and German measles swept through entire schools and towns; I had all four. Polio took a heavy annual toll, leaving thousands of people (mostly children) paralyzed or dead. There were no vaccines. Growing up meant running an unavoidable gauntlet of infectious disease.”

In modern day America, “growing up” has become an increasingly heavier lift in an increasingly narcissistic  nation. No doubt largesse, coupled with technology, has made “look at me” a national sport. But one suspects a crisis that has likely caused millions of Americans of every generation to contemplate their own mortality may ultimately engender a much-needed “were all in this together” response. At the very least, we may realize just how petty many of our disagreements are, and one hopes that in turn will engender an appreciation of each other that transcends those differences — even if it is only for the duration of the crisis.

We already know where the alternative gets us, and the reality that some people will never get it should not deter the rest of us from seeking common ground, no matter how narrow the parameters. Americans will always disagree, even vehemently, about what is right and wrong for our nation, but the wholesale elimination of mutual respect does not have to be part of the equation.

Moreover, we should be enormously thankful for the legions of unsung, everyday heroes who persevere and often risk their own well-being taking care of the ill, delivering much-needed supplies, and performing other innumerable tasks that may ultimately be the difference between civilization and anarchy. Few of their names will ever be known, but millions of Americans will owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.

America persevered after Pearl Harbor and 9/11. We can do it again. And maybe, just maybe, for the first time since it was coined, there is a phrase Americans can take to heart in an entirely different context than it was first presented:

Never let a crisis go to waste.   ~The Patriot Post

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