It’s Wednesday, April 15th, 2020…but before we begin, kudos to this clip from Troy tweeted by Liz Harrington of the RNC in response to The Dear Misleader’s belated endorsement of his increasingly-demented “friend” Joe Biden:

Note: Obama referred to the Increasingly Crazy Uncle in the Dimocratic Attic as a “friend” rather than a “good friend”.

Turning from some very carefully chosen words to deliberately dissimulating wordsmithing, the U.K.’s Daily Mail recently offered up this piece of purely anti-Trump propaganda, reporting the…

CIA ‘warns its workforce of potentially fatal side-effects’ of Malaria drug that was hailed by Donald Trump as a ‘game changer’ in the battle against Covid-19

• Sudden death is one of the suspected side effects of hydroxychloroquine 
• Trump has repeatedly hailed the drug during his White House daily briefings
• But his top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has cautioned against it 

“CIA employees have been privately warned against taking an anti-malaria drug hailed by Donald Trump as a ‘game changer’ in the war on coronavirus. Sudden death is one of the suspected side effects of hydroxychloroquine, according to the intelligence agency in a memo to its workforce posted online.

Despite a lack of medical evidence, the President has heavily promoted the drug as a possible treatment for Covid-19, which has killed 23,675 and infected 588,421 in the United States.

But amid positive noises surrounding the drug emerging from the daily White House press briefings, Langley made its concern clear. Hydroxychloroquine is ‘not recommended to be used by patients except by medical professionals prescribing it as part of ongoing investigation studies,’ according to the advice seen by the Washington Post.

The advice, posted on March 27 in response to CIA staff queries, noted that possible side effects include ‘sudden cardiac death‘…”

So does the little blue pill. 

More importantly, note the advice was offered “in response to CIA staff queries”.  Forgetting for the moment no one…other than those idiots in Arizona…should ever consider taking any prescription medication…let alone fish tank cleaner…without first consulting a physician, what does it tell you about the lack of intelligence at the CIA that its staff wouldn’t already understand EVERY drug has possible side effects, often including death…

…along with our personal favorite, rectal bleeding.

Which just goes to prove, at least in this case, the name Central Intelligence Agency is a…hydroxymoron.

Turning for a moment from more complex oxymorons to simple morons, those still interested in seeing Hillary and her henchwomen swing should take heart in the latest from Andy McCarthy.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, courtesy of American Thinker via Mark Foster, Dan Sobieski details how the…

Brits Deem Wuhan Virus Lab Origin Credible

“As British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struggles with his own case of the Wuhan virus, the British equivalent of President Trump’s virus task force no longer dismisses out of hand the South China University study saying the virus likely leaked from nearby viral research labs as some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory.

Boris Johnson’s British government now has official doubts that the accepted conventional wisdom that the virus spontaneously combusted from an obscure bat sold at a nearby “wet market” but which is in fact indigenous to a region some 900 kilometers distant from Wuhan that the locals do not in fact consume as food. It is seriously considering the at least equally likely possibility that the Wuhan virus escaped from one of the nearby viral research labs.

…Britain’s Cobra commission are not the only experts outside of China questioning the bat theory as a too-convenient explanation pushed by a Chinese government that to this date does not allow outside inspection of the  labs which might show their culpability and criminal negligence in the global pandemic:

American biosecurity expert Professor Richard Ebright, of Rutgers University’s Waksman Institute of Microbiology, New Jersey, said that while the evidence suggests Covid-19 was not created in one of the Wuhan laboratories, it could easily have escaped from there while it was being analysed.

Prof Ebright said he has seen evidence that scientists at the Centre for Disease Control and the Institute of Virology studied the viruses with only ‘level 2’ security — rather than the recommended level 4 — which ‘provides only minimal protections against infection of lab workers‘.

He added: ‘Virus collection, culture, isolation, or animal infection would pose a substantial risk of infection of a lab worker, and from the lab worker then the public.’

He concluded that the evidence left ‘a basis to rule out [that coronavirus is] a lab construct, but no basis to rule out a lab accident‘.”

As noted, a study by the South China University of Technology concluded that COVID-19 ‘probably’ originated in the Wuhan Center for Disease Control. Curiously, shortly after its publication, the research paper was removed from a social networking site for scientists and researchers.

…It is doubtful the CCP approved posting of the study or sanctioned it judging by the fact that it was pulled almost immediately. That suggests that in the age of global social media it temporarily slipped through the cracks and was pulled, not because it was a lie, but because it contained an embarrassing truth…”

Editor’s Note: Based upon numerous articles we’ve read and videos we’ve viewed, the science behind Professor Ebright’s conclusion COVID-19 is not a laboratory construct is far from settled.

For those interested in an updated timeline of The Donald’s response to the Wuhan virus, we recommend Beth Baumann’s at Townhall.com.

Meanwhile, across the thin strip of salt water separating 1.4 billion enslaved Chinese from their 24 million unfettered counterparts…

Taiwan releases December email to WHO showing unheeded warning about coronavirus

“The World Health Organization (WHO) is under fire after Taiwan released the contents of a December email inquiring about the person to person spread of COVID-19, saying it was instead ignored by WHO and denied adequate information to fight the virus.

Taiwan is accusing WHO of downplaying the severity and spread of the coronavirus in an attempt to pander to China even after Taiwan sounded the alarm about at least seven cases of atypical pneumonia that they were aware of in Wuhan where the virus originated.

When asked about the cases by the media, Taiwan said China’s health authorities said “the cases were believed not SARS; however samples are still under examination, and cases have been isolated for treatment,” according to the contents of an email sent by Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention to the WHO on Dec. 31.

“I would greatly appreciate it if you have relevant information to share with us,” the email said. Taiwan is located about 80 miles off China’s coast but has declared itself an independent nation for over 70 years. China, however, has refused to acknowledge Taiwan’s sovereignty and consistently fights to bring them back under Beijing’s control. (Misery just LOVES company!)

As a result, China has successfully persuaded the WHO to exclude Taiwan from the organization…”

Soooo…it’s the “World Health Organization”, absent the entire “world”…along with, if the Wuhan virus is any indicator, the “health” part.  Which makes the WHO like every other arm of the U.N.: simply another parasitic one-world-government “organization”…feeding largely off U.S. largesse.

Next up, Breeze Gould forwarded the following from Real Clear Politics, as Bill Bennett and Seth Leibsohn reveal the Wuhan virus is…

An Advantaged Disease, Indeed

“As you know, the coronavirus—if you catch it, and get very sick—is a terrible thing to go through and you may even die.  The virus and the fear of it are sorely testing our medical capacity in some places.  And the body count will get much worse this week, right before Easter.  The heroic efforts and sacrifice of many doctors, nurses, and volunteer civilians are all notable and praiseworthy.  Millions of Americans are pulling together.  We all know this.  But do you know the odds of any American getting this virus?  One would think that number is easily known or available.  It’s not. A lot of digging into various municipal data portals reveals, based on the population tested, that rates can vary from, at most, eight-tenths of a percent in New York City to two-one-hundredths of a percent in Phoenix.

Did you know the chances of recovery from the coronavirus are about 98%—if you catch it?  Did you know there are models showing 50% of the population may have already had it, never knew they had it, and recovered?  Again, one would think this data would be widely available and reported.  It isn’t. What is presented widely are numbers and warnings that scare and frighten us, and we are now being conditioned to a lot of panic and speculation.  But part of the reason we are getting conditioned to a lot of panic is because of the wide range of speculation about other numbers we accept as our new fright-inducing reality, an increasingly confusing and frenzied set of numbers.  And the normalization of our panic is having dire consequences and augurs for even worse.

Our officials and media have warned us of 2 million deaths in the United States.  Then 200,000 deaths.  Then 100,000 to 240,000.  This needs to stop. There have been a total of 68,000 coronavirus deaths worldwide.  And we are told we will see, just in America, three to four times that number.  Does that even pass the plausibility test?

Is it too much to ask for some perspective with numbers we do know about, numbers which have never shut down our country, much less a church or synagogue, much less entire industries; numbers which have never restricted travel or put this nation into one big frenzy?  In any given month in America, we lose about 54,000 Americans to heart disease; 50,000 to cancer; 14,000 to asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema; 12,000 to stroke; 10,000 to Alzheimer’s; 7,000 to diabetes; 5,600 to drug overdoses; and 4,700 to influenza and pneumonia. Since February, in America, coronavirus: 9,500.   Where is the sympathy for the victims and families of those other causes of death?  The daily mortality count?  The blaring headlines?  The upending of the country?  We hear almost nothing about them.  Those deaths give us over 157,000 deaths a month.  Given all that is being done about one cause of death, COVID-19, it turns out this is a very advantaged disease, indeed.  And we will in time develop a vaccine for it, not to mention more and more good news coming in the short term about treatments from other extant medicines like hydroxychloroquine. (The MSM’s bloviating to the contrary notwithstanding!)

But there is more…

…The president’s instincts to re-open this country as soon as possible are right. This country is not prepared for a worsening of all the other social harms and deaths brought on by an incredibly overwrought, self-induced, hysteria and panic that doesn’t parse.  It better be.  But remember with all the nonprofits, volunteer, and self-help communities organized to address these problems being shuttered and harmed, direly and financially, be prepared for massive social failure and more death.  This is what happens when sanity is at discount and hysteria reigns supreme.  This is what happens when societies get used to pandemonium.  As bad as the coronavirus is, and it is bad, unless we arrest the frenzy and panic mongering, we should be prepared for things worse than the virus.“

Here’s the juice: every other government initiative is subject to a cost-benefit analysis.  Why should our response to COVID-19 “crisis” be any different?

Again…

In other words, Orange Man BAD, and must be stopped at all costs…up to and including the economic well-being of the vast majority of the country.  Sorry, but we’re not buying what so many are so eager to sell us, namely…

As Tucker notes…

For a comparison of the rapidly decreasing benefits of the current lockdown versus its skyrocketing economic cost, we recommend the latest installment of Best of the Web.

And in the Health Section, courtesy today of our brother Rob, Kenya’s Star highlights the resourcefulness of…

“Women in some parts of Lamu have resorted to using their bras as face masks owing to the hiked prices of masks.

But masks, even made of brassieres, are supposed to be used only once and then discarded for reasons of hygiene. Could they be boiled and reused? Surely there are health issues here. (Ya THINK?!?)

And masks are supposed to fit snug. Might 42D be too large?…”

That would depend on the size of one’s head…and/or nose.

Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:

Then there’s this classic meme from Brenda Berry…

…along with one from our sister-in-law Amy…

…a string from Balls Cotton…

…five more from Ed Hickey…

…and last, but certainly not least, three from Speed Mach:

Finally, since we’re on the subject of the shallow end of the gene pool, we’ll call it a day with yet another titillating tale torn from the pages of The Crime Blotter, courtesy today of Keith Koffler, as a…

Colorado Woman walked into New Orleans airport fully nude, arrested after refusal to leave

“…Mariel Vergara, 27, of Pueblo, Colo., was completely nude when she walked into the airport and made her way to the Spirit Airlines ticket counter on Friday night, April 3, authorities said.

A deputy dispatched to the scene noted that Vergara had already put on a dress by the time he arrived. But she was still violating public decency laws because she had on no underwear, and the dress was too short to cover her genitals, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Airline officials told Vergara she wouldn’t be able to travel due to her attire — or lack thereof. She was asked to leave the airport, but Vergara refused, the Sheriff’s Office said. Vergara ignored deputies’ orders to leave the airport and scuffled with them as she was being taken into custody…”

Scuffling with the police…sans underwear.  Guess who’ll be the star of the featured video at the 2020 Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s holiday office party?!? 

Magoo