Nearly 800 Doctors Petition Trump for 'Right to Try' Hydroxychloroquine

Joshua Paladino
-
0

‘We can’t wait months for a completed RCT or a vaccine. People are dying every day…’

UPDATE: Police Say Aquarium Cleaner Hoax NOT Being Criminally Investigated
Hydroxychloroquine / IMAGE: CBS Evening News via Youtube

(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., on Thursday circulated a petition for doctors and concerned patients that asks President Donald Trump to make hydroxychloroquine available for more COVID-19 patients.
By noon on Friday, 776 practicing physicians had signed onto the Right to Try hydroxychloroquine letter.
Johnson’s letter asks Trump to direct the FDA to end the Emergency Use Authorizations on hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which limit the use of these drugs in the Strategic National Stockpile to “certain hospitalized patients.”
The pharmaceutical company Novartis donated 30 million hydroxychloroquine pills to the national stockpile, but regulations prevent them from being distributed to COVID-19 patients until hospitals admit them.
Johnson said Trump should instruct the FDA to authorize “early outpatient use of these medications.”
The letter also requests that Trump sign a directive to “prohibit Governors from arbitrarily restricting hydroxychloroquine to only hospitalized patients, and b) prohibit State Medical Boards and State Pharmacy Boards from threats of disciplinary action (now occurring in multiple states) against doctors and pharmacists legally prescribing and dispensing HCQ and CQ off-label for early treatment or prophylaxis for COVID-19 in out-patients or at-risk or exposed persons.”
The letter states that the early use of these medicines can “prevent the virus attaching to host cells, reduce viral replication that prolongs time of infectivity and spread, reduce the number of hospitalizations and need for intubation and mechanical ventilators, and reduce risk of multi-organ damage and death or permanent lung impairment after recovery.”
Johnson’s letter said COVID-19 patients do not have the time to wait years for a “randomized, placebo-controlled, doubleblind clinical trial (RCT).”
The FDA has approved chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
The drugs’ side effects are well-known, mild and manageable under the supervision of a doctor, with some exceptions for those with certain heart conditions.
“We can’t wait months for a completed RCT or a vaccine,” the letter said. “People are dying every day. Staggering numbers of people have lost jobs, incomes, and ability to live life normally, all of which lead to loss of life that could quickly exceed losses from the virus.”

Kansas Gov., GOP Legislature in All-Out War Over Virus Ban on Religious Services

Contributing Author
-
0

‘Kansans should not be arrested for practicing their faith…’

Kansas Governor Sues State Legislature For Overturning Her Executive Order Banning Church Services
Laura Kelly / IMAGE: KCPT via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit against the state’s legislature after it overturned her ban on religious gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak.

The seven-member Legislative Coordinating Council, which features members of both the state House and state Senate, voted to strike down Kelly’s executive order on Wednesday. But Kelly claimed the hybrid council does not have the authority to overturn her executive order.

“The last thing I want right now is a legal battle,” Kelly said while announcing the lawsuit, according to the Wichita Eagle. “But as I said yesterday, Kansas lives are on the line, and I took an oath to uphold and defend the constitution.”

Kansas formed the bipartisan council last month via a resolution that allows the group’s seven members to review Kelly’s emergency executive orders. Because the group was created by a resolution and not by law, Kelly insists that its authority is moot.

Republican lawmakers in the state, however, said they support the council’s decision. Churchgoers should avoid gathering in large groups, they said, but they should also not feel like they will be punished for worshipping on Easter Sunday.

“This is where we disagree: Kansans should not be arrested for practicing their faith,” the top Republican lawmakers wrote in a letter to Kelly.

The Republicans noted that the legislature has tried to find a compromise with Kelly, but she has refused to work with them.

“Despite repeated attempts to solve this problem and create a constitutional order, the Governor has opted to create confusion and tie this issue up in the courts,” the letter states. “We take seriously our obligation to protect people’s lives during this pandemic, and we know that the Governor does too.”

Kelly is asking the state’s Supreme Court to strike down the council’s ruling and bar it from reviewing any future executive orders.

Miss. City Sued for Ban on Drive-In Easter Services

Contributing Author
-
0

‘Your recent order prohibiting drive-in services leaves him in reasonable fear that he and his church members will be fined and criminally prosecuted…’

UPDATE: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Greenville’s Temple Baptist Church filed suit in federal district court Friday to challenge Mayor Errick Simmons’ April 7 executive order that bans drive-in church services until the Mississippi governor lifts a statewide shelter-in-place order prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor’s order includes no such ban and identifies churches as an “essential business or operation.”

ORIGINAL STORY: (Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A Mississippi church threatened to take legal action against the city of Greenville on Thursday, accusing local government officials of “targeting” its drive-in services and violating its constitutional rights.

King James Bible Baptist Church sent a letter to Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons through First Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit conservative legal group, asking Simmons to lift his order banning drive-in church services.

“The prohibition is … unlawful because it treats houses of worship less favorably than similarly situated entities,” said First Liberty Special Counsel Jeremy Dys in the letter.

“For example, the prohibition does not apply to restaurants that provide drive through or take out service,” Dys continued. “Nor does it apply to establishments such as Walmart, where far more people park with more contact and less oversight.”

The services do not violate Mississippi’s social distancing guidelines, the church said, so there is no medical or legal reason that justifies shutting them down.

“Your recent order prohibiting drive-in services leaves him in reasonable fear that he and his church members will be fined and criminally prosecuted for merely engaging in drive-in church services that fall well within the CDC guidelines,” the letter said. “We require Greenville, Mississippi, to withdraw the unconstitutional order that, disturbingly, targets religious exercise.”

The church said its members do not leave their cars during the drive-in services, and that all congregants maintain the proper 6-foot social distancing required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been maybe seven or eight cars total at these services, according to the First Liberty Counsel. But Simmons said he will not lift his ban on drive-in services until Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves lifts the state’s shelter-in-place order.

The Greenville Police reportedly ticketed every car in the lot of a nearby congregation a few weeks ago, according to First Liberty Counsel, which has led King James Bible Baptist Church to fear gathering on Easter Sunday, one of the holiest Christian holidays.

As such, Simmons’s order is “draconian and unconstitutional,” according to Dys.

“The Church recognizes that you are dealing with a tremendously difficult situation, and it applauds you for your work to protect the city and its residents,” he wrote in the letter.

“The Church will continue to work with you and the City to keep everyone safe and well,” Dys added. “Even so, the prohibition against drive-in church services for Easter goes beyond the CDC’s requirements and violates the First Amendment.”

Sen. Tom Cotton Wants WHO Chief Investigated for Chinese Corruption

Contributing Writer
-
0

‘I’m disgusted by that kind of threat from some two-bit, third-rate, international bureaucrat…’

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wants an investigation of the World Health Organization’s top official to “find out just how deeply in China’s pocket he is.”

Cotton, a decorated Afghan War veteran, has been a staunch critic of the Chinese Communist Party and the United Nations health agency over their mishandling of the Wuhan coronavirus.

During a Thursday Fox News interview, he singled out WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for his longstanding ties to the CCP.

“He was a cabinet member in Ethiopia when China was investing deeply there and bribing cabinet officials,” Cotton told Ed Henry, host of America’s Newsroom.

“He has a well-known—and frankly, well-deserved—reputation for corruption that’s gone from Ethiopia now to the WHO,” he added.

Tedros has been widely accused of kowtowing to the Chinese government throughout the Wuhan virus outbreak. Many believe he’s helped wage a propaganda campaign on China’s behalf.

On Jan. 14, while the city of Wuhan was engulfed in the super-virus, the WHO backed Chinese authorities in saying there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.” The assertion was categorically false.

During a Feb. 24 press conference, Tedros praised “China’s bold approach” to the virus, and said China had “changed the course” of the spread of the disease. That turned out to be false, as well.

During a Feb. 27 press conference Tedros advisor Bruce Aylward said, “If I had COVID-19, I’d want to be treated in China.” To date, no one knows the real numbers of infections and deaths in the communist-run country of 1.3 billion people.

China lobbied to elect Tedros to head the WHO. Prior to that, he was the health minister for the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, a violent Marxist regime.

According to Amnesty International, the People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front was responsible for torture, political repression and election fraud. As health minister, Tedros helped cover up three cholera outbreaks—all while China was investing in Ethiopia and donating $200 million to the African Union.

Cotton said President Donald Trump was correct to threaten to withhold WHO funding this week.

“So China spends $42 million and we spend $450 million and everything seems to be China’s way,” Trump said.

Tedros responded by saying world leaders shouldn’t politicize the coronavirus, “if you don’t want to have many more body bags.”

Cotton was unimpressed in the Fox interview. “I’m disgusted by that kind of threat from some two-bit, third-rate, international bureaucrat. That’s why Dr. Tedros needs to be fired,” he said.

REPORT: U.S. Companies Fleeing China En Masse Due to Trade War, COVID Risks

Contributing Author
-
0

‘At minimum, we expect they will be increasingly inclined to spread their risks rather than put all their eggs in the lowest cost basket…’

Sen. Rick Scott Wants WHO Investigated for Parroting China's Coronavirus Lies
Xi Jinping / IMAGE: Sky News Australia via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) American manufacturing companies are leaving China en masse, according to a new report by a global manufacturing consulting firm, and the coronavirus pandemic could be speeding up that process.

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China produced incentives for companies to return to the U.S., according to an annual reshoring report that was released Tuesday by global consulting firm Kearney.

But China’s mishandling of the coronavirus and its attempts to repress information about the virus’s spread may have accelerated that trend.

“Three decades ago, U.S. producers began manufacturing and sourcing in China for one reason: costs,” wrote Patrick Van den Bossche, a Kearney partner who co-authored the report.

“The trade war brought a second dimension more fully into the equation—risk—as tariffs and the threat of disrupted China imports prompted companies to weigh surety of supply more fully alongside costs,” he continued. “COVID-19 brings a third dimension more fully into the mix, and arguably to the fore: resilience—the ability to foresee and adapt to unforeseen systemic shocks.”

Indeed, the report revealed that there has been a “dramatic reversal” in U.S. companies’ outsourcing. Production within the U.S. actually “commanded a significantly greater sharer versus the 14 Asian low-cost countries,” including China, in 2019, the report states.

U.S. companies are also looking to southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, as well as Mexico, according to Kearney.

“The lessons we must learn from COVID-19 are as momentous as they are harsh. While the trade war triggered some notable tinkering, the massive operational disruption wrought by the coronavirus pandemic will compel companies to fundamentally rethink their sourcing strategies,” the report concludes.

“At minimum, we expect they will be increasingly inclined to spread their risks rather than put all their eggs in the lowest cost basket, as many long did in China.”

Pence Blocks Popular COVID Experts from CNN Bookings Until Network Airs Briefings

Ben Sellers
-
0

‘When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials then you can expect them back on your air…’

Fake News CNN Refuses to Air Trump's 'False' 100-Day Ad
Photo by red, white, and black eyes forever

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Vice President Mike Pence has said he will block health officials, including Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci,  from appearing on CNN if the network refuses to air additional portions of the daily White House briefings.

“When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials then you can expect them back on your air,” a Pence spokesperson told CNN.

Pence, who the officially oversees the White House Coronavirus Task Force, chided the network for airing only the question-and-answer portion of the briefings while cutting away before the two leading pandemic experts spoke in order to devote time to “fact-checking” President Donald Trump’s statements.

That typically includes cutting away from Pence’s own segment of the briefings as well.

Left wing media—including CNN, MSNBC and even some public broadcasting affiliates—have sought to smear Trump, claiming he has mishandled the coronavirus response and spread misinformation while attempting to justify their kneejerk disdain for the briefings.

The public approval for Trump’s handling of the crisis has been high, prompting some—such as MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Rachel Maddow—to declare that media should boycott the briefings altogether.

According to CNN, though, there was another underlying issue: A network executive acknowledged that broadcasting the non-Trump parts were simply too boring and tedious.

Instead of the dry and erudite analysis of the other task force members, the executive conceded, CNN viewers prefered to hear the sensationalist, left-tinged commentary of its anchors.

“[T]he network usually returns to such programming because of the extensive length of the full briefing that includes Pence, which can run in excess of two hours,” CNN said.

Ironically, Fauci has become something of a folk hero and media darling for the Trump-bashing Left due to his second-guessing of Trump’s statements, both during the briefings and in interviews.

Some of Fauci’s own projections have proven false, such as his quick dismissal of the drug hydroxychloroquine, on which he urged restraint despite Trump’s robust advocacy. Considerable anecdotal evidence suggests the anti-malaria medication has been extremely effective in treating some critically ill coronavirus patients.

Fauci appeared in five CNN town halls prior to the vice president’s ban being implemented, reported the network.

CNN complained that it was being targeted for unfair treatment due to its ongoing feud with the Trump administration.

“Fauci, Birx, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Surgeon General Jerome Adams have all appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox during the last week, despite the fact that the broadcast networks have generally not covered the briefings that have included the vice president and health officials,” it griped.

Trump and Pence likewise had refused to make themselves available for interview, CNN added.

The president has “declined CNN’s repeated requests for an interview, instead appearing only on Fox News for softball interviews multiple times during the national emergency,” it said.

TRUMP: Obama Hasn’t Endorsed Biden Because He ‘Knows Something You Don’t Know’

Contributing Author
-
0

‘It does amaze me that President Obama has not supported Sleepy Joe… When is it going to happen?’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that the reason former President Barack Obama hadn’t yet endorsed his own vice president was because he “knows something” about Joe Biden “that you don’t know.”

“It does amaze me that President Obama has not supported Sleepy Joe. It just hasn’t happened. When is it going to happen?” Trump said. “He knows something that you don’t know. That I think I know. But you don’t know.”

Biden is now the presumptive Democratic nominee, since Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., officially dropped out of the race on Wednesday. But Trump said he believes there’s “a weird deal going on” in the party, pointing out that Sanders said he is going to keep his delegates.

“He didn’t really drop out. What about his delegates?” Trump said. “I mean, he said he’s going to keep his delegates.”

Much speculation previously centered around the possibility of a brokered convention—giving an outsize role to party elites known as super-delegates—if no candidate received a majority of votes.

Biden Accused of Using Obama as a Crutch
Barack Obama and Joe Biden / IMAGE: CBC News via Youtube

Although Biden now appears poised to clinch the primaries, several scenarios remain open for how party power-brokers could dispatch with him should the 77-year-old be deemed unfit to run.

Many are openly worried that the gaffe-prone career politician may be in a state of advanced cognitive decline after recent appearances.

Biden already has been forced to answer for a litany of scandals including his corrupt family business ventures—as well as his inappropriate, non-consensual contact with women and young girls. He has yet to publicly respond to a recent rape accusation that surfaced after the coronavirus became the focus of national media attention.

Obama has refrained from endorsing any one of the Democratic candidates, but his silence has been particularly poignant when it comes to Biden, given the well-known bond between the two politicians.

In November, he even trashed his former running mate in a conversation, according to a Democrat who spoke to Mediaite.

“With one candidate, he pointed out that during his own 2008 campaign, he had an intimate bond with the electorate, especially in Iowa, that he no longer has,” the Democrat recalled. “Then he added, ‘And you know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden.’”

Dems Want Funding for Media Included In Next Congressional Relief Package

Contributing Author
-
0

‘Do not block emergency aid you do not oppose just because you want something more…’

CNN's Jim Acosta and Don Lemon Claim Their Network Isn't Anti-Trump
CNN’s Don Lemon and Jim Acosta

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) More than a dozen Senate Democrats are demanding that Congress’s next relief package include funding for the media, arguing that communities across the country could lose access to the news because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Local news is in a state of crisis that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the senators wrote in a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday.

The media has been one of the hardest hit industries over the past few years due to the rise of social media and Big Tech platforms, the senators complained, and now that problem could become even worse.

“The current public health crisis has made the already vital role of local news even more critical,” the senators wrote, citing the World Health Organization’s concern about a “massive infodemic,” meaning, misinformation about the coronavirus and its effects.

Any new stimulus package must include a provision that is “tailored to benefit aid recipients who make a long-term commitment to high quality local news,” the letter states.

Senate Democrats also wanted an additional $125 billion in the small-business loan program to be set aside for woman-, minority- or veteran-owned businesses. Their proposal would also set aside $8 billion in funding for Native-American tribes and $3 billion for U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico.

Because these demands were not initially met, Democrats blocked a motion by McConnell on Thursday to give the unanimous consent necessary to fast-track President Donald Trump’s request for an additional $250 billion for supplemental paycheck-protection funding.

“We need more funding and we need it fast,” McConnell said. “Do not block emergency aid you do not oppose just because you want something more.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., however, made it clear that McConnell’s request for a fast-track approval “simply can’t” survive the Democratic-controlled House.

Barr Calls Social Distancing Measures ‘Draconian’; Rips Media ‘Jihad’ Against Trump

Contributing Author
-
0

‘I’m very concerned about the slippery slope in terms of continuing encroachments on personal liberty…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that it’s time for the U.S. to unveil a plan and relax some of the “draconian” social distancing restrictions imposed across the country.

The state governments need to be “very careful” to ensure that the preventative steps being taken to reduce the spread of the coronavirus are “fully justified,” Barr said.

And it’s time to start thinking about “alternative ways of protecting people,” since health officials estimate the virus could continue to be a problem throughout the summer months.

“I think, you know, when this — when this period of time is — at the end of April expires, I think we have to allow people to adapt more than we have and not just tell people to go home and hide under the bed, but allow them to use other ways — social distancing and other means — to protect themselves,” he told Fox News.

The state governments “can impose certain limitations,” Barr added, but that doesn’t mean our leaders have a license to abuse their emergency powers.

For that reason, the Justice Department will be monitoring any actions that “restrict people’s liberty,” Barr said.

“I’m very concerned about the slippery slope in terms of continuing encroachments on personal liberty,” he said. “I do think during the emergency, appropriate, reasonable steps are fine.”

Barr also blasted the mainstream media for attempting to undermine President Trump’s efforts to combat the coronavirus, specifically in regards to his suggestion that physicians should consider prescribing well-known anti-malarial drugs to COVID-19 patients, given the anecdotal evidence supporting their use.

“The stridency of the partisan attacks on [Trump have] gotten higher and higher,” he told Fox News. “The politicization of decisions like hydroxychloroquine, it’s been amazing to me … Before the president said anything about it, there was [a] fair and balanced drug of this very promising drug. And the fact that it had such a long track record, the risks were pretty well-known. As soon as Trump said something positive about it, the media’s been on a jihad to discredit the drug.”

Rick Scott: Move Olympic Games from China Unless the Gov't Respects Human Rights

Joshua Paladino
-
0

‘This isn’t about politics; this is about human rights…’

Former Governor Rick Scott: Florida Welcomes NYC Residents Fleeing High Taxes
Rick Scott/IMAGE: CNBC via YouTube

(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympic Games from China unless the government affirms the “basic rights” of the Chinese people.
“The communist government is denying basic rights to the people of Hong Kong, cracking down on protesters, journalists, and dissidents, holding 1 million Uighurs in concentration camps because of their religion, and continuing to lie about the spread of the coronavirus,” Scott wrote op-ed for the Washington Examiner.
He said the Chinese Communist Party’s actions conflicted with the Olympics’s mission of “promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity” and encouraging “a way of life based on … social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”
Several GOP senators are demanding further scrutiny and accountability for the cover-up of the coronavirus, believed to have been transmitted by a bat, which first emerged from a Chinese wet market.
China’s refusal to acknowledge the rapid spread of the virus cost nations around the world several weeks—if not months—of valuable preparation time.
Scott also has called for the United Nations-backed World Health Organization to be investigated for lending credence to the Chinese propaganda and initially downplaying concerns over the health crisis.
But even before the world learned about Chinese officials’ role in suppressing information about the pandemic threat, Scott had written to the IOC about the country’s substantial human rights abuses toward its own citizens.
“If Communist China continues breaking promises, violating human rights, and oppressing the people of Hong Kong, then Beijing should not be allowed to host the 2022 Winter Olympics,” Scott wrote to IOC President Thomas Bach in October 2019.
Bach responded in November.
He said the mission of the Olympic Games and the IOC is “to unite the entire world in peaceful competition. To achieve this, we must remain strictly politically neutral.”
In the latest op-ed, Scott wrote, “That answer is unacceptable. This isn’t about politics; this is about human rights.”
He also added several other examples to the growing list of Chinese abuses.
“I stand with the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong, the historically persecuted people of Tibet, peaceful communities of Chinese Muslims including Uighurs, Falun Gong, and the journalists and political dissidents in China,” he wrote.
“I hope every freedom-loving country joins us in demanding that the IOC rebid the 2022 Olympic Games should China fail to abandon its indefensible course,” he added.

1...3,7013,7023,703...3,814Page 3,702 of 3,814