THIS ISN’T GOOD: New Report on 138 Coronavirus Cases Reveals Disturbing Details: A highly contagious patient, virus transmission inside a hospital and unexpected turns for the worse have emerged as part of the epidemic in China. “The incident was a chilling reminder of the ‘super-spreaders’ in outbreaks of other coronavirus diseases, SARS and MERS — patients who infected huge numbers of other people, sometimes dozens. The phenomenon is poorly understood and unpredictable, an epidemiologist’s nightmare. Super-spreaders led to considerable transmission of MERS and SARS inside hospitals.”

Plus: “Another cause for concern was that some patients who at first appeared mildly or moderately ill then took a turn for the worse several days or even a week into their illness. The median time from their first symptoms to when they became short of breath was five days; to hospitalization, seven days; and to severe breathing trouble, eight days. Experts say that pattern means patients must be carefully monitored, and it is not safe to assume that someone who seems to be doing well early on is out of the woods.”

Also: “For this series of patients, the death rate was 4.3 percent, which is higher than the estimates coming from other parts of China. The reason is not known, and the figures may change as more information is gathered.”

And it’s not just old or sick people: “It can take a young, healthy person and make them sick.”

Here’s the JAMA Article.

RIP: Veteran actor Orson Bean, 91, killed by vehicle in Venice.

Bean was father-in-law of the late Andrew Breitbart.

SHERIFF JIM WILSON: How Pistol-Caliber Carbines Can Fit In Your Defensive Plan.

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OLD AND BUSTED: Hopenchange.

The New Hotness? Trashing America as racist won’t help Democrats beat Trump.

WELL, THIS ISN’T PROMISING: Chinese cities fight for mask shipments in scramble to stop coronavirus. “Local government is turning against local government over mask supplies in China as authorities scramble for resources to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 630 people throughout the country. The health chief of Dali in the southwestern province of Yunnan was sacked after the city commandeered about 600 boxes of masks destined for the megacity of Chongqing on their way through Dali from Vietnam, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.”

THE FINAL CUT:  Major League Baseball will not schedule any more promotions of Roger Waters.

FASTER, PLEASE: New method to detect early-stage cancer identified.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Scandal-Plagued SPLC Turns to Amnesty International for a New President.

THE MAKING OF TRANS CHILDREN: Campaigners, doctors and teachers have turned a fringe idea into a worrying reality.

THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE: Bombshell: Fox News Has Briefing Book Impugning Network’s Own Sources On Ukraine.

MORAL ROT AT UC BERKELEY (moved to top with corrected link): UC Berkeley chancellor not ‘interested in blame’ in response student-government chaos. A group of pro-Palestinian students displayed celebratory posters of terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians. A student introduced a resolution to the student government condemning the display. The Palestinian group disrupted the meeting with chants of “Free Palestine.” Here’s what university Chancellor Carol Christ had to say:

“Students who support the Palestinian cause have a right t o celebrate those they see as fighters for that cause, and their rights to express that support are fully protected by our country’s constitution,” she continued. “By the same token, Jewish students have a right to feel dismay and concern after seeing a poster they perceive as honoring those who killed, or attempted to kill, unarmed Jewish civilians. Each side has an equal right to express and have heard their perspective.”

Yes, the students have a “right” to celebrate terrorists who murder Jews, and the chancellor has the “right” to not draw moral equivalence between those who celebrate such terrorists and those who object to such terrorism. And yet she didn’t exercise it. Note, by the way, the use of the weasel word, “perceive.” The terrorists in question did murder Jewish civilians, and suggesting that the Jewish students only “perceive” it that way is a way for Chancellor Christ to evade responsibility for her horrific moral equivalence.

It’s also worth noting that the pro-Palestinian students do NOT have a right to disrupt a student government meeting (which no one seems to deny), or to harass other students (which is in dispute).

UH OH: A Radio Frequency Exposure Test Finds an iPhone 11 Pro Exceeds the FCC’s Limit.

Related: Apple Fined For Slowing Down Old iPhones.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Ilhan Omar Accused Of Appropriating Alabama Culture By Marrying Relative.

QUESTIONS NOBODY IS ASKING: Who Is Writing Brad Pitt’s Awards Season Speeches?

Fenway Strategies is a speechwriting and communications firm founded by former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor. Although the firm’s most obvious connection is to the political arena, helping speakers prep TED talks or United Nations addresses, Fenway has branched out into Hollywood. And over the last few years the firm has helped ghostwrite awards acceptance speeches for a number of A-list clients; you definitely know them but their identities are protected by non-disclosure agreements.

To hear it from Fenway principal Sam Koppelman, a former speechwriter for Michael Bloomberg and digital strategist for Hillary Clinton who also co-authored the New York Times best seller Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump, the practice is so widespread among movie, music, and TV stars nowadays, he finds it more astonishing to discover a nominee has eschewed professional speechwriting help than when one seeks it out.

“Writing for actors is a speechwriter’s dream come true,” says Koppelman. “Because unlike politicians, who are not professionals at memorizing lines or delivering them in compelling and charismatic ways, actors actually know how to deliver the lines.”

Why, it’s like Hollywood is the Democrat base or something.

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JURASSIC PARK MOVED TO THE NONFICTION AISLE SO GRADUALLY I BARELY NOTICED: Researchers resurrect mutated genes of one of the last wooly mammoths.

CHRIS MATTHEWS WARNS AGAINST SOCIALISM, BERNIE BROS WANT HIM SACKED:

“So I have a problem with people who took the other side,” he continued. Matthews feared Sanders would be in this category. “I don’t know who Bernie supports over these years. I don’t know what he means by socialism. One week, it’s Denmark. ‘We’re going to be like Denmark.’ Okay, that’s harmless. That’s basically a capitalist country with a lot of good social programs.” (Ironically, Denmark has been hard at work reforming its social programs in a more free-market direction.)

Matthews later brought up the question, “What does he think of Castro?” He noted that many Americans were originally excited to see Castro rise to power in Cuba, “and then he became a communist and started shooting all of his enemies.”

Bernie Bros were not happy to see a liberal host speak the truth about the Cold War — and Sanders’ dalliances with the oppressive Soviet communist side. After a few prominent liberals expressed disgust and blamed Matthews of anti-Semitism, #FireChrisMatthews started trending on Twitter.

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Ed Driscoll Misses the Lead.

SHOCKER: Conflict at home, lack of supervision linked with suicidal thoughts among children.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? MSNBC Host Warns Against Socialist Executions, Bernie Bros Want Him Sacked.

CHOOSE THE FORM OF YOUR DESTRUCTOR: Devin Nunes Says Trump’s Most Important Accomplishment Is Outing Hostile Media.

(Classical reference in headline.)

OVER 400 MILLION PEOPLE IN QUARANTINE: Global recession fears as China quarantines MILLIONS over coronavirus. “Currently around 400 million Chinese citizens live under some level of quarantine which has been imposed over some of the country’s biggest cities. Economically crucial metropolises such as Tianjin, Guangzhou and parts of the greater Shanghai region are under restrictions in a bid to stop the virus spreading.”