3/11/2020
Google-Funded Tech Lobbyist Berin Szóka Apologizes for Post About Trump Dying from Coronavirus
By Allum Bokhari – 3/11/2020
D.C. swamp-creature Berin Szóka sparked outrage on Monday when he tweeted that it would be “poetic justice” if President Trump died of the Wuhan Coronavirus. But who is Berin Szóka?
Szóka is the president of TechFreedom, a non-profit that presents itself as an opponent of “top-down solutions” in tech policy.
The non-profit is deeply tied to Google. Disclosures from the tech giant show that TechFreedom not only receives funding from Google, but it is also part of its Public Policy Fellowship program, which places Google-picked interns at public policy organizations around the world, including TechFreedom.
Szóka’s tweet drew condemnation from a wide range of conservatives and Trump supporters, including Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Harmeet Dhillon, and Ann Coulter.
The TechFreedom president later deleted and apologized for the tweet, saying he would “never wish death upon anyone” and that it “doesn’t represent my organization’s opinion.”
However, the tweet could come back to haunt Szóka, who has attempted in recent years to persuade Republican lawmakers that they shouldn’t use their power to tackle political bias from Big Tech companies.
In 2018, Szóka supplied testimony to a House Judiciary Committee hearing on online censorship arguing that tech companies should not be stripped of their government-backed legal privilege, which renders them immune from lawsuits relating to the removal of certain types of content, as well as lawsuits related to the hosting of content.
Szóka argued that any attempt to tackle Silicon Valley’s well-documented bias against conservatives would be akin to a “fairness doctrine” for the internet.
He has also argued against crackdowns against Big Tech companies for their numerous violations of user privacy, telling the House Energy & Commerce committee in 2012 that “As valuable as ‘privacy’ can be, its value is not absolute.”
Given that Szóka’s job appears to consist of the increasingly difficult task of persuading policymakers not to go after Big Tech, his anti-Trump social media posts may come back to haunt him. As the tweet from Rep. Banks shows, Szóka’s anti-Trump invective is not endearing him to Republican policymakers.
Szóka has not responded to a Breitbart News request for comment.
Merkel: Most people in Germany likely to contract Coronavirus
3/11/2020
What’s wrong with that woman and allowing unwanted things into the country?
Twisted Strategy: CNN Fantasizes How Virus Can Help Dems Win 2020
https://www.mrctv.org/embed/548118
https://www.mrctv.org/videos/twisted-strategy-cnn-fantasizes-how-virus-can-help-dems-win-2020
https://www.mrctv.org/node/548118
‘When Joe Biden becomes President, there will be a return to moral normalcy and competance’
Steve Watson
While many leftists are accusing President Trump of politicising the coronavirus, CNN devoted a whole segment to daydreaming about how the potential pandemic could help Democrats win the election.
As part of its primary night broadcast Tuesday, CNN’s anchors and guests discussed how the panic over the spread of the virus will hinder Trump’s relection.
Democrat dropout Andrew Yang suggested there will be a growing “real hunger for” an administration like former President Obama’s among “many, many Americans if the coronavirus crisis continues to grow.”
Yang suggested that “when” Joe Biden becomes President, there would be “a return to moral normalcy, but it’s also going to begin to look like a return to competence because Trump and the Republicans have been running the government in sort of an anti-government frame, which is not what you want when you’re dealing with a health crisis.”
“And we all know when Joe becomes our president, he’s going to bring back many of the Obama alums who are really, really competent and technocratic,” Yang further claimed.
Anderson Cooper chimed in, suggesting “We’ve also never seen a situation like this, certainly in modern times, in terms of a potential pandemic influencing the next couple of months in a way that’s kind of hard to even imagine.”
“I mean, obviously there is the difference on health care between Sanders and Biden, but if — You know, if hospitals are overwhelmed, if, you know, the military is called in, if people are being triaged in school gymnasiums on respirators or whatever, however bad it may get..” Cooper continued.
“Nothing makes you appreciate a functional government like a global pandemic.” Yang interjected.
“There are very few people who have seen what happens when a society, you know, has the potential to really burst at the seams,” Cooper added.
This is how desperate Democrats have become. Acknowledging that the only way they can defeat Trump is if society completely collapses.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot cancels St. Patrick’s Day parades because of coronavirus, says they’ll be rescheduled
By John Byrne – 3/11/2020
The coronavirus claimed its first major events in Chicago’s civic life Wednesday, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot canceled the city’s massive St. Patrick’s Day parades for this weekend because of fears the disease would spread through the dense crowds.
The mayor made her decision after days of speculation as other cities from Boston to Dublin dropped their festivities for the holiday. Lightfoot called off Saturday’s downtown parade and Sunday’s South Side Irish parade just days before they were set to step off. She also canceled a smaller Northwest Side parade.
“This was not an easy decision and we don’t take it lightly,” Lightfoot said at a morning news conference with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other officials announcing the decision.
The mayor’s last minute move to shut down the parades reflects the difficulty of the call. The St. Patrick’s Day revelry — which features the famous dyeing of the Chicago River green on the morning of the downtown parade — is a huge boon to Chicago hotels, restaurants and bars as people stream into the city from throughout the Midwest.
Lightfoot said officials would work to reschedule the parades at a later date.
The local tourism industry is already reeling from the recent cancellations of several big trade shows at McCormick Place, and the St. Patrick’s Day events draw tens of thousands of spectators.
But in the end, Lightfoot had to know she would be judged more harshly if Chicago got hit especially hard by the COVID-19 virus and the outbreak was traced back to the decision to go ahead with the parades. Health officials have been warning for weeks that the best way to avoid contracting the respiratory ailment is to avoid close contact with people who are infected.
“Like cities across the nation, we concluded that having a parade at this time posed an unnecessary risk to the public’s health,” she said.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, noted how hard it was to scrap the events.
“It was a very difficult call for the Mayor,” Reilly said Wednesday. “Nobody is more sensitive to the concerns of the downtown business community than I am, so this is very disappointing. But, as the son of a public health doctor who ran County Hospital, I can say this is 100% the right call.”
Pritzker said he supported the decision as officials were trying to minimize the rampant spread of COVID-19.
“This is not a decision that she took lightly, and we all know what the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations mean to the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said. “Because of what we’ve seen nationally, and across the world, of the increased risk of large gatherings, this was the right call.”
With the mayor out of town on vacation, Pritzker on Tuesday questioned whether Chicago’s parades should happen this weekend, even as event organizers and city officials said the celebrations would go on as planned.
There’s a precedent for a public spectacle causing serious public fallout during an outbreak.
In 1918, Philadelphia went ahead with a parade meant to drum up support for the sale of bonds to fund the U.S. effort in World War I, despite concerns about the burgeoning Spanish flu. Philadelphia then saw particularly high flu rates, and the decision to hold the parade has been blamed by historians.
VIDEO: MASSIVE HORDE INVADES TOILET PAPER AISLE
This video reveals how easily society can collapse during mass, exploitable hysteria
MARCH 10, 2020
Security camera footage shows a massive horde descending upon an toilet paper aisle amid the Coronavirus chaos.
The footage shot at an Aldi store, which is a discount supermarket, in Melbourne, Australia, shows a mob descending zombie-style on freshly stocked toilet paper:
This video reveals how easily society can collapse into violent, tribal mobs at the first hint of mass hysteria – and why it’s critical to be well prepared before panic strikes.
Nancy Pelosi Shuts Down Nadler’s Request to Flee DC over Coronavirus: ‘We’re the Captains of This Ship’
By Joshua Caplan – 3/10/2020
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on Tuesday said Democrats should flee Washington, D.C. as coronavirus continues to spread across the United States — A suggestion which was immediately shut down by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), according to a report.
Nadler made the remark in a closed-door caucus meeting on the deadly illness.
“We are the captains of the ship. We are the last to leave,” Pelosi responded, echoing a comment by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) moments earlier, The Hill reports.
Concerns about a possible coronavirus outbreak in the Capitol have grown as several lawmakers have self-quarantined after coming into contact with infected individuals.
Five Republicans, including President Donald Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), have quarantined themselves are coming into contact with someone with the virus at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
“While he’s experiencing zero symptoms, under doctors’ standard precautionary recommendations, he’ll remain at home until the 14-day period expires this Wednesday,” Ben Williamson, Meadows’ chief of staff, said in a statement.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who flew with President Trump aboard Air Force One on Monday, announced he would be taking two weeks of self-imposed isolation after coming into contact at CPAC with the person diagnosed with the virus.
News of the CPAC infection came days after the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) announced attendees to its policy conference last week may have come into contact with a person infected with the virus.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began in China in December, there have been more than 4,000 deaths and 113,000 cases worldwide, including 21 fatalities in the United States and more than 500 cases of the disease.
In a statement on Sunday, ACU said the Maryland Department of Health has screened thousands of employees at the resort, conference center and hotel where the conference was held and “not a single person has reported any unusual illness.”
“The Dept. of Health is not restricting the movement or interactions with others of those hotel employees,” it said in a statement, adding it is encouraging them to take their temperature twice daily and pay attention for symptoms.
The ACU said the infected attendee was receiving medical care in New Jersey and was quarantined.
In a separate situation, Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA) said she has self-isolated herself after having come into contact last week in Washington, D.C., with a person who has tested positive for the virus.
The UPI contributed to this report.
NYC HARDWARE STORE SELLING HAND SANITIZER FOR $109 A BOTTLE
Shameless price gouging.
MARCH 10, 2020
In yet another shameless act of price gouging, a hardware store in New York is selling bottles of hand sanitizer for $109 dollars a pop.
Yes, really.
Taking full advantage of the growing hysteria surrounding coronavirus, Scheman & Grant Hardware at Eighth Avenue and 38th Street is now selling 1200 ml bottles of Purell that normally retail for $5.49 for a gargantuan $79 dollars.
Meanwhile, larger 2 liter bottles of Purell are selling for $109 each.
The shocking prices are not deterring customers. The smaller bottles are flying off the shelves and the $109 bottles have sold out.
“Everyone who comes in the store buys them. We sold about fifty of those today,” one employee told the New York Post.
Mayor Bill de Blasio reacted by saying the situation sounded like price gouging and that he would be sending the Department of Consumer Affairs to “pay them a visit immediately.”
However, economist Peter Schiff said stores couldn’t be blamed for hiking prices in times of massive demand.
“People are raising prices for certain supplies. Well of course,” Schiff said. “Demand’s going up. Of course you’re going to raise prices! What are you supposed to do? If you don’t raise prices, all of your stuff is going to get bought by a few people who are then going to hoard it or resell it on the black market. Prices are a rationing mechanism.”
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