General News Archives - Ari Armstrong

COVID-19 Updates 2

I started this document on May 23, 2020, to keep track of select updates about COVID-19. Items are listed in reverse order relative to when I examine them (latest updates on top). This follows my first “COVID-19 Updates” file (April 28 to May 22) and the “COVID-19 Resources” page started March 24. My last post here is June 4. For subsequent updates about this, see my Liberty ‘Gator pandemics tag.

Major data sources: Our World in Data, Johns Hopkins, Worldometer, CO Dep’t of Public Health, USA Data (which has U.S. state-level data), CDC COVID-19 data, EndCoronavirus.org (which has great country and U.S. state case comparisons), Rt.live (which has estimates of reproduction rate, the accuracy of which I know not), Gu Infections Tracker (also includes R estimates), IMF Policy Tracker (country summaries), COVID-19 Projections Colorado page, AEI U.S. state and county tracker. See also Johns Hopkins’s Research Compendium. A handy stat: The U.S. population (estimated May 7) is 330,721,000.

COVID-19 Updates

I updated this document from April 28 to May 22, 2020, to keep track of select material about COVID-19. Items are listed in reverse order relative to when I examine them (latest updates on top). See also my newer “COVID-19 Updates 2” page and my older “COVID-19 Resources” page started March 24. Unless otherwise specified, many of my figures come from Our World in Data and the CO Dep’t of Public Health.

Colorado Activist Johanna Fallis Dies

johanna-fallis Johanna Fallis, a longtime Libertarian activist in Colorado, died in early January, reports her partner and fellow activist Lloyd Sweeny. She had had health problems for some time.

Fallis was a former treasurer of the state Libertarian Party (LP), a Libertarian candidate for Secretary of State in 2000, and a retired information systems designer.

I spent time with Johanna at an Austrian economics study group hosted by Ken Riggs, at local LP meetings, and at the 2000 national LP convention (at which I took the photo of her shown).

Johanna was both spirited and friendly; she once told my wife, “You get prettier and prettier every time I see you.”

She will be missed.

Ferguson Rioters “Wanted to Injure Police”

Antonio French, part of the peaceful protests in Ferguson, Missouri, tweeted early this morning, “I can tell you firsthand that some of the people that remained tonight were armed. Were ready for a fight. And wanted to injure police.” Politicus USA has reproduced that tweet and others; hat tip to Fox News. Fox reports that one of the rioters fired a gun at police but didn’t injure anyone. Fox and others also report that one rioter was shot during the night and that that person is in critical condition, but no report I’ve seen clarifies who was shot or who did the shooting.

What is clear here is that the violent rioters in Ferguson—as distinguished from the peaceful protesters—are smashing and looting stores, intentionally trying to hurt police, and in general proving to the world that a forceful police response there is warranted. They are foolishly and self-destructively taking attention off of whether the shooting of Michael Brown was justified, and putting attention onto the criminal fringe of Ferguson. The rioters’ behavior is shameful, to say the least.

Colorado Activist W. Earl Allen Dies in Plane Crash

W. Earl Allen, long active in Colorado libertarian and free market organizations, died August 9 in a plane crash. See my brief write-up about Earl and the Denver Post‘s report about the crash. Just a few months ago I gave Earl some old flying videos that I’d collected. I’ve known Earl for many years, and I’m deeply saddened by his passing. The photo shown is of Earl at a 2009 event I organized to protest legal restrictions of beer sales.

W. Earl Allen Died Doing What He Loved

earl-allen-1 W. Earl Allen, long a libertarian activist in Colorado, died August 9 in a plane crash. The Denver Post reports, “A Broomfield flight instructor and his student died Saturday when the small plane they were flying crashed near Steamboat Springs. Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg identified the two as William Earl Allen, 62, and a flying student, Terry Lynn Stewart, 60, of Houston.” This is devastating news to the many people who knew and loved Earl.

Of those aspects of his life with which I was familiar, three of Earl’s loves stand out: His love of liberty, his love of flying, and his love of public speaking. I knew him from his political activism. In answering a survey a couple years ago, Earl said he read Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose when he was a college teacher, and he owns “three copies of Atlas Shrugged, one of which is falling apart at the seams due to overuse.”

Earl promoted a free-market in health care while at a 2010 rally (see the 2:55 mark in the video). In 2009, he joined me and other activists to protest legal restrictions on beer sales. Following is a photograph from that event; Earl is at left, with Amanda Muell, Justin Longo, Dave Williams, and me.
earl-allen-beer

Regarding his flying, Earl was featured in a 2011 student video about his career as a flight instructor.

Earl’s death is a great loss to his family, his friends, and his fellow advocates of liberty.

August 13 Update: I just received an email from Earl’s wife with the following notice: “William Earl (Earl) Allen was born on March 18, 1952 in Provo, Utah and passed away on August 9, 2014 in Routt County, CO at the age of 62. He is survived by his wife Maralyn Mencarini; his mother Donna Sharp (Norman); siblings Edward (Madalyn), Eric (Ying), Esther (Nathaniel), and Evan (Rachel); eight nieces and nephews; and six great-nieces and nephews. . . . As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be made at https://secure.eaa.org/development/index.html to the EAA Young Eagles Program.”

Ebola “Uncontained and Out of Control in West Africa”

Ken Issacs of Samaritan’s Purse has some grim news about the Ebola outbreak in western Africa. Isaacs says “this present outbreak is going to surpass” the number of fatalities and known cases of the past three decades. ” He continues, “The disease is uncontained and it is out of control in West Africa. The international response to the disease has been a failure.” Isaacs further claims that the World Health Organization’s estimates of some 1,700 cases and some 930 deaths represent only around a quarter to a half of the real numbers.

Egypt Dissolves Muslim Brotherhood

“Egypt’s administrative court on Saturday dissolved the political party of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated, the state news agency reported,” the Associated Press re-reported yesterday.” News Sandwich opines, “Despite our government’s attempt to put the Muslim Brotherhood in power in Egypt, the better people in that country continue to marginalize their ‘Freedom and Justice Party.'” Hat tip to Amy Peikoff.

ISIS, Tick Bites, and More News and Views for 8/8/14

Here are some of the big news stories of the day, and some interesting opinions:

Iraq: As no doubt you’re aware, the U.S. military launched airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq. Overall, U.S. engagement in Iraq has been a disaster, and certainly many Iraqis are now much worse off than they would have been had the U.S. never intervened. Now, it seems, the U.S. is faced with a variety of no-win outcomes.

Tics: The Associated Press reports, “Doctors across the nation are seeing a surge of sudden meat allergies in people bitten by a certain kind of tick.”

Fracking: David Biederman writes for the Objective Standard, “Europeans can continue to blame American frackers for producing lower-cost energy in America, or they can liberate European energy producers to do the same.”

Catcalling: Buzz Feed has a good video out critical of catcalling:

Tiny Houses: And Reason magazine has out a fascinating video about minimalist “matchbox” houses—and government’s war against such houses.

Khmer Rouge and More: Breaking News for 8/7/14

Here are some of today’s important news stories:

“A U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia sentenced the two top surviving cadres of the Khmer Rouge regime to life in jail on Thursday after finding them guilty of crimes against humanity for their roles in the 1970s ‘killing fields’ revolution,” NBC News reports. Under the bloody regime, “At least 1.7 million people—a fifth of Cambodia’s population at the time—died of starvation, disease, overwork or execution,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Iraqi militants seized control Thursday of the country’s largest Christian city [Qaraqoush]—reportedly telling its residents to leave, convert or die,” Fox News reports.

Meanwhile, “Islamist insurgents from Boko Haram killed at least 50 people as they stormed a town in northeastern Nigeria,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Growing political heat and possible customer backlash helped dissuade Walgreen from trying to trim its tax bill by reorganizing overseas as part of an acquisition,” the Associated Press reports.

“About half of the nation’s federal criminal cases last year were filed in regions near the U.S.-Mexico border,” Kristin Tate reports for Breitbart.com.

“[T]he average age of industrial equipment is now almost 10.5 years old. That’s the oldest it has been since 1938,” John Azis writes for the Week.