CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: April 20th

April 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: 2,418,980 (up from 2,197,161 Friday)
Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 165,761 (up from 147,512 Friday)
Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 633,376 (up from 557,596 Friday)
US has 746,265 Confirmed Cases and 40,766 deaths, up from 687,201 cases and 34,641 deaths Friday
US currently has 13,566 people in Serious or Critical Condition
US is 13th in Fatality Rate per 1 Million people, behind Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Italy, UK and Belgium

Droning On and On https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-crazy-chinese-made-drones-are-monitoring-streets-in-20-states-to-enforce-social-distancing-u-s-officials-are-concerned-about-spying

At least 20 states in the US are using Chinese-made aerial drones to ensure we're following Social Distancing regulations.
Drones were donated to law enforcement agencies by DJI, a Chinese tech company that dominates the civilian drone market with over 65% market share.
In 2018-2019, the US Department of Interior and Department of Defense both banned the use of DJI drones after it was discovered that the smartphone software used to fly the drones sends data back to parent-company DJI in China.
DJI has numerous ties to the Chinese Communist Party, including having CCP members on its board of Directors, according to the NY Times.

New York Now Officially a City of Rats https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/bill-de-blasio-new-york-citys-tattletale-in-chief

In a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, Mayor Bill DeBlasio encouraged New Yorkers to tattle on fellow citizens who aren't following social distancing guidelines by taking a picture of the alleged violation and texting it to city officials.
"Thank you to everyone who has done this the right way, but we still know there's some people who need to get the message," de Blasio said.
"And that means sometimes making sure the enforcement is there to educate people and make clear we've got to have social distancing. So, now it is easier than ever — when you see a crowd, when you see a line that's not distanced, when you see a supermarket that's too crowded, anything, you can report it right away so we can get help there to fix the problem."
So far, the New York rat-hotline has received over 1,000 alleged reports of New Yorkers violating social distancing orders.

As Much as 60% of PPP Cash Went to Publicly Traded Companies https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/business/small-businesses-ppp-loans-chain-restaurants/index.html

Congress had authorized $350 Billion via the Payroll Protection Program for Small Businesses.
Analysis now indicates that much of that cash went to chain restaurants, franchises, hotels, etc who are part of larger publicly traded companies.
Franchise locations, including some that are technically owned and operated by larger publicly traded companies, qualified as small businesses because they are separate companies owned by larger companies.
In one instance reported by CNN, one hotel chain received nearly $370 Million in loans for 10 hotel locations where each individual hotel is run as a separate LLC, even though the parent company has 12,000 employees and wouldn't qualify as a small business (capped at 500 employees or less).
Less than 10% of the PPP loans ended up going to small businesses that employed fewer than 50 employees, according to CNN's analysis.

Here Comes The Sun https://www.yahoo.com/news/sunlight-destroys-coronavirus-very-quickly-new-government-tests-find-but-experts-say-pandemic-could-still-last-through-summer-200745675.html

SARS-CoV-2 is easily destroyed by UV light, government study confirms.
Most Coronavirus studies are easily destroyed by exposure to sunlight, including SARS-CoV-2.
UV light cripples the lipid-based membrane of the virus very easily, including UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C spectrums.
UV-A and UV-B light both penetrate the earth's atmosphere and reach the surface. Both UV-A and UV-B cause cancer and can cause eye damage in humans.
UV-C light from the Sun does NOT penetrate the earth's atmosphere, but UV-C does kill Coronavirus. UV-C light is completely harmless to human skin and eyes according to a study by the National Institutes of Health in 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29426899
UV-C light bulbs are available in the US.

Time To Close Grocery Stores? https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/19/business/grocery-stores-coronavirus-pickup-delivery/index.html

Despite masks, temperature checks, gloves, etc more than three dozen grocery store workers have died from COVID-19.
Some experts, union leaders and small grocery owners believe it has become too dangerous to let customers browse aisles, coming into close range with workers.
Grocery stores are still flooded with customers, and experts say it's time for large chains to go "dark" to the public and convert to curbside pickup and home delivery for food and other essential goods.
"Careless customers" are "probably the biggest threat" to workers right now, according to Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers' union.
The union said 85% of its grocery store member workers surveyed said that customers are not practicing social distancing in stores, not wearing facemasks or not standing more than 6 feet apart.

Evidence of WHO & CCP Cover-Up Growing https://www.foxnews.com/world/how-complicit-is-who-china-coronavirus-cover-up

U.S. officials are 100 percent confident China went to great lengths to cover up after the virus was out, according to government sources cited by Fox News.
Additionally, the US Government now believes that the World Health Organization was either complicit in the coverup or looked the other way. Publicly, the WHO has insisted that there is no evidence it originated in the laboratory.
The holes in the information disseminated from the UN body – the only international group tasked with global health – are growing.
According to the Wall Street Journal, doctors in Wuhan were aware the virus could spread between humans as early as the beginning of December, with patients falling ill despite having had no exposure to the wet market.
Epidemiologists from Taiwan had sent urgent memos to the WHO in December, warning of human to human transmission and of an atypical pneumonia associated with the virus.
As of January 14th, the WHO was still parroting Chinese Communist propaganda that there was no evidence of human to human transmission.
It is now confirmed the Chinese knew of human to human transmission as early as December 8th, 2019.

Chinese Produced News Article in Arabic Blames US for COVID-19 https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/18/china-falsely-telling-arab-world-us-source-coronav/

A News program produced by a Chinese Communist Party media outlet openly blames US for Coronavirus outbreak.
A media research group has released the transcript of a China-produced Arabic-language news report to show how Beijing's propaganda machine is blaming the coronavirus on America.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors TV and social media in the Arab world, focused on a March 17 broadcast of "China View" on Beijing's Global Television Network Arabic (CGTN), which overall has 14 million viewers.
The Middle East is an increasingly ripe target for China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to build ports, highways and even cities to gain inroads into the oil-rich region and to compete with the U.S.
On the March 17th show, a Chinese scientist Ms V speculates that "Initially, many thought that the beginning of the virus' emergence was from one of the seafood markets in Wuhan, but Chinese researchers reported in new research that the transmission of the new coronavirus had started since at least December outside this market," she says in the piece.
"The virus may have transmitted from a source to the seafood market, where the rapid spread of transmission began due to the presence of a large number of close contacts within this place, and the research also reported that the virus had started spreading after the Wuhan International Military Games ended in October 2019. So, it is expected that the 'patient zero' in China has come from outside China," she continued.
There is no evidence for this propaganda, according to researchers.
On the "China View" program, according to MEMRI, "Ms. V" also attributed some of these claims to an outside news source from a U.S.-aligned nation.
She also indicated that some "leading scientists" believe COVID-19 was actively spreading in North Carolina in Summer, 2019, according to the Washington Times.

Latest Victim of COVID-19: Chinese 5G https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/uk-seeks-to-drop-huawei-contract-over-china-coronavirus-transparency

The UK and France now seeking to ban Chinese telecom giant Huawei from providing hardware or service as part of their 5G roll outs.
Previously only the US & Canada had moved forward with a hard ban on the inclusion of Chinese technology in 5G platforms.
"We need to devise a proper, realistic exit strategy from relying on Huawei," Conservative MP Damian Green told Bloomberg News. "Our telecom providers … need to know the government is determined to drive down Huawei's involvement to zero percent over a realistic timescale."
"The mood in the parliamentary party has hardened," said Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative Party's chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. "It's a shared realization of what it means for dependence on a business that is part of a state that does not share our values."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has discouraged allies around the world from partnering with Huawei, arguing that China's spy services will exploit the next-generation wireless technology.
Huawei has denied cooperating with Chinese intelligence and urged the United Kingdom to not reverse its position.

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BLOG

Stand with Voddie Baucham’s family in this time of loss

From isolation to connection: Overcoming loneliness

Loneliness isn’t just being alone — it’s feeling unseen, unheard, and unimportant, even amid crowds and constant digital chatter.

Loneliness has become an epidemic in America. Millions of people, even when surrounded by others, feel invisible. In tragic irony, we live in an age of unparalleled connectivity, yet too many sit in silence, unseen and unheard.

I’ve been experiencing this firsthand. My children have grown up and moved out. The house that once overflowed with life now echoes with quiet. Moments that once held laughter now hold silence. And in that silence, the mind can play cruel games. It whispers, “You’re forgotten. Your story doesn’t matter.”

We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

It’s a lie.

I’ve seen it in others. I remember sitting at Rockefeller Center one winter, watching a woman lace up her ice skates. Her clothing was worn, her bag battered. Yet on the ice, she transformed — elegant, alive, radiant.

Minutes later, she returned to her shoes, merged into the crowd, unnoticed. I’ve thought of her often. She was not alone in her experience. Millions of Americans live unseen, performing acts of quiet heroism every day.

Shared pain makes us human

Loneliness convinces us to retreat, to stay silent, to stop reaching out to others. But connection is essential. Even small gestures — a word of encouragement, a listening ear, a shared meal — are radical acts against isolation.

I’ve learned this personally. Years ago, a caller called me “Mr. Perfect.” I could have deflected, but I chose honesty. I spoke of my alcoholism, my failed marriage, my brokenness. I expected judgment. Instead, I found resonance. People whispered back, “I’m going through the same thing. Thank you for saying it.”

Our pain is universal. Everyone struggles with self-doubt and fear. Everyone feels, at times, like a fraud. We are unique in our gifts, but not in our humanity. Recognizing this shared struggle is how we overcome loneliness.

We were made for connection. We were built for community — for conversation, for touch, for shared purpose. Every time we reach out, every act of courage and compassion punches a hole in the wall of isolation.

You’re not alone

If you’re feeling alone, know this: You are not invisible. You are seen. You matter. And if you’re not struggling, someone you know is. It’s your responsibility to reach out.

Loneliness is not proof of brokenness. It is proof of humanity. It is a call to engage, to bear witness, to connect. The world is different because of the people who choose to act. It is brighter when we refuse to be isolated.

We cannot let silence win. We cannot allow loneliness to dictate our lives. Speak. Reach out. Connect. Share your gifts. By doing so, we remind one another: We are all alike, and yet each of us matters profoundly.

In this moment, in this country, in this world, what we do matters. Loneliness is real, but so is hope. And hope begins with connection.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Russell Vought’s secret plan to finally shrink Washington

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Trump’s OMB chief built the plan for this moment: Starve pet programs, force reauthorization, and actually shrink Washington.

The government is shut down again, and the usual panic is back. I even had someone call my house this week to ask if it was safe to fly today. The person was half-joking, half-serious, wondering if planes would “fall out of the sky.”

For the record, the sky isn’t falling — at least not literally. But the chaos in Washington does feel like it. Once again, we’re watching the same old script: a shutdown engineered not by fiscal restraint but by political brinkmanship. And this time, the Democrats are driving the bus.

This shutdown may be inconvenient. But it’s also an opportunity — to stop funding our own destruction, to reset the table, and to remind Congress who actually pays the bills.

Democrats, among other things, are demanding that health care be extended to illegal immigrants. Democratic leadership caved to its radical base, which would rather shut down the government for such left-wing campaign points than compromise. Republicans — shockingly — said no. They refused to rubber-stamp more spending for illegal immigration. For once, they stood their ground.

But if you’ve watched Washington long enough, you know how this story usually ends: a shutdown followed by a deal that spends even more money than before — a continuing resolution kicking the can down the road. Everyone pretends to “win,” but taxpayers always lose.

The Vought effect

This time might be different. Republicans actually hold some cards. The public may blame Democrats — not the media, but the people who feel this in their wallets. Americans don’t like shutdowns, but they like runaway spending and chaos even less.

That’s why you’re hearing so much about Russell Vought, the director of the United States Office of Management and Budget and Donald Trump’s quiet architect of a strategy to use moments like this to shrink the federal bureaucracy. Vought spent four years building a plan for exactly this scenario: firing nonessential workers and forcing reauthorization of pet programs. Trump talks about draining the swamp. Vought draws up the blueprints.

The Democrats and media are threatened by Vought because he is patient, calculated, and understands how to leverage the moment to reverse decades of government bloat. If programs aren’t mandated, cut them. Make Congress fight to bring them back. That’s how you actually drain the swamp.

Predictable meltdowns

Predictably, Democrats are melting down. They’ve shifted their arguments so many times it’s dizzying. Last time, they claimed a shutdown would lead to mass firings. Now, they insist Republicans are firing everyone anyway. It’s the same playbook: Move the goalposts, reframe the narrative, accuse your opponents of cruelty.

We’ve seen this before. Remember the infamous "You lie!” moment in 2009? President Barack Obama promised during his State of the Union that Obamacare wouldn’t cover illegal immigrants. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted, “You lie!” and was condemned for breaching decorum.

Several years later, Hillary Clinton’s campaign platform openly promised health care for illegal immigrants. What was once called a “lie” became official policy. And today, Democrats are shutting down the government because they can’t get even more of it.

This is progressivism in action: Deny it, inch toward it, then demand it as a moral imperative. Anyone who resists becomes the villain.

SAUL LOEB / Contributor | Getty Images

Stand firm

This shutdown isn’t just about spending. It’s about whether we’ll keep letting progressives rewrite the rules one crisis at a time. Trump’s plan — to cut what isn’t mandated, force programs into reauthorization, and fight the battle in the courts — is the first real counterpunch to decades of this manipulation.

It’s time to stop pretending. This isn’t about compassion. It’s about control. Progressives know once they normalize government benefits for illegal immigrants, they never roll back. They know Americans forget how it started.

This shutdown may be inconvenient. But it’s also an opportunity — to stop funding our own destruction, to reset the table, and to remind Congress who actually pays the bills. If we don’t take it, we’ll be right back here again, only deeper in debt, with fewer freedoms left to defend.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Britain says “no work without ID”—a chilling preview for America

OLI SCARFF / Contributor | Getty Images

From banking to health care, digital IDs touch every aspect of citizens’ lives, giving the government unprecedented control over everyday actions.

On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood at the podium at the Global Progressive Action Conference in London and made an announcement that should send a chill down the spine of anyone who loves liberty. By the end of this Parliament, he promised, every worker in the U.K. will be required to hold a “free-of-charge” digital ID. Without it, Britons will not be able to work.

No digital ID, no job.

The government is introducing a system that punishes law-abiding citizens by tying their right to work to a government-issued pass.

Starmer framed this as a commonsense response to poverty, climate change, and illegal immigration. He claimed Britain cannot solve these problems without “looking upstream” and tackling root causes. But behind the rhetoric lies a policy that shifts power away from individuals and places it squarely in the hands of government.

Solving the problem they created

This is progressivism in action. Leaders open their borders, invite in mass illegal immigration, and refuse to enforce their own laws. Then, when public frustration boils over, they unveil a prepackaged “solution” — in this case, digital identity — that entrenches government control.

Britain isn’t the first to embrace this system. Switzerland recently approved a digital ID system. Australia already has one. The World Economic Forum has openly pitched digital IDs as the key to accessing everything from health care to bank accounts to travel. And once the infrastructure is in place, digital currency will follow soon after, giving governments the power to track every purchase, approve or block transactions, and dictate where and how you spend your money.

All of your data — your medical history, insurance, banking, food purchases, travel, social media engagement, tax information — would be funneled into a centralized database under government oversight.

The fiction of enforcement

Starmer says this is about cracking down on illegal work. The BBC even pressed him on the point, asking why a mandatory digital ID would stop human traffickers and rogue employers who already ignore national insurance cards. He had no answer.

Bad actors will still break the law. Bosses who pay sweatshop wages under the table will not suddenly check digital IDs. Criminals will not line up to comply. This isn’t about stopping illegal immigration. If it were, the U.K. would simply enforce existing laws, close the loopholes, and deport those working illegally.

Instead, the government is introducing a system that punishes law-abiding citizens by tying their right to work to a government-issued pass.

Control masked as compassion

This is part of an old playbook. Politicians claim their hands are tied and promise that only sweeping new powers will solve the crisis. They selectively enforce laws to maintain the problem, then use the problem to justify expanding control.

If Britain truly wanted to curb illegal immigration, it could. It is an island. The Channel Tunnel has clear entry points. Enforcement is not impossible. But a digital ID allows for something far more valuable to bureaucrats than border security: total oversight of their own citizens.

The American warning

Think digital ID can’t happen here? Think again. The same arguments are already echoing in Washington, D.C. Illegal immigration is out of control. Progressives know voters are angry. When the digital ID pitch arrives, it will be wrapped in patriotic language about fairness, security, and compassion.

But the goal isn’t compassion. It’s control of your movement, your money, your speech, your future.

We don’t need digital IDs to enforce immigration law. We need leaders with the courage to enforce existing law. Until then, digital ID schemes will keep spreading, sold as a cure for the very problems they helped create.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The West is dying—Will we let enemies write our ending?

Harvey Meston / Staff | Getty Images

The blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, and soldiers built our civilization. Their sacrifice demands courage in the present to preserve it.

Lamentations asks, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”

That question has been weighing on me heavily. Not just as a broadcaster, but as a citizen, a father, a husband, a believer. It is a question that every person who cares about this nation, this culture, and this civilization must confront: Is all of this worth saving?

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

Western civilization — a project born in Judea, refined in Athens, tested in Rome, reawakened in Wittenberg, and baptized again on the shores of Plymouth Rock — is a gift. We didn’t earn it. We didn’t purchase it. We were handed it. And now, we must ask ourselves: Do we even want it?

Across Europe, streets are restless. Not merely with protests, but with ancient, festering hatred — the kind that once marched under swastikas and fueled ovens. Today, it marches under banners of peace while chanting calls for genocide. Violence and division crack societies open. Here in America, it’s left against right, flesh against spirit, neighbor against neighbor.

Truth struggles to find a home. Even the church is slumbering — or worse, collaborating.

Our society tells us that everything must be reset: tradition, marriage, gender, faith, even love. The only sin left is believing in absolute truth. Screens replace Scripture. Entertainment replaces education. Pleasure replaces purpose. Our children are confused, medicated, addicted, fatherless, suicidal. Universities mock virtue. Congress is indifferent. Media programs rather than informs. Schools recondition rather than educate.

Is this worth saving? If not, we should stop fighting and throw up our hands. But if it is, then we must act — and we must act now.

The West: An idea worth saving

What is the West? It’s not a location, race, flag, or a particular constitution. The West is an idea — an idea that man is made in the image of God, that liberty comes from responsibility, not government; that truth exists; that evil exists; and that courage is required every day. The West teaches that education, reason, and revelation walk hand in hand. Beauty matters. Kindness matters. Empathy matters. Sacrifice is holy. Justice is blind. Mercy is near.

We have squandered this inheritance. We forgot who we were — and our enemies are eager to write our ending.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If this is worth saving, we must know why. Western civilization is worth dying for, worth living for, worth defending. It was built on the blood of martyrs, prophets, poets, pilgrims, moms, dads, and soldiers. They did not die for markets, pronouns, surveillance, or currency. They died for something higher, something bigger.

MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images | Getty Images

Yet hope remains. Resurrection is real — not only in the tomb outside Jerusalem, but in the bones of any individual or group that returns to truth, honor, and God. It is never too late to return to family, community, accountability, and responsibility.

Pick up your torch

We were chosen for this time. We were made for a moment like this. The events unfolding in Europe and South Korea, the unrest and moral collapse, will all come down to us. Somewhere inside, we know we were called to carry this fire.

We are not called to win. We are called to stand. To hold the torch. To ask ourselves, every day: Is it worth standing? Is it worth saving?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Pick up your torch. If you choose to carry it, buckle up. The work is only beginning.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.