CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: March 23rd

March 20, 2020

WRITER

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 341,632 (up from 252,014 Friday)
Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 14,749 (up from 10,405 Friday)
Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 99,041 (up from 89,044 Friday)
Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 89,044 (up from 85,823 yesterday)
192 Countries have confirmed cases (up from 182 Friday) Only 2 Countries: the Marshall Islands and St Kitts do not have confirmed cases
5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) steady from 5% Friday but down from 19% in February
US has 35,070 Confirmed Cases and 458 Deaths, up from 14,365 cases and 217 deaths Friday

Over 1 Billion People Shelter In Place https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3076295/coronavirus-nearly-one-billion-people-are-confined

More than a billion people remained indoors in India for 14-hour curfew as Singapore banned all short-term visitors.
Nearly one billion people around the world were confined to their homes on Sunday, as US states implemented stay-at-home orders similar to those in Europe.
India started a 14-hour curfew on Sunday, expected to be extended by authorities Monday.
Singapore banned all short-term visitors from the Country through April.
The measures came as deaths from the global coronavirus pandemic surged to more than 14,700.
More than one-third of Americans were adjusting to life in various phases of lockdown – including in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, three of the country's most populous cities – with more states expected to ramp up restrictions.
Italy reported a one-day record number of deaths – nearly 800, with the country's overall toll shooting past 5,500 with more than 59,000 cases confirmed.

US Planting Season Here: Worker Shortage https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/agricultural-industry-claims-pandemic-immigration-restrictions-could-hurt-food-supply

The farming industry is warning that immigrant visa restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic could mean a loss in farm labor sharp enough to hurt its ability to get many items to grocery store shelves.
"If the current policy holds, we will have some very serious shortages of labor," said David Puglia, president of the Western Growers Association.
Puglia said that the severity of the shortages would depend on the region and the commodity.
Asked if the labor problem could result in shortages on grocery store shelves, Puglia replied, "That's possible." He explained, "It would be very difficult at this late stage to close all of those labor gaps because this is all happening unplanned. We can't flip things around that quickly."
Crops that rely heavily on human-labor input include strawberries, blueberries, almonds, onions, beans, peas, melons, and tomatoes.

Not The Flu! https://www.propublica.org/article/a-medical-worker-describes--terrifying-lung-failure-from-covid19-even-in-his-young-patients

A Respiratory Therapist describes terrifying Lung Failure From COVID-19 — Even in His Young Patients
"It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, Holy s%$#, this is not the flu! Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube," said the therapist, on the condition of anonymity because he's not authorized by his Hospital to speak on such matters.
"Reading about it in the news, I knew it was going to be bad, but we deal with the flu every year so I was thinking: Well, it's probably not that much worse...But seeing patients with COVID-19 completely changed my perspective, and it's a lot more frightening," he said.
"It's causing acute respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS. That means the lungs are filled with fluid. And it's notable for the way the X-ray looks: The entire lung is basically whited out from fluid."
Patients with ARDS are extremely difficult to oxygenate. It has a really high mortality rate, about 40%. The way to manage it is to put a patient on a ventilator. The additional pressure helps the oxygen go into the bloodstream," he said.
"Normally, ARDS is something that happens over time as the lungs get more and more inflamed. But with this virus, it seems like it happens overnight. I've never seen anything like this."

Trump Activates National Guard Across 3 States https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/22/trump-activates-national-guard-in-california-new-york-and-washington-state-to-fight-coronavirus-outbreak.html

President Donald Trump on Sunday announced that he has activated the National Guard in California, New York and Washington state in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
"This is a War, we'll treat it like a War," the President said.
The administration emphasized that the deployment of guard members does not constitute martial law.
The state governors will retain command of the National Guard, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover all costs of the missions to respond to the virus outbreak, the president said.
The White House said more than 1,110 troops would be deployed to start, with more to follow as needed.

US Senate In Turmoil As Rand Paul Tests Positive for COVID-19 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/488943-rand-pauls-coronavirus-diagnosis-sends-shockwaves-through-senate

Republican Absenteeism expected to disrupt Senate Balance of Power.
Paul is the first known case of a senator contracting the disease and set off a domino effect throughout the chamber as colleagues tried to recall the last time they were in close contact with Paul, who was in the Capitol complex as recently as Sunday.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters on Sunday afternoon that senators would have to weigh whether they would need to self-quarantine. He later announced he would.
He was preceded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who became the first senator to announce he would self-quarantine because of Paul.
"Upon learning that my colleague Sen. Paul tested positive for COVID-19, I consulted the Attending Physician of the U.S. Congress Dr. Harding," Lee said in a statement. "Given the timing, proximity, and duration of my exposure to Sen. Paul, she directed me to self-quarantine for 14 days."
They join a handful of their colleagues who have had to isolate after being exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are already self-quarantined for exposure unrelated to Paul. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had also self-quarantined for unrelated cases but are out of isolation.
With five GOP senators in quarantine, the margin in the Senate is temporarily 48 Republicans and 47 Democrats.

Senate Democrats Block COVID-19 Stimulus & Relief Plan https://nypost.com/2020/03/22/proposed-trillion-dollar-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-blocked-by-senate-democrats/

The trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package that would help offset the devastating economic effects of the virus hit a roadblock Sunday night as Democrats blocked a procedural vote on the measure.
The procedural vote was deadlocked at 47, with five Republicans not in the chamber, including Sen. Rand Paul, who announced Sunday that he has the virus.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had said that the bill — which has grown to as much as $1.8 trillion — includes direct-deposit checks to Americans and expanded unemployment benefits.
Democrats want more money guaranteed toward child care, expanded funding for women's health care and more of the aid package guaranteed to go toward hospitals and health care workers. "As Republicans have written this, it's a blank check for Trump and Mnuchin," Senator Chuck Schumer said.

Acts of Kindness Abound https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-acts-kindness-abound-us-182309839.html

From grocery shopping for the elderly to delivering meals or offering free classes online, acts of kindness during the coronavirus pandemic are providing uplifting moments of joy in a United States beset by anxiety.
In California, the most populous state in the nation and one of the hardest hit by the virus, thousands are using internet apps to offer their services to neighbors in need.
In San Diego, for example, a Facebook group created to coordinate volunteer efforts -- San Diego Community Volunteers -- said it has seen a huge uptick in the number of people offering to help, going from 50 members to 400 in a matter of days.
Elsewhere, the popular restaurant chain Puesto, which was forced to shut down because of the virus, gave away some 500 free care packages this week. "We will come back strong with tacos for everyone," the restaurant said in an Instagram post after announcing it was shutting down.
Supermarkets across the country have also reached out to help seniors, putting in place special hours for people 65 and over to ensure they avoid crowds.
The supermarket chain Raley's, based in northern California, said that as of March 21, it was starting a special program offering a pre-selected bag of groceries at a reduced price for seniors and people in need.
In Walnut Creek, near San Francisco, where residents have been ordered to stay home, a dentist is offering free emergency dental services to ease the congestion at hospital emergency rooms.
In the small town of Coos Bay, also in Oregon, coffee shop owner John Beane is hosting virtual story-times for kids after shutting down his cafe. "We come from the theatre and stories which are always a part of the shop," Beane, the owner of So It Goes Coffeehouse, told AFP. "Some of the very best parts of our work are the brilliant and curious children that we see every day."
In Washington state, the city of Seattle -- the country's coronavirus Ground Zero -- music venues are trying to soothe fears over the pandemic by broadcasting live virtual concerts.

Relying on Amazon Prime for Food & Essentials? Houston, We May Have a Problem https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/22/21190372/amazon-prime-delivery-delays-april-21-coronavirus-covid-19

·Amazon had announced earlier this week that it would start prioritizing the most in-demand essential items in its warehouses, as the e-commerce giant struggles to keep up with customer demand during the Covid-19 pandemic.

·On Sunday, customers and Amazon merchants posted on social media platforms saying certain non-essential items were showing April 21 delivery dates, even though they were listed as in-stock and shipping with Amazon's Prime express shipping service.

·During normal times, Amazon Prime deliveries typically arrive in one or two days in the US.

·Now, some Prime deliveries for in-stock items are showing five-day delivery promises on the lower end, but those waits are as long as a month on some items, including household goods such as groceries.

·An Amazon spokesperson confirmed on Sunday evening that the new April 21 delivery dates are not the result of a technical bug or error; they accurately reflect Amazon's current reality.

·"To serve our customers in need while also helping to ensure the safety of our associates, we've changed our logistics, transportation, supply chain, purchasing, and third-party seller processes to prioritize stocking and delivering items that are a higher priority for our customers," the spokesperson said in a statement. "This has resulted in some of our delivery promises being longer than usual."

·The significant delivery delays showcase just how much shoppers are turning to online shopping during the global health crisis, and how even an online retailer as technologically-advanced and powerful as Amazon can only do so much to handle such an unexpected, once-in-a-generation shopping rush.

·Amazon recently noted it planned on hiring as many as 100,000 new employees to help deal with ongoing demand but indicated new hires could take weeks or months to come online to relieve delays.

GLENN

Is Socialism seducing a lost generation?

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Rage isn’t conservatism — THIS is what true patriots stand for

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Glenn Beck: Here's what's WRONG with conservatism today

How America’s elites fell for the same lie that fueled Auschwitz

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

The drone footage out of Gaza isn’t just war propaganda — it’s a glimpse of the same darkness that once convinced men they were righteous for killing innocents.

Evil introduces itself subtly. It doesn’t announce, “Hi, I’m here to destroy you.” It whispers. It flatters. It borrows the language of justice, empathy, and freedom, twisting them until hatred sounds righteous and violence sounds brave.

We are watching that same deception unfold again — in the streets, on college campuses, and in the rhetoric of people who should know better. It’s the oldest story in the world, retold with new slogans.

Evil wins when good people mirror its rage.

A drone video surfaced this week showing Hamas terrorists staging the “discovery” of a hostage’s body. They pushed a corpse out of a window, dragged it into a hole, buried it, and then called in aid workers to “find” what they themselves had planted. It was theater — evil, disguised as victimhood. And it was caught entirely on camera.

That’s how evil operates. It never comes in through the front door. It sneaks in, often through manipulative pity. The same spirit animates the moral rot spreading through our institutions — from the halls of universities to the chambers of government.

Take Zohran Mamdani, a New York assemblyman who has praised jihadists and defended pro-Hamas agitators. His father, a Columbia University professor, wrote that America and al-Qaeda are morally equivalent — that suicide bombings shouldn’t be viewed as barbaric. Imagine thinking that way after watching 3,000 Americans die on 9/11. That’s not intellectualism. That’s indoctrination.

Often, that indoctrination comes from hostile foreign actors, peddled by complicit pawns on our own soil. The pro-Hamas protests that erupted across campuses last year, for example, were funded by Iran — a regime that murders its own citizens for speaking freely.

Ancient evil, new clothes

But the deeper danger isn’t foreign money. It’s the spiritual blindness that lets good people believe resentment is justice and envy is discernment. Scripture talks about the spirit of Amalek — the eternal enemy of God’s people, who attacks the weak from behind while the strong look away. Amalek never dies; it just changes its vocabulary and form with the times.

Today, Amalek tweets. He speaks through professors who defend terrorism as “anti-colonial resistance.” He preaches from pulpits that call violence “solidarity.” And he recruits through algorithms, whispering that the Jews control everything, that America had it coming, that chaos is freedom. Those are ancient lies wearing new clothes.

When nations embrace those lies, it’s not the Jews who perish first. It’s the nations themselves. The soul dies long before the body. The ovens of Auschwitz didn’t start with smoke; they started with silence and slogans.

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

A time for choosing

So what do we do? We speak truth — calmly, firmly, without venom. Because hatred can’t kill hatred; it only feeds it. Truth, compassion, and courage starve it to death.

Evil wins when good people mirror its rage. That’s how Amalek survives — by making you fight him with his own weapons. The only victory that lasts is moral clarity without malice, courage without cruelty.

The war we’re fighting isn’t new. It’s the same battle between remembrance and amnesia, covenant and chaos, humility and pride. The same spirit that whispered to Pharaoh, to Hitler, and to every mob that thought hatred could heal the world is whispering again now — on your screens, in your classrooms, in your churches.

Will you join it, or will you stand against it?

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Bill Gates ends climate fear campaign, declares AI the future ruler

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The Big Tech billionaire once said humanity must change or perish. Now he claims we’ll survive — just as elites prepare total surveillance.

For decades, Americans have been told that climate change is an imminent apocalypse — the existential threat that justifies every intrusion into our lives, from banning gas stoves to rationing energy to tracking personal “carbon scores.”

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped lead that charge. He warned repeatedly that the “climate disaster” would be the greatest crisis humanity would ever face. He invested billions in green technology and demanded the world reach net-zero emissions by 2050 “to avoid catastrophe.”

The global contest is no longer over barrels and pipelines — it is over who gets to flip the digital switch.

Now, suddenly, he wants everyone to relax: Climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise” after all.

Gates was making less of a scientific statement and more of a strategic pivot. When elites retire a crisis, it’s never because the threat is gone — it’s because a better one has replaced it. And something else has indeed arrived — something the ruling class finds more useful than fear of the weather.The same day Gates downshifted the doomsday rhetoric, Amazon announced it would pay warehouse workers $30 an hour — while laying off 30,000 people because artificial intelligence will soon do their jobs.

Climate panic was the warm-up. AI control is the main event.

The new currency of power

The world once revolved around oil and gas. Today, it revolves around the electricity demanded by server farms, the chips that power machine learning, and the data that can be used to manipulate or silence entire populations. The global contest is no longer over barrels and pipelines — it is over who gets to flip the digital switch. Whoever controls energy now controls information. And whoever controls information controls civilization.

Climate alarmism gave elites a pretext to centralize power over energy. Artificial intelligence gives them a mechanism to centralize power over people. The future battles will not be about carbon — they will be about control.

Two futures — both ending in tyranny

Americans are already being pushed into what look like two opposing movements, but both leave the individual powerless.

The first is the technocratic empire being constructed in the name of innovation. In its vision, human work will be replaced by machines, and digital permissions will subsume personal autonomy.

Government and corporations merge into a single authority. Your identity, finances, medical decisions, and speech rights become access points monitored by biometric scanners and enforced by automated gatekeepers. Every step, purchase, and opinion is tracked under the noble banner of “efficiency.”

The second is the green de-growth utopia being marketed as “compassion.” In this vision, prosperity itself becomes immoral. You will own less because “the planet” requires it. Elites will redesign cities so life cannot extend beyond a 15-minute walking radius, restrict movement to save the Earth, and ration resources to curb “excess.” It promises community and simplicity, but ultimately delivers enforced scarcity. Freedom withers when surviving becomes a collective permission rather than an individual right.

Both futures demand that citizens become manageable — either automated out of society or tightly regulated within it. The ruling class will embrace whichever version gives them the most leverage in any given moment.

Climate panic was losing its grip. AI dependency — and the obedience it creates — is far more potent.

The forgotten way

A third path exists, but it is the one today’s elites fear most: the path laid out in our Constitution. The founders built a system that assumes human beings are not subjects to be monitored or managed, but moral agents equipped by God with rights no government — and no algorithm — can override.

Hesham Elsherif / Stringer | Getty Images

That idea remains the most “disruptive technology” in history. It shattered the belief that people need kings or experts or global committees telling them how to live. No wonder elites want it erased.

Soon, you will be told you must choose: Live in a world run by machines or in a world stripped down for planetary salvation. Digital tyranny or rationed equality. Innovation without liberty or simplicity without dignity.

Both are traps.

The only way

The only future worth choosing is the one grounded in ordered liberty — where prosperity and progress exist alongside moral responsibility and personal freedom and human beings are treated as image-bearers of God — not climate liabilities, not data profiles, not replaceable hardware components.

Bill Gates can change his tune. The media can change the script. But the agenda remains the same.

They no longer want to save the planet. They want to run it, and they expect you to obey.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why the White House restoration sent the left Into panic mode

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Presidents have altered the White House for decades, yet only Donald Trump is treated as a vandal for privately funding the East Wing’s restoration.

Every time a president so much as changes the color of the White House drapes, the press clutches its pearls. Unless the name on the stationery is Barack Obama’s, even routine restoration becomes a national outrage.

President Donald Trump’s decision to privately fund upgrades to the White House — including a new state ballroom — has been met with the usual chorus of gasps and sneers. You’d think he bulldozed Monticello.

If a Republican preserves beauty, it’s vandalism. If a Democrat does the same, it’s ‘visionary.’

The irony is that presidents have altered and expanded the White House for more than a century. President Franklin D. Roosevelt added the East and West Wings in the middle of the Great Depression. Newspapers accused him of building a palace while Americans stood in breadlines. History now calls it “vision.”

First lady Nancy Reagan faced the same hysteria. Headlines accused her of spending taxpayer money on new china “while Americans starved.” In truth, she raised private funds after learning that the White House didn’t have enough matching plates for state dinners. She took the ridicule and refused to pass blame.

“I’m a big girl,” she told her staff. “This comes with the job.” That was dignity — something the press no longer recognizes.

A restoration, not a renovation

Trump’s project is different in every way that should matter. It costs taxpayers nothing. Not a cent. The president and a few friends privately fund the work. There’s no private pool or tennis court, no personal perks. The additions won’t even be completed until after he leaves office.

What’s being built is not indulgence — it’s stewardship. A restoration of aging rooms, worn fixtures, and century-old bathrooms that no longer function properly in the people’s house. Trump has paid for cast brass doorknobs engraved with the presidential seal, restored the carpets and moldings, and ensured that the architecture remains faithful to history.

The media’s response was mockery and accusations of vanity. They call it “grotesque excess,” while celebrating billion-dollar “climate art” projects and funneling hundreds of millions into activist causes like the No Kings movement. They lecture America on restraint while living off the largesse of billionaires.

The selective guardians of history

Where was this sudden reverence for history when rioters torched St. John’s Church — the same church where every president since James Madison has worshipped? The press called it an “expression of grief.”

Where was that reverence when mobs toppled statues of Washington, Jefferson, and Grant? Or when first lady Melania Trump replaced the Rose Garden’s lawn with a patio but otherwise followed Jackie Kennedy’s original 1962 plans in the garden’s restoration? They called that “desecration.”

If a Republican preserves beauty, it’s vandalism. If a Democrat does the same, it’s “visionary.”

The real desecration

The people shrieking about “historic preservation” care nothing for history. They hate the idea that something lasting and beautiful might be built by hands they despise. They mock craftsmanship because it exposes their own cultural decay.

The White House ballroom is not a scandal — it’s a mirror. And what it reflects is the media’s own pettiness. The ruling class that ridicules restoration is the same class that cheered as America’s monuments fell. Its members sneer at permanence because permanence condemns them.

Julia Beverly / Contributor | Getty Images

Trump’s improvements are an act of faith — in the nation’s symbols, its endurance, and its worth. The outrage over a privately funded renovation says less about him than it does about the journalists who mistake destruction for progress.

The real desecration isn’t happening in the East Wing. It’s happening in the newsrooms that long ago tore up their own foundation — truth — and never bothered to rebuild it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Trump’s secret war in the Caribbean EXPOSED — It’s not about drugs

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The president’s moves in Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia aren’t about drugs. They’re about re-establishing America’s sovereignty across the Western Hemisphere.

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

PEDRO MATTEY / Contributor | Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.