Thursday, April 30, 2020

Lankford keeps focus on China

Whether it’s China’s role in crucial supply chains, or online misinformation about the coronavirus, or institutes (including at OU) funded and overseen by the Chinese Communist Party, Sen. James Lankford has been increasingly vocal about the need to reassess U.S. ties with China.


It is well known COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China. What’s less well known is that much online misinformation about the virus is also coming from China, according to U.S. Sen. James Lankford.

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Lankford keeps focus on China

‘Life Has to Go On’: How Sweden Has Faced the Virus Without a Lockdown

“I’m not seeing very different statistics in many other countries. I’m happy we didn’t go into lockdown. Life has to go on.”


The country was an outlier in Europe, trusting its people to voluntarily follow the protocols. Many haven’t, but it does not seem to have hurt them.

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs ‘Life Has to Go On’: How Sweden Has Faced the Virus Without a Lockdown

Oklahoma professors call for reduced public access to presidential briefings

🚨A group of journalism professors, including three from colleges in Oklahoma, have called on television networks to stop the live airing of President Donald Trump’s briefings on COVID-19.🚨🤯


“We write to demand that the live, unedited airing of the Daily White House Task Force Briefings stop,” the group letter states. “Because Donald Trump uses them as a platform for misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, they have become a serious public health hazard—a matter of lif...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Oklahoma professors call for reduced public access to presidential briefings

Lankford keeps focus on China

It is well known COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China. What’s less well known is that much online misinformation about the virus is also coming from China, according to U.S. Sen. James Lankford.



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by Ray Carter

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Are OU students being punished?

It’s an oddity of our time that universities claiming to champion “diversity” have gone to great lengths “to cultivate relations with a communist dictatorship guilty of several of the worst genocides of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”


OU says it is committed to building a “welcoming” and “supportive” campus environment where each individual feels “welcomed” and “valued.” Would then the use of the phrases “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus”—phrases, by the way, which were perfectly acceptable until suddenly ...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Are OU students being punished?

Please profile me!

"We are gutting our national economy and tossing millions out of work to protect everyone from a virus that seems to pose a real threat to just 15 or 20 percent of our population." So why not protect the vulnerable while allowing others to return to work?


While the coronavirus pandemic continues to spawn scientific papers and proposed treatments, vaccines, and other responses, we know one overriding fact: its mortality and serious morbidity are largely—one could say almost exclusively—focused on patients over 65 and/or those with serious underlyi...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Please profile me!

Following School Closures, a ‘Rude Awakening’ for Parents: How Remote Education Is Revealing Alarming Learning Gaps, Particularly for Low-Income Families

Many families, like this one in Tulsa, are shocked to learn how far behind their children are academically.


Updated April 23 Before he became a journalist, Nehemiah Frank was a teacher and school administrator. So when the schools closed in Tulsa, where Frank edits The Black Wall Street Times, he was the family member best positioned to oversee distance learning for his 5-year-old cousin Caillou. The firs...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Following School Closures, a ‘Rude Awakening’ for Parents: How Remote Education Is Revealing Alarming Learning Gaps, Particularly for Low-Income Families

Are OU students being punished?

It’s an oddity of our time, one professor astutely points out, that universities claiming to champion “diversity” have gone to great lengths “to cultivate relations with a communist dictatorship guilty of several of the worst genocides of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”



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by Brandon Dutcher

Please profile me!



While the coronavirus pandemic continues to spawn scientific papers and proposed treatments, vaccines, and other responses, we know one overriding fact: its mortality and serious morbidity are largely—one could say almost exclusively—focused on patients over 65 and/or those with serious underlying medical conditions like diabetes or heart and lung disease.



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by Mike Brake

Constitutional change required for cap on noneconomic damages

This legislative session, Senate Judiciary Chair Julie Daniels seeks to revive the noneconomic damages cap by placing it in the Oklahoma Constitution. The bill, SJR 40, may be the sole remaining approach to assure that the intent of the legislature, as well as the state’s voters, is preserved.



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by A.J. Ferate

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Constitutional change required for cap on noneconomic damages

This legislative session, Senate Judiciary Chair Julie Daniels seeks to revive the noneconomic damages cap by placing it in the Oklahoma Constitution. The bill, SJR 40, may be the sole remaining approach to assure that the intent of the legislature, as well as the state’s voters, is preserved.


In 2009, after years of seeking to promote liability reform, the Oklahoma Legislature had a path to attain the longtime goal of tort reform. The policy effort was designed to lower insurance costs and reduce the practice of “defensive medicine”—performing extra, unnecessary tests that drive up...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Constitutional change required for cap on noneconomic damages

Oklahoma remains on course to reopen

Let's go. 💪


Gov. Kevin Stitt said Tuesday that COVID-19 trends in Oklahoma continue on a downward path and Oklahoma remains on course to reopen many businesses starting May 1. At the same time, the state continues to ramp up testing to better track the virus.

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Oklahoma remains on course to reopen

The Cato Institute

A new survey by EdChoice found that more than half of respondents have a more favorable view of homeschooling. Read more👇


Even as over one billion students around the world endure unchosen school‐at‐home during the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in authentic homeschooling has grown.

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs The Cato Institute

Calls to change absentee voting process raise fraud concerns

In response to COVID-19, a coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations is demanding that Oklahoma abandon a longstanding election-security safeguard.



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by Ray Carter

Monday, April 27, 2020

Calls to change absentee voting process raise fraud concerns

In response to COVID-19, a coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations is demanding that Oklahoma abandon a longstanding election-security safeguard.


Oklahoma law allows absentee voting for any reason but is among several states that require that an absentee ballot be signed by a notary public to verify that the person filling out a ballot is the individual who requested the absentee ballot.

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Calls to change absentee voting process raise fraud concerns

Don't flatten this curve

What Oklahoma should not do is “flatten the curve” on future economic growth as we emerge from the COVID-19 shutdown. Yet, it is likely special interest groups will advocate for policies that indirectly achieve that result through a misguided response to state budget challenges.


Much effort has been put into “flattening the curve” of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. Success in achieving that goal is welcome. What Oklahoma should not do is “flatten the curve”

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Don't flatten this curve

Are students disconnecting from distance learning programs?

Even in good times, significant percentages of students in the upper grades drop out of school. One suspects that as the continuous learning programs continue through May, more of those students who were prone to drop out will discontinue contact with schools and teachers


With schools across the nation closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, a key question is: How many students are continuing to learn?

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Are students disconnecting from distance learning programs?

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Timeline Photos

Let's reopen Oklahoma! Sign our petition at www.ReopenOklahoma.com



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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Timeline Photos

Timeline Photos

Do you agree? "The key to future economic prosperity in Oklahoma is not robust government spending, but robust private-sector growth." —Jonathan Small



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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Timeline Photos

The unflattenable curve

Some of the media, and some politicians, are lying to us by using deceptive graphs and data.


We all know the importance of “flattening the curve.” Hospitals in parts of China and Italy ran out of beds and equipment. Some people died who might otherwise have survived, and medical staff were put at greater risk. The same thing almost happened in New York City—but the curve there did fla...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs The unflattenable curve

Saturday, April 25, 2020

How Oklahoma should spend its CARES K-12 funding

The federal CARES Act provides resources for schools—public, nonpublic, and charter—struggling with the COVID-19 fallout. Gov. Kevin Stitt and education officials should consider summer learning camps, stipends for teachers, supplies for sanitizing, school-choice scholarships, broadband access, and more👇


In response to the coronavirus outbreak and the economic crisis, President Trump recently signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act. This legislation provides up to $2.2 trillion of relief as the country deals with the coronavirus shutdowns and the aftermath. In addit...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs How Oklahoma should spend its CARES K-12 funding

Help Oklahomans get the surgeries they need

Unelected bureaucrats at the Oklahoma State Health Department have concocted a new rule that prevents Oklahomans from getting necessary medical care. Contact them today to ask them to revise these restrictive regulations so Oklahomans can get the procedures they need!


I contacted the Oklahoma Department of Health and asked them to revise restrictive regulatory guidance so that Oklahomans can get the surgeries they need. Click to do the same.[@campaign]

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Help Oklahomans get the surgeries they need

Point of View: Government has overreacted amid crisis

Risk-averse politicians often overreact, OCPA trustee John Brock points out. “Shutting down our economy will probably prove to be a monumental error.”


APR 25, 2020 - We are in a crisis! You can rely on the government to overreact. No politician will be criticized for being too safe. But the consequences may be worse. The original purpose of “shelter in place” was to suppress infections of COVID-19 so that we would not run short of hospital bed...

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Point of View: Government has overreacted amid crisis

Timeline Photos

"Unlike COVID-19 hospitalizations, economic recovery is one area where Oklahomans should not want to flatten the curve." —Jonathan Small, OCPA President



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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Timeline Photos

Agency may impede treatment despite governor’s order



Although Gov. Kevin Stitt has authorized hospitals to again perform “elective” surgeries by May 1, regulations released by the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) severely restrict the ability of many facilities to treat patients in a timely manner.



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by Ray Carter

The unflattenable curve

Some of the media, and some politicians, are lying to us with data that are true. 



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by Trent England , Curtis Shelton

Friday, April 24, 2020

Agency may impede treatment despite governor’s order

Unelected bureaucrats at the Oklahoma State Health Department have concocted a new rule that prevents Oklahomans from getting needed medical care🤯😢


Although Gov. Kevin Stitt has authorized hospitals to again perform “elective” surgeries by May 1, regulations released by the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) severely restrict the ability of many facilities to treat patients in a timely manner.

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Agency may impede treatment despite governor’s order

KWTV - NEWS 9

In case you missed it... Let's reopen Oklahoma! You can sign our petition at www.ReopenOklahoma.com


COVERING THE CAPITOL: News 9's Aaron Brilbeck speaks with Jonathan Small of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. about re-opening some businesses in Oklahoma. VIDEO | https://bit.ly/2wObXmS

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from Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs KWTV - NEWS 9