“As we continue to build our defense cooperation,” Trump continued, “the United States looks forward to providing India with some of the best and most feared military equipment on the planet.” The arms deal includes the U.S. selling India roughly $3 billion in military helicopters.

It was a largely successful trip for Trump, who is seeking to exploit the growing regional tension between China and India by working toward solidifying a long-term trade deal with the latter. “We will be making very, very major — among the biggest ever made — trade deals,” Trump pledged. “We are in the early stages of discussion for an incredible trade agreement to reduce barriers of investment between the United States and India. And I am optimistic that working together, the prime minister and I can reach a fantastic deal that’s good and even great for both of our countries — except that [Modi] is a very tough negotiator.”

India is one of the few foreign countries where Trump enjoys a high favorability rating, and he is clearly looking to use his popularity to develop a closer relationship with India. As Power Line’s John Hinderaker observes, “The main news to emerge from Trump’s visit so far is a $3 billion helicopter sale, part of a move toward making the U.S. ‘the premier defense partner of India.’ While it has been lost in the minutiae of political press coverage, this military purchase reflects one of the most important global developments of recent years. During its early years of independence and throughout most if not all of the Cold War, India was a socialist-leaning and Russia-oriented ‘nonaligned’ nation. More recently, India has adopted more progressive, free-market economic policies, and has turned decisively toward the West. Its alliance with the United States is one of the most positive geopolitical developments of recent years, and it is properly being celebrated by President Trump.”   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/68826?mailing_id=4887&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4887&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

That coincides not just with the coronavirus epidemic and economic interruptions in China but with the rise of Bolshevik commie-Bernie Sanders as the new Democrat front-runner. That’s not a coincidence, but it is another story.

As for the U.S. and the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control issued a “strong warning” about it spreading here — a matter, it said, not of “if” but “when.” Naturally, Democrats in last night’s debate used the CDC warning to slam President Donald Trump, or, in Joe Biden’s case, go off on a bizarre rant bragging about his own work on ebola.

With all that in mind, this episode has brought to the forefront another problem with China’s dominance in world markets: the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and supply chains for their ingredients.

According to his recent Senate testimony, Scott Gottlieb, a physician who is also a former Trump administration Food and Drug Administration commissioner, detailed some of our strategic reliance on China for pharmaceuticals: “About 40 percent of generic drugs sold in the U.S. have only a single manufacturer. A significant supply chain disruption could cause shortages for some of many of these products. [In 2019], manufacturing of intermediate or finished goods in China, as well as pharmaceutical source material, accounted for 95 percent of U.S. imports of ibuprofen, 91 percent of U.S. imports of hydrocortisone, 70 percent of U.S. imports of acetaminophen, 40 to 45 percent of U.S. imports of penicillin, and 40 percent of U.S. imports of heparin, according to the Commerce Department. In total, 80 percent of the U.S. supply of antibiotics are made in China.”

Oh, and by the way, Gottlieb notes, “When it comes to starting material for the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients, a lot of this production is centered in China’s Hubei Provence, the epicenter of coronavirus.”

This isn’t the free market at work. It’s the result of Beijing’s typical and strategic market manipulation, including underselling global competitors to put them out of business and enable China’s market domination. The U.S. must be equally strategic in thinking through market issues that have national-security implications.

Growing American energy production has moved us toward independence in that sector, providing a buffer particularly for instability in the Middle East. Similarly, we must think through the production and distribution of medicines and medical supplies that are needed to protect our population. Given not just coronavirus itself but questions about its origins and previous experience with contaminated Chinese medicine, it should be painfully obvious that Americans shouldn’t rely on our Red Chinese adversaries to keep us healthy.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/68844?mailing_id=4887&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4887&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

President Trump is currently making his first official visit to India, the world’s largest democracy. The U.S.-India relationship is a critical counterweight to China’s growing power and influence in Asia. It is also an important alliance in the fight against radical Islam.

More than 100,000 Indians packed the world’s largest cricket stadium to hear remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The president announced a $3 billion defense deal with India and added that the two nations are working toward a major trade deal.  Referring to mutual defense interests, President Trump said:

Together, we will defend our sovereignty, security, and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region for our children and for many, many generations to come… The United States and India are also firmly united in our ironclad resolve to defend our citizens from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.

I know many readers are also concerned about religious-liberty issues in India, and the White House has made it clear that the president will address that issue in private meetings with Modi.

commie-Bernie’s Blowout

Vermont Sen. commie-Bernie Sanders didn’t just win the Nevada caucuses Saturday — it was a blowout. Sanders took 47% of the vote, while loose lips liar-Joe Biden finished a distant second at 20%, followed by socialist-Pete Buttigieg (14%), Elizabeth dinky/liar-Warren (10%), Tom Steyer (5%), and Amy Klobuchar (4%). Michael Bloomberg wasn’t on the ballot.

The Democrat establishment is in total meltdown because Sanders is revealing the real agenda of the party’s left-wing base. Today’s Democrat Party is increasingly divided between those who favor open socialism and those who believe hidden socialism is easier to sell.

Most Americans aren’t on board with the socialist agenda, and Democrats are scrambling to stop commie-Sanders at all costs. Many party leaders had hoped that Michael Bloomberg could be “Plan B” if loose lips liar-Biden faltered, but that strategy has been called into question since last week’s disastrous debate performance.

Bloomberg will have an opportunity to redeem himself at tonight’s debate in Charleston, South Carolina. He will be under enormous pressure to prove he’s not a worse debater than loose lips liar-Joe Biden. But he’s not on South Carolina’s primary ballot.

Meanwhile, commie-Sanders has smashed loose lips liar-Biden’s Palmetto State firewall, and Super Tuesday  continues to look like it will be a very good day for commie-Sanders.

Comrade commie-Sanders

Part of the reason many Democrats are worried about commie-Bernie Sanders as their party’s nominee is his long history of praising brutal left-wing regimes around the world.

Reflecting the liberal establishment’s anxiety, “60 Minutes” host Anderson Cooper confronted Sanders with some of his past praise for communist dictator Fidel Castro. commie-Sanders told Cooper:

We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but, you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?

In response to commie-Sanders’s callous comment, Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted, “It really makes a difference when those you murder at the firing squad can read & write.”

If commie-Sanders wins the nomination, Democrats can kiss Florida goodbye. The state is full of immigrants who fled Castro’s communism and other socialist regimes throughout Latin America.

Bashing Israel Too

When commie-Bernie’s not busy praising communists, he’s bashing Israel. Bolstered by his Nevada victory, commie-Sanders announced that he will not speak to the annual AIPAC conference this year, alleging that AIPAC provides a platform for “bigotry.”

The attack on AIPAC may seem odd at first glance, as commie-Sanders is Jewish. But I think there is a simple explanation. commie-Sanders is anti-Israel. He has key people on his staff who despise Israel, and he has been endorsed by anti-Semites like lowlife-Linda Sarsour, worthless-Ilhan Omar, and worthless-Rashida Tlaib.

But commie-Sanders understands the base of the Democrat Party. Polling shows that while Americans are generally pro-Israel (Christians and Republicans especially so), the base of the Democrat Party — millennials and progressives — are increasingly anti-Israel.

Polling shows the Democrat Party is evenly divided between support for Israel and the Palestinians. All the other candidates in the primary are trying to be even-handed in their approach to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, dividing up the half of the Democrat vote that still supports Israel.

And while they are splitting up the pro-Israel vote, Sanders has consolidated the half that hates Israel.

The Left Attacks Iconic USA Team

Do you remember the “Miracle on Ice”? I certainly do, and President Trump honored the members of that historic Olympic team at his Las Vegas rally Friday night.

It was a fitting tribute to the team and to the American spirit they represent as the rally occurred on the eve of the 40th anniversary of their historic win over the Soviet Union. Needless to say, the crowd loved it and erupted in chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

But the Internet nearly crashed as enraged leftists went ballistic. Of course, the team released a statement, which read:

To us, this is not about politics or choosing sides. This is about proudly representing the United States of America. Whether your beliefs are Democratic, Republican, Independent, etc. we support that and are proud to represent the USA. It is an honor and privilege!

And there’s the rub. The progressive left that increasingly calls the shots would never invite them! It would never occur to them that the U.S. victory over the USSR carried more significance than a simply hockey game. But more than that, the players’ presence would send too much of a mixed message to their radical base.

Think I’m being overly critical? Check out this headline from the progressive media outlet The Nation:  "Mask Off: The 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team Has Long Been a Symbol of Reaction.“

Sadly, there’s probably only one sports figure who could get such a wild reaction at a Democrat rally — Colin Kaepernick!

Virus Outbreak

The news on the coronavirus over the weekend was disturbingly bad. There are now outbreaks in Italy, Iran, Japan, and South Korea. In some cases, there is no obvious connection to China. In Italy, 20% of those infected are in intensive care.

There is a potential crisis within this crisis. We first mentioned it to you four weeks ago when we brought up the dependence of the United States on medical supplies from China.

In recent decades, China has decided that it was going to dominate the world’s pharmaceutical industry. It started selling ingredients essential to medicines on the world market below market costs to drive many suppliers out of business.

Big multinational drug companies started moving facilities to China so they could have ready access to cheaper ingredients. The last U.S. company manufacturing penicillin shut down in 2004.

The result is that approximately 80% of essential medications now rely on the Chinese supply line. It’s not just medicines. China is one of the main suppliers of surgical masks. Beijing banned the export of those masks. Doctors everywhere are now scrambling.

There were warnings. Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson covered it extensively. Yet the political establishment before Trump convinced itself that we should be a global marketplace, and free marketeers insisted that everything should be made wherever it is cheapest.

But a great nation must be able to make certain things, even if it costs more, if it wants to be safe. I know the Trump administration is working 24/7 to find solutions. Whatever happens, just remember that it was the sleepwalking of the DC swamp for decades before Trump that got us into this mess.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/68804?mailing_id=4885&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4885&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

In a vote of 53 for and 44 against, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act failed to advance to debate. The bill would have made abortion illegal after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases risking the mother’s life and for victims of rape and incest (roughly 1% of pregnancies). Bill sponsor Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pointedly noted, “There are only seven countries that allow wholesale abortions at the 20-week period, including China and North Korea. The United States should NOT be in that club.”

The second Senate bill torpedoed by Democrats was the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would have required an abortion provider to engage in life-saving procedures to “preserve the life and health” of a child born alive after a failed abortive attempt. Ben Sasse (R-NE), a sponsor of the legislation, blasted Democrat resistance. “Nothing in this bill touches abortion access,” Sasse said, adding that it only protects “babies that have already been born.” After only three Democrats crossed the aisle to side with Republicans on the bill, Sasse disgustedly observed, “This body ought to be able to stand 100 to zero against that [infanticide] barbarism.” The three Democrats were Bob Casey (PA), Doug Jones (AL), and Joe Manchin (WV).

Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono voted against Sasse’s bill, arguing earlier this month that infanticide was already illegal and that the bill was “a solution to a problem that does not exist.” Yes, “infanticide is indeed illegal in the U.S.” Sasse agreed, “Yet in half of the states, there is no criminalization of walking away from the baby and allowing it to die by exposure. There’s an active-passive distinction and a state-federal distinction, which are both pretty fundamental.”

Predictably, CNN sought to defend Senate Democrats by ridiculously asserting that a “fetus that was born” was not the same as a “newborn baby,” because in the first instance the mother didn’t want the child. In other words, CNN ludicrously claims that a mother’s subjective personal desire rather than objective biological reality is what confers personhood onto a baby. With views this devoid of basic logic, is it any wonder the Left also rejects the biological reality of gender being binary?

On a final note, this all went down in the Senate as three Democrat senators hoping to be president were preparing to debate in South Carolina. None voted on the measures, but it was still exceedingly ironic for Elizabeth dinky/liar-Warren to, after repeating her “fired while pregnant” tall tale, slam Michael Bloomberg for allegedly telling a pregnant female employee to “kill it.” Isn’t “kill it” essentially the Democrat platform?   

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/68852?mailing_id=4892&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4892&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Leftists who falsely accuse grassroots Patriots of racism, sexism, Islamophobia, being okay with “kids eating crap,” or any host of other dreadful things have long ago forfeited any right to complain about return fire from the Right. For far too long, leftists used those cries to silence criticism. For far too long, so-called “leaders” of the Republican Party failed to defend themselves and the grassroots Patriots who backed them.

Let’s assume that you’re called a child-killing domestic terrorist by some Mike Bloomberg stooge because you oppose an onerous slate of anti-Second Amendment legislation, like that pushed by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. Who would you trust to call out that Bloomberg stooge’s lies? Would you count on Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren or would you trust CNN’s Trump-skeptic Amanda Carpenter?

We can’t speak for anyone else, but we’d trust Lahren to have our backs much more readily than Carpenter. Not that we don’t believe that Amanda is a conservative, but Tomi has shown the necessary fight.

In a similar vein, let’s assume that for opposing reparations, you are attacked with phony claims similar to those tossed at rino-John McCain in the 2008 campaign. Who comes to your mind as someone who will defend you (and others) against that defamation? PragerU’s Candace Owens or New York Daily News editorialist Robert A. George?

Once again, we mean no disrespect to Robert, but, in recent months and years, Candace has proven that she will have our backs. Robert is conservative, but he seems to embrace the political doctrine of Republican unilateral political disarmament.

Similarly, if there were claims from the likes of Elizabeth dinky/liar-Warren that those opposing new campaign-finance laws on First Amendment grounds were actually pro-corruption, who do you think would be more likely to call out Warren? The Dispatch’s David French or Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter? Most would count on Schlichter to have our backs, despite the yeoman’s work French did exposing the abuses of the “John Doe” laws in Wisconsin in the pages of National Review, his former employer.

It’s not just defending Patriots working at the grassroots level, it’s also about being willing to defend themselves. Paul Ryan is a brilliant economic conservative. He was widely seen as a great hope when he was picked as rino-Mitt Romney’s running mate. He was arguably the politician with some of the best ideas on how to help Social Security and Medicare to keep functioning through the 21st century without bankrupting the country.

Many Patriots defended Ryan’s budgets and plans for entitlement reform, but Ryan seemed unable to defend those who defended him. Worse, when smeared as someone who would push grandma over a cliff, he couldn’t even muster the will to defend himself. At that point, many Patriots understandably questioned whether he was capable of sticking up for them.

The same thing happened when George W. Bush failed to defend himself against clearly phony charges of lying about the justification for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Many Patriots did step up, defending the operation and supporting the mission, but were then left hanging out to dry.

So, when more establishment conservatives are asking why Lahren, Owens, and Schlichter have such a following among Patriots, they need to look in the mirror. Just having a good policy agenda is no longer enough; those who seek to lead conservatives have to earn their trust.

Tomi, Candace, and Kurt have earned trust by fighting leftists. They have stuck up for Patriots at the grassroots. If establishment-types did the same, they might win back some of the trust that they lost over the years.   

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/68798?mailing_id=4885&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4885&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body 

To date, there have been more than 2,700 deaths from coronavirus, though 94% of them have been in China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak began. More than 80,000 cases have been confirmed in more than 30 countries, and there have been dozens of deaths (total) in Iran, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Italy, and France. The virus is spreading and serious; it has a long incubation period and may be mutating, but, so far, the mortality rate remains at about 3%. The World Health Organization has not yet declared coronavirus a pandemic.

The economic impact is huge. China alone accounts for roughly a third of global trade, so with many of its factories shut down and a big decline in container traffic, the rest of the world is feeling the pain. The Wall Street Journal warns, “Some economists are predicting that the epidemic could cause China’s GDP to shrink up to 10% year-over-year in the first quarter.” That’s astounding, and if that happens it will impact the United States greatly.

The Journal’s Walter Russell Mead wrote earlier this month, “Given the accumulated costs of decades of state-driven lending, massive malfeasance by local officials in cahoots with local banks, a towering property bubble, and vast industrial overcapacity, China is as ripe as a country can be for a massive economic correction. Even a small initial shock could lead to a massive bonfire of the vanities as all the false values, inflated expectations and misallocated assets implode.” (Chinese officials ejected three Journal reporters after that article because they argued its headline, “China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” is racist.)

One major effect of coronavirus for millions of Americans already is the stock market, which dropped 1,000 points (3.5%) Monday on coronavirus fears. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 2% for the year.

“The second-largest economy in the world [China] is completely shut down. People aren’t totally pricing that in,” said Larry Benedict, CEO of The Opportunistic Trader, who forecasts a 10% to 15% correction in stocks. “It seems like there’s much more to come.”

The Trump administration has requested Congress authorize $2.5 billion in emergency funding to fight any outbreak here, and it has already taken actions to monitor travel and protect American citizens. House Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi responded that President Donald Trump’s request is “long overdue and completely inadequate.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck scumbag-Schumer complained that Trump is “asleep at the wheel.”

Evidently, Trump Derangement Syndrome is also still a threat.  

~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/articles/68815?mailing_id=4885&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4885&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Thursday night, all the evening news broadcasts led with the same story — Russia is meddling in the 2020 elections to reelect Donald Trump. Here we go again.

Evidently, the House Intelligence Committee, led by Rep. swcumbag/liar-Adam Schiff, got a classified briefing about Russian interference in the 2020 election. Sure enough, someone leaked details of the briefing to The New York Times. Any guesses as to who leaked?

Curiously, the briefing took place last week, but we didn’t hear about it until Thursday when polls showed Trump’s ratings were up. What an odd coincidence.

Predictably, Democrats are claiming that this news justifies their impeachment efforts. As you no doubt recall, liar-Pelosi and scumbag/liar-Schiff repeatedly said, “We can’t wait until the election. He’s already working with Russia to steal 2020.” This is nonsense.

Let’s go back to the 2016 election. It was not stolen. Period. President scumbag/liar-nObama assured us that the elections could not be rigged, and we were later told that no votes were altered.

Russia spent $1.25 million a month on social media. In contrast, the Trump and scumbag/liar-Clinton campaigns spent over a $1 billion. But we’re supposed to believe that Russia’s “drop in the bucket” made all the difference.

And what magical thing did Russia do with that money? It ran memes like this one: “scumbag/liar-Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is.”

If scumbag/liar-Hillary’s 30+ years in public life hadn’t already convinced anyone that she was bad news, surely no internet ad would. To believe the minuscule Russian ads cost scumbag/liar-Hillary the election is delusional.

Here’s more proof that Russia wasn’t helping Trump: After the election, Russia sponsored anti-Trump demonstrations all over the country with the theme “Not My President.” Michael Moore and thousands of other leftists poured into a New York rally that was “sponsored” by Vladimir Putin. They were what the Soviets used to call “useful idiots.”

Unfortunately, the real Russian interference is working. Russia is trying to sow chaos and discord. It is trying to create a pre-Civil War atmosphere in America by making half the country doubt our elections and the legitimacy of our president.

Sadly, the left and its media allies are playing right into Putin’s hands.

Look at His Policies

The idea that Russia prefers America First Trump over Comrade Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, is laughable. Just compare the president’s policies to those any Democrat president would follow.

• Trump has massively increased defense spending. Every Democrat candidate wants to cut it.

• Trump’s major theme is that America was great, is great, and he wants to make it even greater.

• The Democrat Party base believes America was evil, is evil, and has done nothing but oppress people all over the world.

• Trump has successfully pressured NATO allies to boost their defense spending. Putin definitely does not want that.

• Iran is a major Russian ally. Trump got us out of scumbag/liar-nObama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Trump’s sanctions are crushing Iran’s economy, and he took out Qassem Soleimani, who regularly went to Russia to meet with Putin.

• Trump’s policies have made us the leading energy producer in the world, devastating Russia’s budget. Every Democrat wants to ban fracking and gut the American energy industry.

• Trump gave Ukraine lethal weapons that Barack Obama never would.

No One Is Infallible

God bless the men and women who work in our intelligence agencies. They have protected us from many horrors over the decades. They have also been horribly wrong on many occasions.

As we have also seen, the previous administration appears to have weaponized parts of the intelligence community against the president and those who voted for him.

CIA Director George Tenet, a scumbag/liar-Clinton holdover, told President George W. Bush that the intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a “slam dunk.” We never found them.

Before that, the intelligence community largely missed the attack on 9/11. With all our best capabilities, we did not see the worst attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor coming our way.

The CIA consistently underestimated the Iranian nuclear program. If it wasn’t for Israeli intelligence, President Trump would not know the true extent of Iran’s cheating.

Just a few months ago, China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the communist takeover of the country. It had a huge military parade in Beijing. U.S. military experts were stunned by what they saw. One official said in response, “We’re no longer in a period of overwhelming American dominance.” How did our intelligence agencies miss that?

My point is simply this: Our intelligences agencies are vital, but they are not infallible.

I believe there are ideologues in those agencies who are being intentionally obtuse in their interpretations of the intelligence. Russia doesn’t care who is elected. Putin is simply trying to damage America with the false narrative that he is deciding our elections.

By the way, there’s not enough space here to remind you of how often over the decades Russia and other nations have managed to infiltrate our intelligence agencies, including at the highest levels.

The Left Is Helping Russia

If you were so filled with anti-American vitriol and wanted to undermine confidence in our constitutional republic, what would you do? Well, you would plant seeds of doubt about America’s basic goodness and institutions.

You would start a narrative that America was founded in 1619, when the first slaves arrived, and not 1776. You would say that America was evil from the start because of slavery.

You would tell the country that the Electoral College was created to suppress minority voters so that America could be ruled by white, rural counties.

You would spread the outrageous lie that our Constitution thought blacks were only partial human beings.

You would tell the country that the Supreme Court, which for decades has done the left’s bidding, is now an illegitimate organization controlled by the radical right, corporate interests, and two justices who harassed women.

You would get multiple states to refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies trying to remove criminal illegal aliens.

You would constantly berate law enforcement and praise extremists like Colin Kaepernick.

You would tell America’s youth that free-market capitalism is inherently corrupt and Jesus was really a socialist.

In short, if you wanted to undermine the America experiment, you would do what the left is doing every day.

Speaking of 1619…

As we’ve told you, The New York Times has a special project that is being accepted into schools all over the country. It teaches that America was founded in 1619 with the introduction of slavery, and not that the end of slavery began with the beginning of America thanks to the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

When The New York Times isn’t busy demonizing our founding, what else is it doing? Well, Friday’s front page of America’s “Paper of Record” was filled with the false narrative that Russia is stealing the 2020 election.

Further in you’ll discover that the “Gray Lady,” as the Times is often called, gave over the editorial page to the Taliban.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, a Taliban leader, who has a $10 million bounty on his head and is responsible for the murder of many Americans and countless Afghanis, is being allowed by the left’s flagship newspaper to tell us what his demands are.

That’s what New Yorkers read Friday morning in the city that was attacked on 9/11 because the Taliban allowed Al Qaeda to plot the attacks in Afghanistan.

But according to the left the real threat to America is Donald Trump and Mike Pence.   ~The Patriot Post

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/68773?mailing_id=4883&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4883&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body  

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who believes “no act of violence or abuse is minor,” wrote to all NHS staffers, “Being assaulted or abused is not part of the job. Far too often I hear stories that the people you are trying to help lash out. I’ve seen it for myself in A&Es, on night shifts, and on ambulances.”

To implement his new program, Hancock has reached a joint agreement with police and the Crown Prosecution Service. It will grant the police greater powers to investigate and prosecute cases where NHS staffers are presumably victims of a crime. “All assault and hate crimes against NHS staff must be investigated with care, compassion, diligence and commitment,” he declared.

No sane person would argue that healthcare providers must endure people who threaten them with violence or are actually physically abusive. In fact, staff can currently refuse to treat such people. Yet the additional measures are pure pablum aimed at assuaging progressive sensibilities. As Sky News puts it, the new protections will “extend to any harassment, bullying or discrimination, including homophobic, sexist or racist remarks.”

Defined by whom? Some hypersensitive snowflake indoctrinated to believe “white privilege,” gender “fluidity,” “social justice,” or any other manifestation of the “woke agenda” should be part of the criteria for determining who gets treated and who doesn’t?

Apparently so. While a 2019 survey of 569,000 NHS employees revealed that 15% have experienced physical assault, rising to 34% among ambulance staffers, more than one in four stated they had experienced harassment, bullying, or abuse over the past year. “Racism was the most common form of discrimination, but 2019 also saw the highest levels of reported sexism and intolerance of religion and sexuality,” the Daily Mail reports.

“All colleagues in the NHS deserve to work in a safe, caring and compassionate environment,” Hancock insists. “You deserve a working environment that supports your physical and mental health, and helps you be the very best you can be.”

Again, with a large exception for safety, this is utter nonsense. There is no perfect world where patients, already injured, impaired, and/or stressed enough to seek care, will comport themselves solely in a manner that uplifts the entire consumer-provider relationship and helps the provider to be “the very best you can be.”

As for a compassionate and caring environment, who’s kidding whom? In 2008, British medical ethics expert Baroness Warnock asserted that people suffering from dementia are a burden on the NHS and should be allowed to opt for euthanasia, even if they are not in pain.

Four years later, Professor Patrick Pullicino, a consultant neurologist for East Kent Hospitals and professor of clinical neurosciences at the University of Kent, asserted  that the “Liverpool Care Pathway,” which provided palliative care for terminally ill patients, was killing off 130,00 people per year, because they were difficult to manage — or to free up beds for other patients.

In 2017, the NHS decided to single out obese people and smokers. Those with a body mass index over 40 were denied nonemergency surgery unless they lost weight. Smokers had to quit for at least eight weeks and then had to be tested to detect the levels of carbon monoxide in their blood to make sure. Also in 2017, the NHS took away the parental rights of Chris Gard and Connie Yates so their gravely ill son, Charlie, could “die with dignity” rather than receive experimental treatment in America.

Thus, while the latest agreement precipitated by Hancock refers to the possibility that NHS staffers may be abused by people in crisis or with neurological conditions who will ostensibly be handled appropriately, the track record of antipathy toward “certain” types of patients — as in those insufficiently attuned to progressive sensibilities — is impossible to ignore.

The group most likely to offend? “Elderly people make up most of the patients in any health care system,” explains  columnist Andrea Widburg. “They are also the people least likely to be ‘woke.’ Without malice, they may use old-fashioned phrases that are now considered offensive when referring to women, homosexuality, or race. They probably don’t even have a vocabulary for ‘non-binary’ people.”

Even more to the point, conditions like early onset dementia and Alzheimer’s engender serious changes in behavior, often manifested as hostility. How will those  patients be “appropriately handled”? Columnist Paul Joseph Watson illuminates the arc from the present to a highly dystopian future — one that isn’t solely about lack of treatment for the elderly. “First it was deplatforming people from social media websites, then it was deplatforming people from bank accounts and mortgages.” he writes. “Now it’s deplatforming people from hospital treatment. Literally eliminating people’s right to basic health care because of their political or social opinions.”

Right now, when Americans go to a hospital for nonemergency care, they are usually asked to present proof of insurance and/or another from of identification, such as a driver’s license. Will those politicians who champion a system similar or identical to the NHS ultimately require patients to submit access to their social-media accounts as well?

As columnist Laura Hollis explains, “The new NHS rule is intended to protect health care workers from insults and slurs. But it is easy to see how something similar in the United States could be twisted for political advantage, particularly given the widespread tendency in some quarters to treat every political, policy or cultural disagreement as an expression of hate: racism, sexism, homophobia or other bigotry.”

That would be progressive quarters where “microaggressions,” “triggering,” and “implicit bias” are seen as reasonable ways to determine “improper” behavior.

Yet even Hollis somewhat misses the point. In certain professions, putting up with annoying or tough customers is part of the job, and the notion that anyone could err to the side of hypersensitivity with regard to refusing someone healthcare is absurd. Moreover, unlike Britain, we have a First Amendment that allows for free speech, even if — or especially if — it is offensive.

In reality, the NHS is embracing an exclusionary political agenda sold as compassion. That’s not healthcare. It’s tribalism.   ~The Patriot Post

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