Your Scream to start the weekend

Edvard Munch must be chuckling (meme via PowerLine blog) . . .

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ACTION ALERT: Senate looking at slipping in another immigration INCREASE. UPDATED

image credit: Insights.dice.com

UPDATE 5:08 on Thurs by Neil Munro on Breitbart:

Sen. Lindsey Graham is using the coronavirus recovery bills to dramatically expand the award of EB-5 green cards to wealthy Chinese if they lend money to U.S. real estate investors and other companies, according to several activists and Politico magazine.

“How can people pushing this not see how politically explosive this is?” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “An EB-5 increase would almost exclusively benefit Chinese: It is hard to imagine what they are thinking.”

The plan by Graham, (R-S.C.) was provided to Politico, which said it would “boost the number of [EB-5] visas offered to wealthy immigrants who invest money in the United States as it tries to boost a faltering economy amid the escalating coronavirus outbreak, according to four people familiar with the situation.” [Full update is here.]

[resuming from yesterday's blog] This just in from NumbersUSA:

Senators mulling immigration increases in emergency spending bills.

Tell your Senators to OPPOSE!

Our Capitol Hill team is learning of some troubling news. There are a handful of Senators, along with some in the White House, who are looking to slip an INCREASE of legal immigration into the emergency spending bills currently being drafted to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

The provision being discussed would increase the number of EB-5 visas from 10,000 to 75,000. The EB-5 visa program provides foreign nationals with a green card in return for an investment in an American business that leads to the creation of at least 10 jobs for American workers. Currently, investors have to invest at least $900,000, but the provision could reduce that amount to $450,000.

Quite simply, the EB-5 visa program is the selling of U.S. citizenship. It's ridiculous to think that while Americans are concerned about their jobs and their health, that some Senators are looking for ways to benefit foreign nationals instead.

Please call your two U.S. Senators and urge them to oppose any efforts to slip an EB-5 increase into the economic stimulus package. Congress should not be burying bad immigration policy into emergency bills.

The talking point: tell your Senators to oppose an increase in EB-5 visas in the emergency bills.

Sen. Rob Portman:  202-224-3353 or by email here

Sen. Sherrod Brown: (202) 224-2315 (DC) or (216)  522 7272 (Cleveland)

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Overlooked stats in the coronavirus reportage

Overlooked math and stats in the coronavirus reportage

From CTP’s roving photographer and in-house statistician:

Since most people recover from Coronavirus. shouldn't we be looking at currently infected (CI) as opposed to all infections to date (AI)? At this stage most people in the US are still infected, so CI won't be much larger than AI. But, over time, say, with a three week lag to account for disease duration, wouldn't the CI increase rate grow more slowly than the AI rate? After all, it is the CI people who transmit the disease, not the AI people who have recovered or died (R+D). In other words, we should look at the growth rate of CI, not AI.

In the US, total cases are 4,667 (AI) and 74 + 81 (R+D) have totally recovered or died leaving 4,512 still infected (CI).

In China, total cases are 80,881 (AI) and 68,688 + 3226 (R+D) have totally recovered or died leaving 8,967 still infected (CI).

I think this may explain why the disease appears to be tapering off in China. 

Numbers from here, but this site (Worldometers) updates frequently.

So maybe we are not all doomed.

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Election Day Postponed to June 2

From the website of Ohio Secretary of State:

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Election Day: it's off: UPDATES

UPDATE:  It’s off!   (See here.)

As of 11:25pm, the election is OFF.  Here’s Ed Driscoll at Instapundit:

NOW WHAT? Judge Denies Ohio Gov’s Request to Delay Primary, But Poll Workers Say They Won’t Be Ready.

UPDATE: “Minutes ago Gov. Mike DeWine defied a judge’s earlier ruling that the primary must go on tomorrow. He announced on Twitter that his director of Public Health, Amy Acton, will order the polls closed tomorrow due to a ‘health emergency.'”

Is that it? Ohio Christian Alliance reported earlier this evening:

With the unprecedented measures that have been implemented by federal and state government agencies, tomorrow's election has been postponed. More information will be available on the Secretary of State's website and from the Governor's office.

As of 10 pm Monday night, I have not been able to confirm that report via the Board of Elections or the Secretary of State website.

Ohio Value Voters reported that the March 17 election is ON as scheduled.

Is it on or off?  ON (if pollworkers show up)?  This latest from Paula Bolyard at PJ Media who reports that the election is proceeding as scheduled on March 17:

CHAOS: Judge Denies Ohio Gov's Request to Delay Primary—

AFTER Poll Workers Told Not to Set Up Polling Locations

Update 9:45 p.m.: Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, sent out a memo to members asking them to inform their constituents that the election will go on as planned Tuesday. "To my knowledge, the court is closed until 8:30 AM tomorrow and polls open prior to that," he wrote. "You should instruct your constituents that the Election is scheduled to occur March 17 as set by Ohio Law."

Here's more about what we know about Ohio's primary elections, scheduled for today, March 17 (reprinted from this blog, published yesterday):

Headline from cleveland.com:

Judge denies request to delay Ohio primary election until June over coronavirus

People who want the election postponed may appeal. It’s still being decided whether an appeal is possible.

According to my conversation with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, none of this confusion has been clarified; the BoE spokesperson recommended checking the website for the Ohio Secretary of State for any updates;  click here. 

Yesterday's blog with more details of all this confusion is here. 

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Ohio Primary Election postponed? Updates

image credit: kpcw.org.

UPDATE 10pm: Ohio Christian Alliance is reporting:

With the unprecedented measures that have been implemented by federal and state government agencies, tomorrow's election has been postponed. More information will be available on the Secretary of State's website and from the Governor's office.

As of 10 pm Monday night, I have not been able to confirm that report via the Board of Elections or the Secretary of State website.

Earlier updates ---

UPDATE 7:53pm:  Headline fromcleveland.com:

Judge denies request to delay Ohio primary election until June over coronavirus

People who want the election postponed may appeal. It’s still being decided whether an appeal is possible.

So as of 7:53pm Monday, March 16, it is still unclear as to whether the polls will or will not be open on Tuesday. 

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UPDATE:  Crawl on Fox 8 News Cleveland at 4:12pm:

Voting in Ohio To Be Extended to June 2

UPDATE: The information on the Ohio Secretary of State Website suggests polls will NOT be open tomorrow:

Based On New Public Health Guidance, Larose Recommends Suspension Of In-Person Voting On March 17, Moving Election Day To June 2

And here's how this blog originally started:

Headline from cleveland.com:

Gov. Mike DeWine wants to postpone Ohio’s Tuesday primary election till June 2 due to coronavirus.

Ohio becomes the third state, after Louisiana and Georgia to cancel its primary.

The wording is odd (“wants to postpone” vs “to cancel”).  Then:

Less than 24 hours before it was to have taken place, Ohio officials are seeking to delay the state’s presidential primary election until June 2, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday.
. . .

Between now and June 2, mail-in voting would continue, if the judge approves the move.

The Hill is reporting:

Ohio governor calls for delaying Tuesday's primary until June

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Monday he would back a lawsuit aiming to delay the state's presidential primary until June because of the growing threat of the coronavirus that has already infected thousands of people around the country.

(One assumes that this decision was put off until the last minute because Gov. DeWine was so busy closing down Ohio restaurants, bars, theaters, sports events, parades, etc.)

UPDATE 4:20: According to my conversation with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, none of the confusion has been clarified; the BoE spokesperson recommended checking the website for the Ohio Secretary of State for any updates;  click here.

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CNN Democratic Debate: drunk-blogging link

Democrat debate: Biden vs Sanders

Tonight, Sunday, March 15, 2020

8:00 PM on CNN 

CNN and Univision host former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders from Washington, D.C.; moderated by Ilia Calderon.

It’s either a must-see or a must-miss.  If you can’t stand the idea of watching CNN and the debate between two “grumpy old white men,” then here is the link to Stephen Green (Mr. Vodkapundit) doing his live drunk-blog coverage.  Note: Vodkapundit's drunk blog automatically updates, so there is no need to refresh.

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