May 11, 2020
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Did China hide the coronavirus to help get the U.S.-China trade deal done?
The COVID-19 pandemic began in
Wuhan, China in early December and may have been the result of an accident at a
virology lab there. And according to a “Five Eyes” intelligence report quoted
by the Australian newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, China hid the truth from the
world when it might have mattered, “Despite evidence of human-human
transmission from early December, PRC authorities deny it until January 20… The
World Health Organisation does the same. Yet officials in Taiwan raised
concerns as early as December 31, as did experts in Hong Kong on January 4.”
Yet, it would not be until Jan. 20 that China confirmed human-to-human
transmission, several weeks after the outbreak began, when high mortality rates
were not yet apparent to the rest of the world. Now more than 274,000 people
are dead worldwide. The U.S.-China trade deal was signed on Jan. 15, the same
day the virus first arrived in the U.S. in Washington State. So, was China
keeping the virus under wraps to try to get the trade deal done? What lengths
would Beijing go to in order to secure its position as a global trade hegemon?
Video: ALG’s Manning on OANN urging President Trump to hold China accountable
Americans for Limited
Government President Rick Manning joins OANN to discuss holding China
accountable for coronavirus.
Truth and justice served as case against Michael Flynn dismissed
Americans for Limited
Government President Rick Manning: “The Obama Department of Justice and the FBI
holdovers illegally targeted Trump National Security Advisor, Lt. General Mike
Flynn, in a successful attempt to remove him from that critical position, and
today, finally, justice has been partially served through the dropping of
charges against Flynn. It is criminal that politically motivated federal
intelligence and law enforcement officials abused their authority so
completely, with utter disregard for the truth or justice itself. In America, Lady Justice is supposed to be
blind-folded, but in Flynn’s case not only was her blind-fold off, but her
sword was held against the Generals throat.
Those responsible for directing and operating this attack on the basic
premises of liberty should not only be fired, but the Department of Justice should
pursue criminal charges against them.
Doctoring of forms, failure to adhere to laws ensuring the accused basic
protections and years of stonewalling with the goal of running the defendant
out of money cannot be tolerated. What’s more the revelations that the FISA
Court system failed completely in providing the protections against spying on
Gen. Flynn and others well after the FBI knew they were innocent renews the
need to make lying to that Court a criminal offense punishable by no less than
10 years in federal prison. Every person in the FBI and DOJ who signed off on,
altered the records of, or failed to object to, the set up and false
prosecution of Mike Flynn should face the threat of prosecution with the loss
of their jobs, pensions and law licenses at the very least.”
Jim Geraghty: Bad state decisions about nursing homes are heavily driving the coronavirus outbreak
“Right now, a lot of people
really want to believe that as bad as the coronavirus outbreak is, the
consequences have been mitigated by good decisions made by governors like Gavin
Newsom, J. D. Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, Tom Wolf, Phil Murphy, and Andrew
Cuomo. But those governors, whatever their other strengths, all presided over
state governments that served their nursing homes and assisted living
facilities poorly — either through an inability to provide protective equipment
(Illinois), insufficient attention (Pennsylvania), or by sending recovering but
still contagious patients back into buildings with lots of other vulnerable
elderly (California, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York). The national media
have paid copious amounts of attention to the risk of spreading the coronavirus
in places like the beaches of Florida and the reopening of businesses in
Georgia. A refocus of the national media’s attention and criticism upon the
nursing homes in states like California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and New York is long overdue.”
Did China hide the coronavirus to help get the U.S.-China trade deal done?
By Robert Romano
The COVID-19 pandemic began in Wuhan, China in early December and may have been the result of an accident at a virology lab there.
And according to a “Five Eyes” intelligence report quoted by the Australian newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, China hid the truth from the world when it might have mattered, “Despite evidence of human-human transmission from early December, PRC authorities deny it until January 20… The World Health Organisation does the same. Yet officials in Taiwan raised concerns as early as December 31, as did experts in Hong Kong on January 4.”
Yet, it would not be until Jan. 20 that China confirmed human-to-human transmission, several weeks after the outbreak began, when high mortality rates were not yet apparent to the rest of the world. But on Jan. 24, China would lock down Wuhan and the surrounding region. A day later, on Jan. 25, the first doctor to treat the virus and who tried to warn the world about it died from it in China.
Now more than 274,000 people are dead worldwide, whether by China’s omission by incompetence or something more, paralyzing the global economy. More than 30 million jobs have been lost in the U.S. alone, with perhaps the worse yet to come as schools, businesses and government offices largely remain closed.
It is incumbent on China to prove to the world they are a reliable international partner. Beijing needs to come clean about the origin of this virus. There are also other commitments President Donald Trump and his administration ought to be keeping an eye on as well, including the U.S.-China trade deal that was signed on Jan. 15, the same day the virus first arrived in the U.S. in Washington State.
So, was China keeping the virus under wraps to try to get the trade deal done? What lengths would Beijing go to in order to secure its position as a global trade hegemon?
Now reports abound that China may not be keeping its end of the trade bargain, either, with only one-third of the $186 billion of promised purchases are now projected to be made, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Because there need to be consequences for all this.
Americans for Limited Government is sponsoring a petition at Whitehouse.gov to urge President Trump to “[i]ssue an executive order to eliminate our dependence on China for manufacturing important pharmaceutical and medical products… [c]reate an investigative team to assess the Chinese Communist Party’s role in covering up and spreading the pandemic… [and r]estrict China’s influence on our universities.”
In addition, one course of action the President might consider is to bar China from making any further purchases of U.S. treasuries. Why? China needs to keep buying treasuries to exert its trade advantage. Currently it holds a little less than $1.1. trillion and is the world’s second largest holder. Exporters tend to stockpile dollar-denominated assets to weaken the local currency. Without treasuries to fall back on, the yuan could appreciate vis a vis the dollar, even with the fixed exchange rate.
And despite more than $3 trillion of new treasuries to be issued by June to pay for all of the new government spending response to the pandemic-directed economic closures, interest rates are collapsing and the U.S. dollar has never been stronger.
That is because central banks and financial institutions all over the world are flooding into U.S. treasuries and other dollar-denominated assets in a flight to safety. That means there is surplus demand for dollars, and not even the torrent of deficit-spending can keep up with that demand presently.
As a result, until the dollar gets much weaker, we should expect unemployment to continue rising, too, as in past economic cycles.
Other risks associated with the strong dollar besides rising unemployment include deflation, collapsing home prices and perverse incentives for Americans not to pay their mortgages. We could see another financial crisis because of all this.
And that’s just the beginning.
All because China apparently thought it needed to keep the coronavirus under wraps. President Trump should give Beijing a week to come out with the truth to the world about what it knew and when it knew it about the virus and to make good on the U.S.-China trade deal—or all bets are off.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
To view online: http://dailytorch.com/2020/05/did-china-hide-the-coronavirus-to-help-get-the-u-s-china-trade-deal-done/
Video: ALG’s Manning on OANN urging President Trump to hold China accountable
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZAho3DBfaQ
Truth and justice served as case against Michael Flynn dismissed
May 7, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Justice Department’s decision to dismiss all charges against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn:
“The Obama Department of Justice and the FBI holdovers illegally targeted Trump National Security Advisor, Lt. General Mike Flynn, in a successful attempt to remove him from that critical position, and today, finally, justice has been partially served through the dropping of charges against Flynn.
“It is criminal that politically motivated federal intelligence and law enforcement officials abused their authority so completely, with utter disregard for the truth or justice itself. In America, Lady Justice is supposed to be blind-folded, but in Flynn’s case not only was her blind-fold off, but her sword was held against the Generals throat. Those responsible for directing and operating this attack on the basic premises of liberty should not only be fired, but the Department of Justice should pursue criminal charges against them. Doctoring of forms, failure to adhere to laws ensuring the accused basic protections and years of stonewalling with the goal of running the defendant out of money cannot be tolerated.
“What’s more the revelations that the FISA Court system failed completely in providing the protections against spying on Gen. Flynn and others well after the FBI knew they were innocent renews the need to make lying to that Court a criminal offense punishable by no less than 10 years in federal prison. Every person in the FBI and DOJ who signed off on, altered the records of, or failed to object to, the set up and false prosecution of Mike Flynn should face the threat of prosecution with the loss of their jobs, pensions and law licenses at the very least. Those on the Mueller investigation team who KNEW that Flynn was innocent from the outset should also face the same kind of scrutiny and punishment for continuing this on-going lie.
“As for Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, she has distinguished herself as a fearless, tough fighter for true justice against overwhelming odds. If not for her tenacity in defense of justice, Flynn’s complete exoneration would never have occurred and those who sought to undermine the truth of the plot to take down Flynn would never have been exposed. Ms. Powell is a shining beacon of what an attorney should be in her pursuit for truth and justice, and America owes her a gigantic thank you for fighting unbowed against a recalcitrant, dirty Justice Department team determined to keep their malfeasance under wraps.
“It is my sincere hope that President Trump will bring General Flynn’s expertise in foreign matters back into the White House so that our nation can once again benefit from his unique skills and abilities. Those in the intelligence cabal who ran a three year long operation to take down President Trump from today forward should understand that they will not prevail, and hopefully, they will face the consequences of putting our great nation through a dark attempt to overturn the presidency of the duly elected President of the United States. However, the ultimate withdrawal of the charges against General Flynn do not bring the scales of justice back into balance, but instead allow for that balance to be restored when those responsible for this egregious prosecution are held to account.”
To view online: https://getliberty.org/2020/05/truth-and-justice-served-as-case-against-michael-flynn-dismissed/
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured column from the National Review, Jim Geraghty brings attention to botched state policies that have negatively impacted nursing homes in the COVID-19 pandemic:
Bad state decisions about nursing homes are heavily driving the coronavirus outbreak
By Jim Geraghty
Coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes have been particularly deadly in California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
You could make a strong argument that the country’s deadly coronavirus problem is largely a nursing home problem, dangerous everywhere but far more prevalent in a half-dozen or so of the country’s more heavily and densely populated states. What’s more, many of these states enacted coronavirus response policies that likely put nursing and assisted-living home residents at higher risk for infection.
Right now, a lot of people really want to believe that as bad as the coronavirus outbreak is, the consequences have been mitigated by good decisions made by governors like Gavin Newsom, J. D. Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, Tom Wolf, Phil Murphy, and Andrew Cuomo. But those governors, whatever their other strengths, all presided over state governments that served their nursing homes and assisted living facilities poorly — either through an inability to provide protective equipment (Illinois), insufficient attention (Pennsylvania), or by sending recovering but still contagious patients back into buildings with lots of other vulnerable elderly (California, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York).
The national media have paid copious amounts of attention to the risk of spreading the coronavirus in places like the beaches of Florida and the reopening of businesses in Georgia. A refocus of the national media’s attention and criticism upon the nursing homes in states like California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York is long overdue. A lot of people have relished accusing the anti-lockdown protesters of “killing grandma.” It is time we took a more serious look at what lawmakers’ decisions led most directly to the deaths of so many grandmothers and grandfathers.
To view online: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bad-state-decisions-about-nursing-homes-are-heavily-driving-the-coronavirus-outbreak/
