Newsweek Publishes Op-Ed Blasting Media Hate Of Hydroxychloroquine Treatment For COVID-19

PA Pundits International

By P.J. Gladnick ~

Something strange seems to be going on with Newsweek. Although few are still aware it even exists and even fewer actually read it, they sometimes publish stories that diverge drastically from its usual liberal orthodoxy. Perhaps they are willing to sometimes commit such heresy simply to draw attention. And in the case of their op-ed column by a Yale professor of epidemiology on Thursday, they sure got the attention of anyone reading it since it utterly shattered the media taboo against hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.

The liberals say we “must listen to the experts” and it is hard to find someone with more expertise on the subject of the control of diseases than Harvey A. Risch, MD, PHD, Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health who wrote “The Key to Defeating COVID-19 Already Exists. We Need to Start Using It.”

As professor…

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Why Is The COVID-19 Caseload Rising In California?

PA Pundits International

By Kevin Pham ~

The United States had made great progress in suppressing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, by mid-June, the number of new cases began to surge, and now daily incidence of COVID-19 cases has far exceeded the confirmed daily incidence during the early peak of the pandemic.

In the time that Texas was well into its third phase of reopening, California had only begun moving into its second, yet is seeing a similar surge in cases. Pictured: A street art piece by artist Pony Wave on March 21, 2020, in Venice, California. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

There are several states that are nexuses of the current rush of cases. Much of the media attention has been devoted to Florida and to Texas. Both states have been criticized for reopening too soon, but one state cannot be criticized for loosening restrictions too soon.

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CNN’s Joke-Shaming Double Standard

PA Pundits International

By Tim Graham ~

On May 20, CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time aired one of those jokey interviews between CNN host Chris Cuomo and his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The governor had submitted himself to a coronavirus test on camera. Chris decided to mock the size of his brother’s nostrils by unveiling a series of ever-larger Q-Tips (or test swabs) and cracked his brother up.

CNN happily posted the fun on YouTube under the headline “Chris Cuomo teases brother Andrew with giant test swab,” now at about 693,000 views.

Before that, Chris asked his brother “First of all, is it true that when you are having the test administered, you inhaled and the doctor’s finger went all the way up your nose and got stuck and it had to be released with a tool?”

So it was an epic series of hypocritical outrages on June 21 and 22, after…

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Advancing Economic Freedom Is Key To Ensuring America’s Economic Rebound

PA Pundits International

By Anthony B Kim ~

Having recently unveiled its final report, The Heritage Foundation’s National Coronavirus Recovery Commission offered a clear pathway to America’s economic rebound with specific, actionable recommendations for policymakers.

To reboot the abruptly halted economy, America needs to advance pro-people, pro-free enterprise economic policies that will not only fast track the economic rebound, but will also have a long-term positive impact on our society. (Photo: Thomas Barwick/Getty Images)

Highlighting the interwoven critical linkage between good public health policy and sound economic policy, the commission’s final report underscored the importance of economic freedom to our recovery efforts:

The United States will be a linchpin for international recovery and must demonstrate vigorous, strategic, and compassionate leadership in this crisis that has affected the entire world. One of the most powerful tools America has to advance recovery at home and abroad is free enterprise. America must use the natural strengths…

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Why Democracy And Free Markets Are The Best Antidotes To Pandemics

PA Pundits International

By Anthony B Kim ~

In a recent article, The Economist provided compelling evidence that “democracies contain epidemics most effectively.”

According to the article’s analysis,

… most data suggest that political freedom can be a tonic against disease. The Economist has [analyzed] epidemics from 1960 to 2019. Though these outbreaks varied in contagiousness and lethality, a clear correlation emerged. Among countries with similar wealth, the lowest death rates tend to be in places where most people can vote in free and fair elections. Other definitions of democracy give similar results.

Societies with greater economic freedom through free-market policies also tend to have greater capacity to counter infectious diseases. Pictured: A sign in Madison Square Park on May 22, 2020, in New York City. (Photo: John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Not surprisingly, societies with greater economic freedom through free-market policies also tend to have greater capacity to counter infectious diseases.

What’s the best…

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Productivity Pitfalls of Working from Home in the Age of COVID-19

Nicholas Bloom’s research has measured the benefits of working from home. But in the current coronavirus crisis, the economist fears productivity will plummet.

The global work-from-home movement intended to maintain output and efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic could actually generate a worldwide productivity slump and threaten economic growth for many years, says Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom.

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva on Pexels.com

“We are home working alongside our kids, in unsuitable spaces, with no choice and no in-office days,” says Bloom, a professor of economics (by courtesy) at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. “This will create a productivity disaster for firms.”

For those even a bit familiar with some of Bloom’s more popular scholarship, the economist’s dire prediction might come as a surprise. In 2015, the Quarterly Journal of Economics published a paper he coauthored extolling the benefits of working from home. The study drew attention and interest from journalists, business leaders and employees looking to avoid long commutes, skirt office politics, and develop a better work-life balance.

NY Times Front Page Divides: ‘The Coronavirus Is Deadliest Where Democrats Live’

PA Pundits International

By Clay Waters ~

It’s official: The coronavirus is a partisan weapon for the New York Times. The paper deployed it in its co-lead story slot Monday — Memorial Day — “Virus at Its Deadliest in the Strongholds of Democrats.” The online version of that headline was even blunter: “The Coronavirus Is Deadliest Where Democrats Live.” Those are awfully partisan ways to frame the health crisis, seemingly geared to make or keep people angry. and apart.

Reporters Jennifer Medina and Robert Gebeloff told the faintly tasteless story of a Red America blissfully unaware of the suffering of Blue America, while slamming “right-wing media.”

The staggering American death toll from the coronavirus, now approaching 100,000, has touched every part of the country, but the losses have been especially acute along its coasts, in its major cities, across the industrial Midwest, and in New York City.

The devastation, in…

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Media’s Outrage At US Over EU’s COVID-19 Vaccine Fundraiser Is Baseless

PA Pundits International

By James Carafano and Brett Schaefer ~

The European Union organized a teleconference earlier this week to solicit pledges of funds to support efforts to develop and produce a COVID-19 vaccine.

The effort raised $8.1 billion in pledges, mostly from “around 40 countries, the U.N., research institutes, and philanthropic bodies, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,” according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

A researcher works on a vaccine against the coronavirus at the Copenhagen University’s research lab in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 23, 2020. (Photo: Thibault Savary / AFP/Getty Images)

Instead of lauding the effort, however, mostmediacoverage seemed more interested in criticizing the U.S. for not participating.

When can America reopen? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, is gathering America’s top thinkers together to figure that out. Learn more here.

That’s a prime example of style over substance, which sadly…

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California’s Post COVID-19 Financial Catastrophe

PA Pundits International

By Ronald Stein ~

Californians will continue to pay some of the highest costs for electricity and fuel use as the State unexpectedly collides catastrophically with the global pandemic that will impact businesses and employment for an unpredictable economic future.

The State’s much-touted $21 billion operating-budget surplus is likely to disappear entirely due to declining tax revenues and rising public welfare costs.

Sacramento has not yet disappeared by seawater submergence but its urban-centered politicians—who were elected by misinformed Californians—continue to skirt logical solutions addressing the causes of the state’s ultra-extreme consumer energy costs. Such extra-ordinary energy costs can only lead to the state’s stagnation and retard its post-COVID-19 economic recovery efforts.

As America recovers from the COVID-19 shelter-in-place medical treatment of choice on the nation’s economy, California cannot rid itself from the continuing and state-prescribed high costs of energy that other states are not shackled by, and those elected California officials…

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How Close Is US To Herd Immunity For COVID-19? What The Numbers Show

PA Pundits International

By Kevin Pham ~

There has been considerable interest lately in Sweden’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Sweden’s top epidemiologist, Dr. Anders Tegnell, Sweden is expected to achieve herd immunity in several weeks’ time.

Relying on data from one survey, approximately 1.7 million people in New York City have had the coronavirus. Pictured: Medical workers stand outside NYU Langone Health hospital as people applaud to show their appreciation to medical staff and essential workers on April 21, 2020, in New York City. (Photo: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

Sweden pursued a much more relaxed mitigation strategy, practicing social distancing while avoiding a national lockdown, and approximately 20% of Swedes may have been infected and may now be immune to the virus.

When can America reopen? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, is gathering America’s top thinkers together to figure that out. Learn more here

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