1) Governor Grading Changes: Cuomo Cover-up Earns an F; Abbott Rises to A
As promised, we continue to update our Governors Report Card on Economic Reopening in the 50 States. Here are the latest revisions:
DOWN:
Cuomo, New York D to F: Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home scandal has become a full-blown cover up – while his insane lockdown stays in effect even through riots. That’s an F.
Kelly, Kansas, D to F: COVID barely existed in Kansas, yet Governor Laura Kelly imposed a lockdown comparable to hard-hit states. While she made restrictions optional for counties, she’s now using her veto pen to stop every effort to provide transparency and tax relief to the victims of her lockdown. More in her anti-hero award below.
UP:
Abbott, Texas B to A: Greg Abbott has Texas now nearly fully open with no increase in coronavirus disease. Great job.
Whitmer, Michigan from F to D: Okay maybe we are easy graders. And maybe the lawsuits and her husband’s missteps made her do it, but Gretchen Whitmer has now significantly reversed many of her economically strangling restrictions.
Newsom, California D to C: Gavin Newsom adopted more reasonable standards and has substantially loosened his lockdown grip in many counties. He now merits a C… slow learner but now scared at end of semester.
2) The Truth About Those “Peaceful Protesters” in Lafayette Square Outside White House…
It was everywhere. Outrage from every Democrat and more than a few Republicans that U.S. Park Police supposedly fired tear gas into “peaceful” protestors. Yesterday morning that reporting was disputed by WTOP, a local left-of-center newsradio station which reported no tear gas was used. By afternoon there were two official statements, one from the head of the Park Police and one from its labor union. They agreed on the facts. Per the Park Police:
“At approximately 6:33 pm, violent protestors on H Street NW began throwing projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids. The protestors also climbed onto a historic building at the north end of Lafayette Park that was destroyed by arson days prior. Intelligence had revealed calls for violence against the police, and officers found caches of glass bottles, baseball bats and metal poles hidden along the street.
“To curtail the violence that was underway, the USPP, following established policy, issued three warnings over a loudspeaker to alert demonstrators on H Street to evacuate the area. Horse mounted patrol, Civil Disturbance Units and additional personnel were used to clear the area. As many of the protestors became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls. No tear gas was used.”
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/uspp/6_2_20_statement_from_acting_chief_monahan.htm
Here’s a good rundown of all the outlets that ran with the fake version:
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/02/media-falsely-claimed-violent-riots-were-peaceful-and-that-tear-gas-was-used-against-rioters/
3) The $8 Trillion Lockdown
The Congressional Budget Office says the US economy could be $7.9 trillion smaller in real terms over the next decade than it otherwise would have been due to the pandemic. That’s a cumulative real drop of 3.0 percent over the decade.
“The revised forecast for nominal GDP reflects a significant markdown in CBO’s projection of real (inflation-adjusted) production in the United States as a result of the pandemic. Business closures and social distancing measures are expected to curtail consumer spending, while the recent drop in energy prices is projected to severely reduce U.S. investment in the energy sector.”
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56376
Let’s be clear. While liberals will spin the CBO report by saying the devastated economy was caused by the coronavirus, in reality the costs are almost all driven by insane lockdowns that have destroyed millions of jobs and businesses. The way to repair the damage is to restore order and restart the engines of our economy.
4) Stress Pandemic: Zoloft shortage
“One of the most widely prescribed antidepressants in the U.S. has fallen into short supply, as demand increases due to mental-health strains caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Isolation and anxiety triggered by the coronavirus have heightened demand for mental-health services. Zoloft prescriptions climbed 12% year-over-year to 4.9 million in March, the most ever in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-01/zoloft-falls-into-shortage-as-virus-heightens-supply-strains
5) Who Do You Call If The Mayor Is The Emergency?
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is full of excuses as to why the city failed to respond to the violence and looting of last weekend, which left 17 civilians dead and 48 injured. A total of 132 Chicago Police officers were also injured.
“The challenge was, it was everywhere,” she explained to reporters.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2020/6/1/21276893/chicago-protests-looting-aldermen-national-guard-troops-protect-neighborhoods
Many neighborhood aldermen aren’t satisfied with that explanation and say Chicago needs 3,000 National Guardsmen — not the 375 sent to Chicago by Gov. J.B. Pritzker — to combat looting.
Alderman Anthony Beale begged for protection for his local Walmart: “It is one of the last stores available that was not looted where people can go can for food and prescription drugs.”
Mayor Lightfoot didn’t provide many answers but she was sure on one point: Chicagoans should not try to defend themselves or their property. “Do not pick up arms and try to be police. If there’s a problem, call 911,” she sternly lectured her city’s residents.
“We will respond.”
When? In 2021?
6) Da Mayor Tells Us Who He Could Care Less About
New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who has called the New York City protests “overwhelmingly peaceful’ (sic) was asked by reporters yesterday why he was allowing hordes of protestors to crowd city streets while prayer services were still banned.
His answer:
“Four hundred years of American racism.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/not-the-same-question-de-blasio-says-businesses-churches-to-remain-closed-even-as-demonstrators-flout-lockdowns/
These side-by-side images from Forward say it all… de Blasio still has the NYPD harassing Jewish women and children, kicking them off playgrounds while they let rioters and looters run wild.
https://forward.com/opinion/447836/the-nypd-is-policing-jewish-mothers-while-the-city-burns/
7) What Do Protest Organizers Want?
We’ve been told it’s hard to learn what the actual demands of street protestors are because they’ve been obscured by the actions of rioters with no constructive agenda at all.
Some protestors we have talked to have entirely reasonable demands: Opening up sealed disciplinary records of police officers, a greater use of cameras mounted on police squad cars and pinned to officers, and a scaling back of the outsized power of police unions who prevent bad cops from being fired.
We’re all for it.
But sadly the organizers of the protests in New York City we’re aware of have different demands. Here’s an example of an email sent out by employees of the City University of New York:
“We demand the right to protest without fear of state retribution. We demand that the NYPD be defunded. We demand a tax on the wealthy to invest in our communities, to invest in our children, in working people, in our undocumented neighbors, in those who have been the target of state violence and racial terror for far too long. We demand justice.”
8) “Professor Lockdown” Admits Sweden Suppressed Virus Without Lockdown
Neil Ferguson is the British academic behind the infamous Imperial College model that warned that without an immediate lockdown the coronavirus would cause 250,000 deaths in Britain and 2.2 million in the U.S., swamping health systems – pushing both countries into lockdown.
But now Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports that in testimony this week before the House of Lords, Ferguson “has admitted that Sweden has achieved roughly the same suppression of coronavirus without draconian restrictions.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/02/prof-lockdown-neil-ferguson-admits-sweden-used-science-uk-has/
Professor Ferguson resigned from the government’s chief scientific advisory committee last month after he broke quarantine — despite testing positive — to meet his married lover. He hasn’t been heard from much since. That makes his fresh comments about Sweden before the Lords this week all the more noteworthy.
Ferguson said he found it “interesting that adopting a policy which is short of a full lockdown” has allowed Sweden to go “quite a long way to the same effect. That is something we are looking at very closely.”
That’s the good news. The bad news is you can’t believe one word this fraud says.
9) Anti-Hero Of The Day – Governor Laura Kelly
Democratic Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas has earned low marks from us in how she’s handled the virus lockdowns. She just lowered her grade further with a slew of anti-common sense vetoes.
https://kansaspolicy.org/governor-kellys-vetoes-showed-her-disdain-for-taxpayers/
Among the bills she axed were legislative oversight of her emergency authority, liability protection for healthcare workers and businesses, and greater transparency and a waiver of penalties on property tax bills. All of the bills passed with bipartisan super-majorities. But because the regular legislative session is over the vetoes can’t be overridden.
Legislators could vote to meet in special session but some are opposed because it would cut into their fundraising time before the November elections. After all, there are priorities.
10) Quote of the Day
The old Temptations 1970 single “Ball of Confusion” has an eerily prescient message for us this week.
The sale of pills are at an all-time high
Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky
The cities ablaze in the summer time
…
Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul
Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon
Politicians say more taxes will solve everything
…
Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Unemployment rising fast
…
People all over the world are shouting, ‘End the war’
Today, the message would be END THE LOCKDOWN!!!
11) Not a joke, but should be a joke. From the geniuses at Harvard.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/couples-should-wear-face-masks-during-sex-new-study-insists/
