Time for a Second Opinion

William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn at Real Clear Politics have a better prescription (h/t Instapundit):

We are trying to stave off and arrest a pandemic. Given what is being recommended, we think we need some second or third opinions. This pandemic, now that it has reached America, has taken 3,173 lives here.  This, from a tested population of 164,359 cases. That’s a mortality rate of 1.9%.  But immediately, questions must be asked. We record every case of death from the coronavirus, but we have no idea how many people have had the coronavirus. Clearly, there are more than 164,359 cases because not everyone has been tested. That would put the mortality rate at less than 1.9%. That rate could be far, far less. 

. . .

We truly are shutting down America and harming a great many Americans, based on the worst fears that have not been true and are not on the horizon.  We are scaring the hell out of the citizenry.  A few additional statistics help counsel a lowering of our national temperature:  The vast majority of deaths from the virus are of people over the age of 70 with underlying frailties.  The focus on New York where, of course, most of the media is based, is also flooding and distorting the picture for the rest of the country. Of course we need to pay attention to ground zero, which is New York.  But what happens there is not what is happening everywhere. 

Read the rest here.

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Chuck Schumer ends his shutdown

Via Instapundit:


More commentary at Legal Insurrection here.

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Updates: Common Core and government shutdown

President’s Day Updates from Ohio Tea Party Patriots’ Marianne G:

If you've been involved in the Common Core Opt Out Campaign, you are well aware of how crazy it was last week.

It started on Saturday with Heidi Huber from Ohioans Against Common Core, coming to Mansfield to give patriots the low down on the rights of parents to refuse the PARCC testing on behalf of their children.

Tuesday and Wednesday HB 7, the bill offering Safe Harbor to our children, passed unanimously through committee and the House, and from what I'm being told, it should pass through the Senate quickly also.

Then hit the tidal wave of parents opting out and refusing the PARCC testing for their children.  There were stories of bullying from administrators, lies, disciplinary threats to teachers, and even a deceptively worded letter from the ODE.

It would great if we could get a feel regarding how many people opted out, and hear their stories and successes.

Please take a moment to complete this quick survey.  Your name and email is not required.  Hopefully, this information will give us an idea of how many kids are not participating in the PARCC tests, what districts experienced the most opt outs, and how people were received by administrators.

Click Here to Complete the Survey

Heroes and Teachable Moments

The battle for the future of our children and their education has created heroes and teachable moments.

The Heroes are the parents that have showed up at School Board meetings and questioned administrators.  The parents who have exercised their right to direct the education of their children by refusing to allow them to participate in the useless and stressful PARCC testing.  The parents that refused to back down and have protected their children.

From those acts of heroism have come teachable moments. Moments that will teach children that you must be willing to stand for something, even if it means there are repercussions; that peaceful protests and freedom of speech are our rights, and no one can take that away, no matter how much they bully.

Kudos to all the hero parents who fought, and continue to fight, for their children.

Government “Shutdown” 

As expected, the media is already fear-mongering with the “government shutdown” threat related to DHS funding.

Three times the Senate Democrats have refused to invoke cloture and allow debate on HR 240, the House passed Homeland Security Funding bill.  One might call that being obstructionists. So where's the media now?

Democrats are opposing the amendments stripping funding from Obama's 2012 and 2014 executive orders lifting a deportation threat for millions of illegal immigrants.  Rather than allow debate, they are obstructing.  Speaker Boehner, believe or not, is standing his ground! Click Here to Read More

Regarding a “shutdown”, Congress has nothing to do with payroll or paying lenders - that's the job of the President and his Treasury Department.  When reporters or Democrats accuse the GOP of forcing a “shutdown,” turn them around and direct them to the executive branch, for it is the President who authorizes a “shutdown.”

Secondly, a government “shutdown” shuts down only  17% of the government.  That 17% is what’s considered to be “non-essential”.  If they're non-essential, why are they there to begin with?

In the case of DHS, 83% or their employees are classified as “essential” - they still work and still get paid. 

Doesn't seem so scary now.

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