Have nothing to do with the [evil] things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light... [For] when all things are brought out into the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed...

-Ephesians 5:11-13

In States With no Stay-at-home Orders, Citizens Staying Safe

Friday, 03 April 2020 13:09
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, April 3, 2020: 

There are currently 38 states operating under “stay-at-home” rules, “shelter-in-place” orders, or full “lockdown” mandates that forbid citizens from leaving their homes without explicit permission from authorities. Of the remaining 12, seven — Wyoming, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama and South Carolina — have at least one city or municipality under one of these restrictions. That leaves five — Iowa, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Arkansas — that don’t have any such statewide mandates.

USA Today technology writer Marco della Cava was tasked to learn how those five “free” states are managing without coronavirus mandates. He asked, “So, what’s life like.… Are some Americans [in those states] still chatting at the local barbershop, meeting for post-work happy hours and gathering for backyard barbecues?”

He answered: “Not so much. The reality is a complicated and even conflicted mix of respect for a deadly pathogen, concern over its economic implications, and a desire to maintain a sense of American independence in the face of collective tragedy.”

Responses reflected a general sense of personal responsibility that represents those states’ cultures. For instance, Brian Joens, owner of Joensy’s Restaurant in Iowa City, Iowa, said he is doing the best he can under the circumstances:

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Trump Ignores Biden’s Challenge to a Debate

Friday, 03 April 2020 10:39
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This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, April 3, 2020: 

William Shakespeare said that “Desperate times breed desperate measures,” and Joe Biden is desperate. Sitting in his basement, sheltering in place (“aging in place,” some are saying), reading scripts from his teleprompter, Joe Biden is now challenging the president to a debate. The president is ignoring him.

Why wouldn’t he? The president has everything going his way and he is drowning out any attempt by Biden to get some airtime.

Biden’s first challenge was issued the day after Super Tuesday. Fresh from his victories, he challenged the president to a debate, claiming that he would “beat him like a drum.” While being interviewed by Brian Williams, Biden dared the president:

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Crude Oil Prices Pop on Trump’s Tweet: Saudi Arabia and Russia To Cut Production

Thursday, 02 April 2020 15:33
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, April 2, 2020:

President Donald Trump’s Tweet early Thursday morning pushed crude oil prices up more than 20 percent: “Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!”

Skeptics tempered the rise, noting that there was no deal, only a promise to restart the negotiations that failed in March between members of OPEC and Russia to limit production. Russia left that meeting with “acrimony,” which started a price war in which Saudi Arabia and Russia were both pumping at near-maximum rates. Since then, crude oil prices were cut in half, with some commentators suggesting prices could drop still further, from near $25 a barrel at present to less than $10.

Skeptics also noted that

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Biden Challenges Trump to a Debate, Again

Thursday, 02 April 2020 12:32
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, April 2, 2020:

Once again, the likely Democrat candidate for president, former Vice President Joe Biden, is challenging the president to a debate. During an interview with radio host Enrique Santos on Wednesday, Biden said he is “ready to debate President Trump on Zoom or Skype, any time he wants.”

The last time Biden challenged the president to a debate he claimed he would “beat him like a drum.” Unfortunately for Biden, that was back in February — ages ago in political terms. Following his Super Tuesday win, while being interviewed by Brian Williams, Biden challenged the president:

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Is Whiting Petroleum’s Bankruptcy a Harbinger?

Wednesday, 01 April 2020 20:11
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, April 1, 2020: 

The one-two punch of the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia combined with the COVID-19 shutdown of the U.S. economy was more than Whiting Petroleum could handle. With a $262 million payment due on Wednesday on its $2.8 billion of debt, the company filed for bankruptcy. President and CEO Brad Holly said the “severe downturn” in oil and gas prices forced his hand, and that bankruptcy and financial restructuring was the “best way forward.”

In early January,

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Wednesday’s ADP Jobs Report Misleading: Job Loss in March Much Worse

Wednesday, 01 April 2020 12:43
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, April 1, 2020: 

The country’s largest payroll processing company, ADP, reported on Wednesday that private-sector employment in the United States dropped in March by just 27,000 jobs — 9,000 in the goods-producing sector and 18,000 in the service sector. Although this number is far below the monthly average of 178,000 new jobs created over the previous four months, most were expecting a much larger drop.

ADP’s press release explains why: “The report utilizes data through the 12th of [March] … as such the March [report] does not reflect the full impact of COVID-19 on the overall employment situation.” In other words, watch out below: April’s report from ADP is likely to be much closer to the present reality. Economists were expecting ADP to report a job loss in March of 180,000.

That present reality is better reflected by recent reports from

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Just how bad is the U.S. Economy? The Waffle House Index just Flashed RED

Wednesday, 01 April 2020 12:39
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This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, April 1, 2020: 

Waffle House restaurants almost never close. As one customer wrote: “I swear I’ve eaten at a Waffle House where a tree came in the front window and good chunks of the roof came off in bad weather, and they just kept right on serving like it was a Tuesday.”

The chain just announced that it has closed nearly 400 of its more than 2,100 restaurants.

FEMA considers the Waffle House as an indicator of the health of the overall economy. It uses what it calls its Waffle House indicator: Green, when the restaurants are open and serving a complete menu; Yellow, when they are operating on reserve or emergency power and offering a limited menu; and Red, when they are closed.

The closure of its restaurants reflects the news from the St. Louis Fed. Its President Jim Bullard just announced: “The unemployment rate … is going to be somewhere between 10 percent and … 42 percent.” The lower number is the most optimistic projection of present trends while the higher number is the most pessimistic. They reflect a minimum of 27 million jobs lost during the shutdown and 67 million at the worst.

Neal Boss, the director of public relations for Waffle House, tried to put those numbers into human terms: “To see something of this magnitude and [to] try to explain it in terms of human cost … we see how it physically affects people through the infection … there’s the human cost of the very individuals who have been disproportionately affected.”

He added:

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Trump Administration Adds Gun Makers and Retailers to List of “Essential” Businesses

Tuesday, 31 March 2020 12:48
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, March 31, 2020: 

Given the opportunity presenting itself in the form of the coronavirus shutdown, many anti-gun states shut down gun stores and manufacturers as being “non-essential.” On Saturday, the Trump administration revised its own list of “essential” businesses deemed important to the safety and security of the Republic and the list now includes gun stores and gun manufacturers.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is the agency responsible for executing directives by the Department of Homeland Security. In its revised memo, released on Saturday, it said that CISA “has developed … an ‘Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce’ advisory list. This list is intended to help State, local, tribal and territorial officials as they work to protect their communities.”

Under the “Law Enforcement, Public Safety, and Other First Responders” section is now included

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“Waffle House Index” Flashes Red as Unemployment Numbers Jump

Tuesday, 31 March 2020 08:55
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, March 31, 2020: 

The “Waffle House Index” flashed red last week as the impact of the coronavirus shutdown really began to bite. The Waffle House restaurant chain is a cultural icon with 2,100 locations, mostly in the South. It is also a leading indicator of the health of the economy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses the health of the chain as an indicator for the health of the economy as a whole.

As Craig Fugate, the former head of FEMA, expressed it this way: “If you get there and the Waffle House is closed? That’s really bad.”

The Index has three levels: Green (the restaurants are open, full, and operating with a complete menu); Yellow (they are operating on emergency power, serving only a partial menu); and Red (they are closed).

The chain has closed nearly 400 of its 2,100 restaurants, reflecting what St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard just announced:

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Former Senator Tom Coburn Passed Away March 28

Monday, 30 March 2020 14:00
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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, March 30, 2020: 

On March 28, the day after President Trump signed the CARES Act into law, former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) passed away. Had he lived, and had his health allowed, he would certainly have voted against it. His annual “Wastebook” was eagerly awaited by fiscal conservatives, and largely ignored by everyone else in the Senate.

The CARES Act had everything in it that Coburn opposed. As Kimberly Strassel wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “The bill throws $25 billion more at food stamps and child nutrition; $12 billion at housing; $3.5 billion to states for child care; $32 billion at education; $900 million at low-income heating assistance; $50 million at legal services for the poor and so on. This is a massive expansion of the welfare state, seemingly with no regard to the actual length of this crisis.”

She added:

There’s also the money appropriators threw at government for no purpose other than the throwing. Every outpost gets dollars, most for nothing more than the general command “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.” NASA gets $60 million. Has the virus infected the sun’s corona? The National Archives gets $8 million. Will it put the virus on display? Many departments get cash for research, regardless of their relevance to today’s medical crisis. Perhaps the Energy Department will use its additional $99 million in “science” to gauge how the virus responds in a nuclear reactor.

Without knowing it, Strassel provided a perfect epitaph for the Senator from Oklahoma back in 2015, writing, “The pity is that history rarely hands out awards to those who stop bad things. Tom Coburn blocked more ideas and lousy legislation in Congress than most Americans will ever know.”

He used a tool called a “hold” to block offensive legislation and managed to offend members on both sides of the aisle. Democrats called him “Dr. No,” intending it as a pejorative. Instead it became an honorary title, memorializing a member, first of the House and then the Senate, who promised to uphold and defend the Constitution and to serve no more than three consecutive terms, and who kept his promises.

He compiled a Constitutional voting record that is nearly unmatched today:

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Many of the articles on Light from the Right first appeared on either The New American or the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor.
Copyright © 2020 Bob Adelmann