George W. Bush Center: More Globalization Is the Answer to Coronavirus Crisis

Executives with the George W. Bush Presidential Center say more globalization of the American economy is the answer to the Chinese coronavirus crisis, not the problem.

In an op-ed published in Real Clear World, Managing Director of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative Matthew Rooney writes that the policies of free trade, mass immigration, and globalization must be embraced further by the U.S. after the crisis is over.

Economic nationalism, Rooney writes, must be rejected:

As COVID-19 spreads and stresses healthcare infrastructure around the world, governments and civil society are racing to slow the pandemic by distancing people from one another. Meanwhile, in the United States and in other developed countries, there is a rising chorus of voices who argue that we must deglobalize, dismantle international supply chains, reduce international trade and travel, and close our borders to the world. [Emphasis added]

…

The danger of a pandemic did not arise because of globalization. Pandemics have appeared periodically throughout history. Deglobalizing will not protect us from pandemics in the future. On the contrary, we will ultimately come to see that global cooperation is key to responding successfully to pandemics. [Emphasis added]

…

Obviously, in the ongoing crisis, our top priority must be the health and safety of our families, our neighbors, and our national community. We must be prepared to do what it takes to “flatten the curve” of infection, and to spend what it takes to prevent economic collapse. But when the crisis is over, and we have defeated the virus and people are back at work and we are all able to go out for dinner again, we must be ready to come together around a new strategy for globalization that secures its benefits and cures its ills. It will take American leadership and political will, but we know what needs to be done and have successfully met greater challenges in the past. [Emphasis added]

Globalization of the American economy — forged by the Bush presidencies, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama — has had a crippling impact on working- and middle-class Americans for decades and has been exacerbated during the coronavirus crisis.

Since 2001, free trade with China has cost millions of Americans their jobs. For example, the Economic Policy Institute has found that from 2001 to 2015, about 3.4 million U.S. jobs were lost due to the nation’s trade deficit with China.

Of the 3.4 million U.S. jobs lost in that time period, about 2.6 million were lost in the manufacturing industry, making up about three-fourths of the loss of jobs from the U.S.-Chinese trade deficit. Research has revealed that American towns that had their manufacturing bases gutted have been hit hardest with rampant drug addition during the opioid crisis.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/16/george-w-bush-center-globalization-answer-coronavirus-crisis/

Thousands gather in Tel Aviv to protest political deadlock

Organizers say the demonstrators at Habima Square observed the Health Ministry's directives keeping a 2-meter distance from one another; 'Netanyahu is jeopardizing Israel's democracy,' says former Shin Bet chief at the rally

Thousands of protesters gathered in the center of Tel Aviv on Thursday to protest the current political deadlock and "the erosion of Israeli democracy" under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The demonstrators at the Habima Square, waving black flags and chanting anti-government slogans, said they were observing the social distancing rules and the Health Ministry's directives meant to combat the spread of coronavirus.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/BkXr0bUdI

Militants kill 5, injure 4 workers outside US airbase in Afghanistan

Five Afghans were killed and four more wounded in an attack on their vehicle outside the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, a major US stronghold north of Kabul, local media reported. The attackers remain unknown.

The attack happened on Thursday evening, around 10 pm local time, when a vehicle carrying the local employees was approaching the base. Attackers opened fire on the vehicle, a local official told reporters.

Located in the Parwan province, Bagram is the largest US base in Afghanistan and the headquarters of Operation Resolute Support.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet, though multiple reports have cast suspicion at Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militants operating in Afghanistan.

The incident comes as Washington has been pushing the government in Kabul to release Taliban prisoners, under the terms of an agreement signed between the US and the militants on February 29. The treaty aims to pave the way for US withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years of occupation and failed nation-building efforts.

This pullback was supposed to be a gradual process, with the US continuing to support the government in Kabul against terrorists and militants such as IS.

However, citing the lack of progress in implementing the deal and divisions between President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah that delayed the formation of an “inclusive government,” the US halted $1 billion in aid to the Afghan government last month.

https://www.rt.com/news/486066-militants-attack-bagram-base-kabul/

Eric Holder Slips Up And Admits It — Wants To Use Coronavirus To Change America For GOOD

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served under President Barack Obama, said the coronavirus pandemic presented “an opportunity” to change the way all Americans vote.

“Coronavirus gives us an opportunity to revamp our electoral system so that it permanently becomes more inclusive and becomes easier for the American people to access,” Holder told Time magazine.

Calling for a “sea change” in voting procedures and systems, Holder said he would allow Americans to vote from home using prepaid mail-in ballots and unlimited absentee voting.

He did not, however, address concerns critics of such systems have regarding the potential for vote fraud. He did, however, note that any changes in the voting process brought about by the pandemic should be permanent.

“It would be foolhardy to take these pro-democracy measures off the table after we get on the other side of the virus,” he said. “These are changes that we should make permanent because it will enhance our democracy.”

A number of other Democrats are also pushing for the change, but Republicans say it is ripe for vote fraud, especially in states where voter registration rolls are out of date and do not reflect current residents.

Government Accountability Insititute (GAI) research director Eric Eggers, author of Fraud: How the Left Plans to Steal the Next Election, said according to his research, a national mail-in voting system would create 24 million fraudulent votes.

“The concern I have if we’re trying to mandate national mail-in elections — which by the way was part of the language that Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats inserted in the first version of the most recent stimulus package — would be that we have such massive problems with voter rolls in this country,” Eggers told Breitbart Radio on SiriusXM.

“So, now are we going to be mailing ballots to people that authentically don’t exist and or are ineligible voters?”

The concerns are real. On Wednesday, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted that a friend informed him that his deceased father received a coronavirus stimulus check of $1,200.

https://dcdirtylaundry.com/eric-holder-slips-up-and-admits-it-wants-to-use-coronavirus-to-change-america-for-good/

France: Leftist politicians call for amnesty for illegal migrants to ‘help’ fight COVID-19

More than 100 French lawmakers have signed a letter which calls on Prime Minister Edouard Philipp to provide amnesty to all illegal migrants living in France.

The letter’s signatories – a bloc of 104 mainly leftist lawmakers – argue that the drastic action would help the country to fight the Chinese COVID-19 virus. French MPs who put their names on letter drew their inspiration from a move made late last month by the leftist Portuguese government which effectively gave amnesty to illegal immigrants.

As Voice of Europe reported, Portugal’s leftist government granted full citizenship rights to all asylum seekers and illegal migrants, giving them access to the country’s national health service, welfare benefits, social security system during the pandemic. The move was allegedly taken to “reduce the risks for public health” and will only last the until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, according to government officials.

In their letter, however, the French lawmakers failed to mention whether the amnesty they’re calling for would be temporary.

“We solemnly call on the French government to take the same measures as the Portuguese government. The health catastrophe we are experiencing forces us to act responsibly and without delay, as our Portuguese friends have done,” the letter which was published by Le Journal du Dimache states.

Signatories of the letter argue that providing amnesty to illegal immigrants would reduce the risks for public health since the migrants would have access to healthcare if they were to become infected with COVID-19.

The move comes a couple of weeks after Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic urged EU member states to release migrants from detention centers to prevent the spread of the Chinese COVID-19 virus.

https://twitter.com/V_of_Europe/status/1246475107331117056

Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom have already released migrants as a result of the pandemic.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/04/france-leftist-politicians-call-for-amnesty-for-illegal-migrants-to-help-fight-covid-19/