Joey come lately: Biden now says he supports China travel ban to slow virus after he called it ‘reactionary,’ ‘xenophobic’ and ‘hysterical’:
http://dailytorch.com/2020/04/joey-come-lately-biden-now-says-he-supports-china-travel-ban-to-slow-virus-after-he-called-it-reactionary-xenophobic-and-hysterical/

Former Vice President Joe Biden now says he supports travel bans to contain the Chinese coronavirus after all, after he had previously called the China travel ban issued by President Donald Trump in late January “reactionary,” “hysterical,” “xenophobic,” and “counterproductive.” Deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield told CNN on April 3 that Biden “supports travel bans that are guided by medical experts, advocated by public health officials and backed by a full strategy,” adding, “Science supported this ban, therefore he did too.” Was that before or after looking at a poll that said Trump would do a better job dealing with this crisis than Biden? Asking for the potentially hundreds of thousands of American lives President Trump saved by acting decisively in the early days of this pandemic at a time Biden was hysterically complaining about what he called “reactionary” travel restrictions. Biden not only didn’t support the ban, he explicitly opposed it, repeatedly, saying it was unscientific, even though it turns out it ultimately was backed up by the science. On Feb. 1, a day after the travel restrictions were put into place by, Biden said in Iowa, “We have, right now, a crisis with the coronavirus… This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fearmongering to lead the way instead of science… Diseases have no borders, they have no borders.” Now, on April 5, Biden completed his about face on the issue on ABC News with George Stephanopoulos, who must have simply forgotten to roll the video tape of Biden blasting the travel ban. Biden said, “[Trump] indicated that I complimented him on dealing with China. Well you know 45 nations had already moved to keep—to block China’s personnel from being able to come to the United States before the President moved. So it’s about pace, it’s about the urgency and I don’t think there’s been enough of it.” Leadership does not come in a text book. It’s not something you can look up. It requires instincts and an ability to take decisive action. In politics you don’t a second chance to act decisively. Trump acted decisively. Biden failed. Coming back in April and saying in hindsight it was a good idea is nice and all, but at best it makes Biden a Joey come lately on this issue. He should just admit he was wrong. To say he supported it all along is a monstrous lie. What do you think?

Up to 13 million jobs lost in less than a month amid government closing economy to win war on Chinese coronavirus:
http://dailytorch.com/2020/04/13-million-jobs-lost-in-less-than-a-month-amid-government-closing-economy-to-win-war-on-chinese-coronavirus/

Unemployment claims hit an all-time record at 6.6 million last week amid the national lockdown to combat the Chinese coronavirus and save as many lives as possible. 45 states have issued stay at home orders in their states, including 38 that have issued them for the entire state, effectively shutting down their economies. All 50 states have closed schools. That brings the total of unemployment claims for the past two weeks up to about 10 million, already dwarfing the total job losses in the financial crisis and 2007-2009 recession, which topped 8.3 million in Dec. 2009. Those losses took about three years to be realized as mortgage markets cratered and property values plummeted.On top of that in March alone an additional 3 million Americans lost their jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Added to the past two weeks’ data on unemployment claims, that could bring the total job losses from coronavirus related closings up to 13 million and counting. To prevent a long, deep recession the federal government must make these economic incentives passed by Congress to maintain payroll for the duration of the pandemic available now. Aggressive advertising will be needed to bring these programs to everyone’s attention. Now, how deep the recession is will largely be determined by the extent of the pandemic, how long states remain closed and how effective social distancing is. When the pandemic is over, it will be up to the states to reopen as quickly as possible and the emergency benefits encouraging people not to work phased out. The long-term consequences of delay could mean it takes a decade to recover economically from this virus, with much of the damage already done. What do you think?

U.S. daily death toll from Chinese coronavirus reaches 1,000, double seasonal flu, as private sector quickly moves to build ventilators:
http://dailytorch.com/2020/04/daily-death-toll-from-chinese-coronavirus-reaches-1000-double-seasonal-flu-as-private-sector-quickly-moves-to-build-ventilators/

The daily death toll from Chinese coronavirus in the U.S. sadly has reached more than 1,000, already double that of the seasonal flu, with the worst yet to come according to certain models that plot hospitals becoming overwhelmed with ventilator shortages. Thankfully, the private sector is moving as quickly as possible to produce the number of ventilators believed to be needed with Ford, GE, 3M, General Motors and others acting, and President Donald Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to expedite the orders being made. It projects that the daily death toll could top 4,500 a day at the high end, almost 10 times worse than the seasonal flu. That is if the rate of infection exceeds the private sector’s capacity to produce enough beds and ventilators, according to the model. The overall death toll could reach 177,000 if the health care system becomes overwhelmed. And that’s with the entire country on lockdown. Without the lockdown, the White House coronavirus task force projects as many as 2.2 million could have perished in the U.S. in the pandemic this year, with the elderly and those with underlying health conditions the most at risk. The struggle, and a large part of the reason for the uncertainty has to do with ventilator production. The reason is because, in order to be useful, ventilators must be rigorously tested before put to use. And as the President noted yesterday, they take some time to build. Now, a point of optimism. These data are all moving targets and hopefully these numbers start falling rapidly as the federal government, state governments and the private sector all swing into action. Here at Americans for Limited Government, we will be monitoring the situation and comparing projected mortality to what transpires on the ground. According to the model, if it’s on the lower end, that means the mitigation and production of critically needed items like ventilators were effective and lives truly were saved by everything that has been set into motion by President Trump’s national emergency declaration. What do you think?

Random sample of FISA warrants shows consistent lack of evidence, documentation to spy on Americans, Inspector General finds:
http://dailytorch.com/2020/04/random-sample-of-fisa-warrants-shows-consistent-lack-of-evidence-documentation-to-spy-on-americans-inspector-general-finds/

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has followed up on his Dec. 2019 Justice Department report on abuses under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that occurred in 2016, where the Justice Department and intelligence agencies ordered spying on the Trump campaign and Republicans, the opposition party, in an election year on false allegations they were Russian agents.This time, Horowitz conducted an analysis of a random sample of 29 FISA warrants, finding a similar lack of evidence and documentation to support the electronic surveillance on Americans authorized by the top secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Horowitz found that of the 29 applications, four lacked any information whatsoever supporting the applications, and 25 lacked adequate support or contained errors. In other words, the random sample turned up a 100 percent “BS” rate. Under the Woods Procedures outlining FBI policy for FISA warrant aplications, none of them should have been approved by the FISA judges, but all of them were. But for the Steele episode and three lost years of U.S. history chasing a fantasy that President Donald Trump was a Russian agent, this finding would be unbelievable. Now, it confirms serious deficiencies in the entire FISA process. How can this be fixed so that this never happens again?

Trump extends national lockdown until May to combat Chinese coronavirus, but how widespread is infection?

http://dailytorch.com/2020/03/trump-extends-national-lockdown-until-may-to-combat-chinese-coronavirus-but-how-widespread-is-infection/

President Donald Trump has extended the federal government’s recommendations to engage in social distancing, keep schools closed and to work from home if you can a few additional weeks until May 1 as nationwide efforts continue to combat the Chinese coronavirus and to save as many lives as possible. Initially, President Trump had stated April 12 as a national goal for potentially reopening the country, but now says that he is pushing that off three weeks as the White House coronavirus task force expects the virus to be peaking at that time. Thanks to the private sector getting involved, more than 1 million tests have been administered in the U.S., far more than any other country. But we probably need a lot more testing so that we can defeat the virus and get back to work as soon as possible, especially with an antibody test being developed. This is the type of test done with the blood that will tell a patient if they have or have had the virus, called serological testing. Now, plans are being put into place to implement that type of testing on a more widespread basis. If conducted across the population of a state or several states, with a wide enough randomized sample, such testing could give the President and state governors the information they will ultimately need to begin reopening things. What do you think?