Lying With Statistics

Yesterday Townhall posted an article about the recent media hysteria about the coronavirus. The virus is serious, and we need to use common sense in dealing with it, but unwarranted hysteria is not common sense.

The article reports:

There was a COVID death spike last week. Run for your lives! Put your masks back on—and be afraid. That was the narrative the liberal media peddled last week because without Trump around no one watches anything they report. We’ve reached peak hysteria over the Delta variant, which isn’t more lethal, nor does it make you sicker. The reports from an internal CDC memo that suggests otherwise should be ignored; it was rejected by peer review.

The article reports some background information on the death spike as reported  by The New York Post:

A massive 300 percent hike in nationwide COVID-19 deaths recorded Friday by Johns Hopkins University was skewed by states dumping data – that in one case dated back as far as last spring, according to a report.

The university, which has been a trusted source of coronavirus information since the start of the pandemic, reported that US deaths surged from 321 on Thursday to 891 on Friday, as the Delta variant quickly spreads throughout much of the country.

Florida was responsible for a huge chunk of the increase, with 409 of Friday’s death toll coming from that state, according to The Daily Mail. However, Florida only releases weekly data on Friday, making the day-to-day totals reported by the university unclear and overblown, the outlet said.

Figures released by Delaware also added to the surging daily increase, as that state announced 130 new deaths Friday, the tabloid reported. The dramatic figure was misleading because those deaths actually occurred between mid-May 2020 and late last month, and were added after The First State reviewed death certificates, according to the article.

Data from Michigan, which only releases statistics biweekly, also reportedly added to the distorted total.

The true day-to-day increase of nationwide COVID-19 deaths was actually only 2.5 percent, according to the outlet.

Somehow I don’t expect the mainstream media fact-checkers to bother to fact-check the original claim of a 300 percent increase in deaths. Any increase in deaths is not a good thing, but being truthful would help. All of us need to learn to be our own fact-checkers.

This Doesn’t Seem To Be The Answer

Just the News reported yesterday that one month after California Governor Newsom unilaterally ordered state residents to wear masks in most public settings, the average daily number of coronavirus cases in the state has increased by over 160%. Wow.

The article reports:

Newsom’s June 18 order “mandate[d] that face coverings be worn state-wide” while in “any indoor public space,” while on public transit, during virtually every form of work in which the public might be involved in some way, while walking through “hallways, stairways, elevators, and parking facilities,” while in “any room or enclosed area where other people (except for members of the person’s own household or residence) are present when unable to physically distance,” and in outdoor settings where six feet of distance between individuals is not possible.

Every state resident older than two years old is bound by the mandate; a small number of exceptions exempt individuals due to medical conditions and other limited circumstances.

…The website of Johns Hopkins University, which offers pandemic tracking tools for every U.S. state, says average daily cases in California have increased from 3,385 on the day of Newsom’s order to 8,889 as of July 16, an increase of 162%.

Though Newsom’s mask mandate appears to have had little effect on the trajectory of the virus in California, the governor nevertheless this week imposed additional mask requirements on the state, ordering that most students who return to school in the fall will be subject to “strong mask requirements,” namely that “all staff and students in 3rd grade and above will be required to wear a mask or face covering” during the school day.

Can you imaging trying to keep a mask on the third grader all day? I don’t know why the masks did not help, but I think we need to look at this carefully. If the coronavirus spread that much with masks, why are we mandating them?

The Money Behind The War On Coal

Frankly, the war on coal makes no sense to America. The medical evidence about coal-fired electric plants is questionable at best, and it is understood that the proposed EPA regulations will cost jobs and make electricity more expensive for Americans. So what in the world is going on?

On Friday, Newsbusters posted a story that may shed some light on the subject.

The war on coal will have a devastating impact on the American economy and the stability of that economy. There is a person on the world stage that has become rich through destabilization of a country’s currency. That person is behind the funding of the war on coal. I know that is an incredible coincidence, but here are the facts.

The article reports:

Building on a long week of anti-coal attacks by the media and the Environmental Protection Agency, ABC’s June 5 “World News” revived another attack on the coal industry. ABC hyped a 2013 investigation that it conducted in partnership with the Soros-funded Center for Public Integrity (CPI). It alleged that the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions had essentially been bought off by coal companies to ignore cases of black lung disease in miners.

…But even ABC’s investigation admitted that Wheeler (Johns Hopkins’ Dr. Paul Wheeler) was a highly respected doctor, writing that “few doctors reading black lung X-rays have better credentials than Wheeler.” ABC quoted Administrative Judge Miller saying “[Wheeler’s] paper credentials are excellent…I think [he] is credited with a very distinguished career.”

Notably, NPR reported that Wheeler has consistently “retrained, retested and recertified” with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Muir’s claim that Wheeler was “working for the coal company” was never supported on June 5, but it likely relates back to the ABC/CPI investigation’s assertion that “coal companies pay Hopkins $750 for each X-ray [Wheeler] reads for black lung.” This is far from “working for the coal company,” however, especially since CPI admitted that “according to the university, none of the money goes directly to the doctors.”

Ironically, ABC never disclosed the fact that CPI was heavily funded by liberal mega-donor George Soros. Soros’ Open Society Foundations gave $3,216,328 to CPI since 2000, donating $700,000 in 2013 alone.

If the EPA continues the war on coal, they will cripple America’s economy and cause a major decline in the lifestyle of all Americans. The only recourse we have as Americans to end this sort of runaway government is to elect people to office who will put a stop to it. When you go into the voting booth in November, elect people who will opposed the Obama Administration’s war on coal. If people who oppose the EPA overreach are not elected, we can expect the strength of the American economy and the America way of life to be a distant memory.

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