Based on increasingly panicked statements from local officials, yesterday it became more likely that government officials were going to take extreme measures.

Moments ago Illinois Governor  J.B. Pritzker held a press briefing and announced the mandatory closure of all restaurants and bars across the entire state.

“I am ordering all bars and restaurants in the state of Illinois to close to the public as of the close of business, Monday night, March 16th through March 30th.

We are working with restaurant owners and food delivery services across the state to see if restaurants can safely keep their kitchens open so the restaurants can keep the food delivery to people at their homes.  Additionally, we are allowing drive-through and curbside pick-up for restaurants to serve the public through this period”… (link)

Telling people to remain calm and simultaneously forcing people to remain in their homes would seem to be a contradiction in messaging; potentially only worsening the panic.  However, this is one of those, “well, yes it’s unconstitutional except when….” moments, that may have rather profound consequences.

The Democrat mayor of Hoboken New Jersey has announced a mandatory curfew between 10pm and 5am where all residents are not permitted to exit their residence; and all bars must close due to the coronavirus.

I don’t know if this is the first ‘mandatory’ coronavirus curfew, or even how such an effort could feasibly be enforced, but it’s likely not going to be the last:.

New Jersey – 10:45pm ET – Hoboken Mayor Ravinder Bhalla announced a citywide curfew will be in effect starting Monday. The curfew also places major restrictions on bars and restaurants.

The curfew will be in effect from 10 p.m.- 5 a.m.starting on Monday, and until further notice.  Residents will be required to stay home, except for emergencies, or if needed at work by their employer.

(more…)

After President Trump decided to take the coronavirus test, the physician to the President releases the following information:

Democrats/media react:

(more…)

It took some digging but we found it. The 2020 Coronavirus Response Act is H.R.6201 [SEE HERE].

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying the Democrats and White House have made an agreement to pass the content of the Coronavirus Response Act.  However, there is no confirmation from the White House (yet).

President Trump is meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in the White House right now.

WASHINGTON – House Democrats and the Trump administration reached agreement on a coronavirus response package Friday after a day of grueling negotiations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

“We are proud to have reached an agreement with the Administration to resolve outstanding challenges, and now will soon pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” she wrote to Democrats after hours of back-and-forth with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

(more…)

Thankfully Florida elected Ron DeSantis as governor instead of this guy.

Florida authorities responding to a drug overdose located three men in a hotel room. One man was overdosed and needed paramedics.  There were bags of crystal meth found in the room and one of the men incapacitated was former Tallahassee Mayor, former Florida gubernatorial candidate, and current CNN contributor Andrew Gillum.

MIAMI – A police report about an apparent drug overdose in a Miami Beach hotel room overnight Thursday says that one of the three men present in the room was former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.

Three small plastic bags containing suspected crystal meth were found in the room, the police report said.

(more…)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to exploit the coronavirus issue to pass a litany of permanent laws inside what was supposed to be a temporary legislative bill to assist those economically impacted by the coronavirus mitigation efforts.

Two issues are stark: (1) permanent and mandatory paid sick leave; and (2) a massive and permanent increase in medicare spending to benefit health insurance companies.

(Via The Hill) […] “There’s a couple major problems with it. Here’s one glaring problem: Under [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s bill, the Social Security Administration will be set up to administer the paid sick leave program. Now this will take more than six months, so it won’t work in time. It will also hamper the administration from putting out Social Security for those who need it right now that are in harm’s way,” he added.

(more…)

Elania Plott is a CNN analyst who notes in her conversations with supporters of President Trump the disdain and distrust in media is worse than any time she can remember:

Perhaps this short recap video will help explain.  CNN is now claiming that anyone who uses the term “Wuhan Virus” or “Chinese Corona Virus” is being xenophobic and racist.  The Media Research Center looked into it and captured some rather stark hypocrisy:

The stock market is not the U.S. economy.  The stock market is an investment instrument.
Yes, the downstream consequences from coronavirus mitigation efforts means there is likely going to be temporary, very specific, fluxes within the Main Street economy.  Entertainment, hospitality and leisure are likely to see the strongest initial impacts. However, as noted by the release of weekly jobless claims the U.S. economy is very strong.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week as employers continued to hold on to their workers.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 for the week ended March 7, the Labor Department said. Jobless claims are the most timely labor market indicator. They have declined for two straight weeks.

(more…)

Earlier today U.S. President Trump and Ireland Prime Minister Varadkar held a press availability prior to their bilateral meeting. [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you all very much. It’s an honor to be with the Prime Minister of Ireland. We’ve known each other now for quite a while, and we have a great relationship and a great relationship with Ireland. And we have a lot to discuss.

We will be talking about the obvious, and we’ll also be talking about the virus that’s hit the world. I see they’ve cancelled their big soccer games, their championship games, and a lot of other games. They’ve cancelled a lot over in Europe and all over the world. So this is big world problem.

(more…)

The level of media opposition and snark against President Trump is simply so ridiculous at this point there’s a desperation to it.  So let us consider…
From the outset of Donald Trump’s entry into the world of politics he espoused a series of key tenets around what he called his “America-First” objectives:

1. The U.S. needed to have control over our borders, and a greater ability to control who was migrating to the United States.  A shift toward stopping ‘illegal’ migration.
2. The U.S. needed to stop the manufacture of goods overseas and return critical manufacturing back to the United States.  A return to economic independence.
3. The U.S. needed to decouple from an over-reliance on Chinese industrial and consumer products.  China viewed as a geopolitical and economic risk.

Donald Trump was alone on these issues.  No-one else was raising them; no-one else was so urgently pushing that discussion. In 2015, 2016 and even 2017, no-one other than Trump was talking about how close we were to the dependence point of no return.
Given the status of very consequential issues stemming from the Chinese Coronavirus threat; and the myriad of serious issues with critical supply chain dependencies; wasn’t President Trump correct in his warnings and proposals?
In early 2017 President Trump and his administration coined the phrase: “economic security is national security”, and the economic team set about starting a very complex process to ensure the past three decades of trade policy was reversed.
(more…)