Month: April 2020

Commentary: President Trump Did the Right Thing By Choosing Life at Every Turn Against the Coronavirus

Minnesota Sun Staff

At some point early in the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump had a choice to make. While Congress was hopelessly distracted with impeachment mania, the first case had arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 15 in Washington state from Wuhan, China, and would not be identified until Jan. 20. That was just three days after the second death had been reported from Wuhan on Jan. 17.

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Gov. Walz Faces Backlash Over Controversial COVID-19 Model

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called a press conference Friday afternoon to discuss the modeling the state is using in its coronavirus response, but faced harsh criticism for closing the briefing to the public.

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Zoom Recruits Former Facebook Security Chief as Critics Bash the Tech Firm for Privacy Lapses

Minnesota Sun Staff

An upshot tech company recruited Facebook’s former security chief to help fix glitches in the firm’s video chat app that reports say are leaving customers vulnerable to hackers and spammers.

Former Facebook executive Alex Stamos announced Thursday that he is joining an effort to help Zoom right the ship after reports revealed problems in its security system. Stamos made the decision to help after CEO Eric Yuan contacted him after he tweeted out some advice on the topic.

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Arizona Lawmakers Duke It Out Over Transgender Athlete Bill

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Arizona House Republicans approved a bill to ban transgender women, those born as biological males, from competing in women’s sports.

Rep. Nancy Barto, a Phoenix Republican, is the sponsor of the Save Women’s Sports Act which prevents transgender women from participating in women’s sports because of the inherent biology of  “chromosomal” and “hormonal” differences between males and females.

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Commentary: The Republican Party Must Not Betray Their Base in the Coming Economic Recovery

Minnesota Sun Staff

As we contemplate a possible end to the ongoing pandemic shutdown, several questions lie ahead for us.

First – and foremost on everyone’s minds – is when will the lockdown end? And when it ends, what will be left of our economy?

One thing is certain now: The national lockdown is crushing small businesses.

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Unclassified: Ex-Trump Aide Papadopoulos’ Secret Conversation with an FBI Informant

Minnesota Sun Staff

Former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos told an FBI informant in late October 2016 that he did not believe the Trump campaign was working with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election, according to a 171-page transcript of the secretly recorded conversation obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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6.6 Million More US Workers Claim Jobless Benefits

Admin

Another 6.6 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment compensation last week as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the American economy, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The new figure pushed the three-week total to more than 16 million workers looking for financial assistance, with millions more laid-off employees expected to file claims in the coming weeks as businesses large and small shut their operations or severely limit them.

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Commentary: President Trump’s Leadership in Pandemic Paves Way to Reelection

Minnesota Sun Staff

One of the characteristics of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is its unique political explosiveness. In order to deal effectively with it, President Trump has had to show a good deal of dexterity, which his always numerous and vocal critics have assailed as incoherence, or insincerity.

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Federal Court Cites Emergency Powers, Backs Texas Abortion Ban

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Mary Margaret Olohan   A federal appeals court backed Texas’s right to ban abortions during the coronavirus crisis. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the state’s right to temporarily prohibit abortions until April 21 during the coronavirus pandemic in a Tuesday ruling, Politico reported. The court…

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Colorado Dad Handcuffed in Front of Young Daughter for Allegedly Violating ‘Social Distancing’ Rules

Minnesota Sun Staff

A father was arrested and cuffed in front of his 6-year-old daughter at a park in Brighton, Colorado, Sunday afternoon, after he allegedly violated the state’s social distancing guidelines and refused to show his identification to the police.

Now Matt Mooney, 33, thinks the police owe him an apology, according to FOX31.

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Sen. Graham: ‘No More Money For WHO’ Until They Have New Leadership

Minnesota Sun Staff

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday vowed to strip funding for the World Health Organization from the next appropriations bill because of its pro-China virus.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Story,” Graham agreed with President Trump’s view that W.H.O. under the current leadership has become “very China-centric” and unworthy of the United States’ funding.

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Commentary: How Extreme Is Too Extreme for Dems and Mail-In Voting Schemes?

Minnesota Sun Staff

Lay the groundwork. According to the Wiktionary, the phrase is a verb which means, “To create a foundation; to provide the basics or fundamentals… (Example) The introductory mathematics courses will lay the groundwork for all your subsequent engineering studies.”

We all do it — lay the groundwork, that is. It’s what planning people do, prepare for the future. With all the recent establishment news media fixation on the Chinese Communist Party (or Wuhan, whichever you prefer) virus, there’s been a heck of a lot of chatter about organization and speed and whether the Trump administration acted quickly enough in the beginning to stem the spread of the twenty-first century plague in the United States. Liberal talkers and Democrats have made much hay over purported delays in the federal government’s efforts to deal with the budding outbreak in February and March.

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Moments After Sanders Suspends His Campaign, Biden Appeals Supporters: ‘You’re Needed’ To Beat Trump

Minnesota Sun Staff

Former Vice President Joe Biden appealed to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s supporters Wednesday to get behind his presidential campaign ahead of the November election.

The movement Sanders helped create will become an indispensable tool to help change in the future, Biden wrote in a Medium post, which was published after the senator dropped his White House bid. The olive branch represents a departure from what Biden was saying earlier in the primary.

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ICE Officers Arrest Illegal Alien Gang Member Wanted for Murder

Minnesota Sun Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a gang member living in the United States unlawfully shortly after an arrest warrant was issued on him for capital murder.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers on Thursday apprehended Jonathan Alexander Gonzalez-Rosales, a 25-year-old Salvadoran national and illegal alien, according to a press release from the agency. A member of the 18th Street Gang — a transnational criminal organization — Gonzalez-Rosales had been on the run from U.S. authorities for nearly two years.

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Overwhelming Majority of Americans Hold Chinese Government Responsible for Coronavirus

Minnesota Sun Staff

A bipartisan consensus has emerged among Americans of all political stripes regarding the Chinese government’s culpability for the spread of coronavirus.

Some 90% of Republicans, 67% of Democrats and 75% of independents believe the Chinese government is responsible for the spread of the virus, according to a Harris tracking poll of 1,993 American adults surveyed between April 3 and April 5.

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Carol Swain Commentary: Is This Pandemic What God Describes in Revelation?

Minnesota Sun Staff

When Bill and Gloria Gaither penned the words for “The King Is Coming,” they were warning of Jesus Christ’s imminent return. They weren’t describing life during the current global coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down some of the busiest cities in the world such as New York, Los Angeles, London and Moscow. We know a lot about the pandemic. Now is a good time to discuss the possible spiritual significance for Christians.

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Doctors Can Place COVID-19 on Death Certificates Without Confirmed Test Results, Minnesota Senator Says

Anthony Gockowski

State Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska), a practicing physician, has sounded the alarm about a CDC guidance that gives doctors the authority to include “suspected or likely” cases of COVID-19 on death certificates.

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IHME Model Drastically Lowers U.S. Coronavirus Death Projections to 60,415

Admin

Seven states will have seen their peak hospital resource use come and go by the end of Wednesday, according to a leading coronavirus projection model that has informed the White House’s response to the pandemic.

New York, Michigan and Louisiana, which have seen some of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the United States, are among the states projected to reach peak hospital resource usage by the end of Wednesday, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) model. Vermont, Washington, Colorado and Ohio are also projected to reach their peak hospital resource use by the end of the day, the model shows.

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3D Printing Presents Possible Solution to Personal Protective Equipment Shortage

Anthony Gockowski

Mayo Clinic announced last week that it is exploring the possibility of 3D printing face masks and other personal protective equipment items to employ in the national fight against COVID-19.

The famous clinic said its 3D Anatomic Modeling Laboratories across the country as well as its Division of Engineering are working together to “reverse-engineer, 3D-print and machine solutions for patient care.”

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Commentary: Rethinking University Dependence on Foreign Students

Minnesota Sun Staff

Were all of the foreign students returning to America’s campuses in January vectors of infection for coronavirus? Especially the students from China? There’s no evidence yet to prove the point, although the odds are that at least some coronavirus infection came to the United States from foreign students.

If we’ve been spared a campus plague, it’s owing to the grace of God, and not to any actions by our colleges and universities.

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Wells Fargo Bows Out of Small Business Bailout Program After Receiving $10 Billion of Loan Applications

Minnesota Sun Staff

One of the largest banks in the United States announced that it is no longer accepting applications for a federal program aimed at rescuing small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Wells Fargo has stopped accepting new applications for the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, an initiative created by the government to assist U.S. businesses that employ fewer than 500 people. The bank’s decision came after it was inundated with billions of dollars in loan requests since Friday.

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Michigan Dem Says Chloroquine Saved Her Life, Thanks Trump for ‘Making It a Priority’

Minnesota Sun Staff

A Democrat state representative from Detroit, Michigan, who has been battling the coronavirus for weeks, is crediting hydroxychloroquine for saving her life, the Detroit Free Press reported on Monday.  State Rep. Karen Whitset thanked President Trump  – even as the corporate media continued to criticize him for touting an “unproven” drug—because she would not have asked for it unless he had brought it up.

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Commentary: $350 Billion of Forgivable Loans for 8 Weeks Won’t Be Enough to Save 30 Million Small Businesses

Minnesota Sun Staff

One of the key aspects of President Donald Trump and Congress’ $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package are provisions for $350 billion for 30 million small businesses to cover payrolls for 60 million Americans for eight weeks to encourage people to stay home to wait out the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

Along with the expanded unemployment and credit facilities covering critical industries and larger employers, the policy is designed to ensure that in saving as many lives as possible — the White House coronavirus task force has said as many as 2.2 million Americans could die without social distancing — we don’t find ourselves in a long, deep recession or depression as a result that might take a decade to recover from.

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Researchers Lower Fatality Projections in Coronavirus Model Used by White House

Minnesota Sun Staff

The researchers whose model the White House has used to help guide its coronavirus response lowered their estimate Sunday for the number of Americans projected to die during the first wave of the pandemic.

The model, from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, now projects 81,766 deaths in the United States through Aug. 1, with most of the fatalities occurring by the middle of May. The IHME team projected a range of between 49,431 and 136,401 for the same period.

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Commentary: Constitution-Respecting Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce Lockdowns

Minnesota Sun Staff

Across the country governors, county commissioners and executives, and city and town officials have announced “lockdowns” or stay-at-home orders of dubious constitutional validity. The result of these orders is the bizarre situation in which jails are being emptied of criminals while individuals engaged in their ordinary business at appropriate social distance have been arrested for the crime of being outside their home.

One of the most high-profile examples of this inverted constitutional order happened in California, where a paddle boarder was arrested near the Malibu Pier for ignoring orders from lifeguards to get out of the water. CBS News Los Angeles reports the unidentified man spent 30 to 40 minutes paddling in the ocean waters off Malibu Beach after refusing to heed orders from L.A. County lifeguards to go ashore. LASD Harbor Patrol brought in a boat, at which point the paddleboarder voluntarily swam in and was taken into custody.

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Trump Pushes Lupus-Coronavirus Study, But the Evidence Is Mixed

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Chuck Ross   President Donald Trump again touted the drug hydroxychloroquine Saturday, citing an unspecified study showing that lupus patients are fighting off coronavirus infections because they take the drug hydroxychloroquine. Trump has come under fire from some health experts and journalists for hyping the hydroxychloroquine as a potential…

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Attorneys General Give Conflicting Views on Future of Antitrust Probe Targeting Google as States Respond to Virus Spread

Minnesota Sun Staff

The attorneys general who are involved in an antitrust investigation targeting Google are weighing whether to press the accelerator on the probe or focus resources on the coronavirus response.

Google is doing everything it can to protect not only its employees, but also Americans, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry told the Daily Caller News Foundation. He is referring to what he said was the company’s work to help the Trump administration on the virus response.

Landry is one of the 33 attorneys general who is helping to spearhead the probe.

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ICE Says Reports of Hunger Strikes by Detainees Are Completely False

Minnesota Sun Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is pushing back against reports that detainees in its facility in Tacoma, Washington, are going on a hunger strike.

Over the past several days, activists have said detainees at the Northwest ICE Processing Center have gone on a hunger strike in order to force concessions out of ICE amid the coronavirus pandemic, claims that were then cited by several news outlets. However, the agency came out with a strong statement late Sunday, saying such claims are bogus.

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Smugglers Posed as Border Wall Construction Workers, Shootout Ensued: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

Migrant smugglers reportedly posed as border wall construction employees, and one of them shot at a Border Patrol agent following a high-speed chase.

Smugglers on Wednesday entered the U.S. with vehicles, designed to look like pickup trucks involved with border wall construction, carrying numerous illegal aliens, according to a report from the Washington Times. A dangerous encounter took place after Border Patrol agents became suspicious of the pickup trucks and began to follow them.

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Professor Encourages Students to File ‘Bias Reports’ if They Hear Someone Say ‘Chinese Virus’

Minnesota Sun Staff

A professor at the University of Nevada, Reno encourages students and faculty to file bias reports to combat “coronavirus” racism.

President Donald Trump recently referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” at a press briefing saying, “It’s not racist at all.” Trump began using the term “Chinese virus” after China attempted to blame the U.S. military for the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Nicole Jacobs, associate dean of diversity and inclusion at the University of Nevada, Reno published an article on the university’s website, encouraging readers to combat “coronavirus racism.” According to Jacobs, Americans need to “ARISE” to become an “active bystander” and oppose “act[s] of racism and bias.” To Jacobs, this also includes comments like “Chinese virus.”

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Commentary: The Coronavirus Crisis Is President Trump’s Opportunity for Lasting Victories for His America First Agenda

Minnesota Sun Staff

When Rahm Emanuel told audiences that former President Barack Obama should “never let a serious crisis go to waste,” he was applauded. Emanuel was referring to the Obama Administration’s response to the Great Recession. Clearly, President Obama agreed. Obama ushered in the greatest reorganization of the American socio-economic order under the auspices of resolving the financial crisis (which, of course, Obama never actually did resolve).

Similarly, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China offers President Trump a momentous opportunity to enact his own sweeping agenda – all of which would be far more beneficial to the American people than Obama’s statism. Trump needs to press his advantage with as much vigor and alacrity as Obama pressed his during the financial crisis.

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Walz Launches ‘Bias and Discrimination’ Helpline for Reporting Incidents to the State

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that his office has created a “discrimination helpline” amid “rising reports of discrimination from the Asian American community.”

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan claimed that America has a “distinct pattern” of “increased discrimination during uncertain and trying times, of needing someone to blame.”

“This is unacceptable and, as Minnesotans, we must work to break this cycle,” she added.

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