THECOCONUTWHISPERER

Sunday, 7 June 2020

Does auto insurance cover cars damaged during protests or riots?

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/does-insurance-cover-cars-damaged-during-protests-or-riots

Streets filled with damaged cars are a common sight in the wake of civil unrest and even peaceful mass gatherings.

Whether intentionally inflicted or incidental, both parked cars and those driven by passers-by can sustain scratches, broken mirrors, smashed windows, or get covered in paint or graffiti. So, what if it happens to your vehicle?

According to the industry-backed Insurance Information Institute, this type of damage is typically covered under optional comprehensive insurance plans, which approximately two-thirds of policyholders have. However, Amy Bach, executive director of consumer advocacy group United Policyholders, says insured vehicle owners should consider a few things before filing a claim.

First, unless someone was injured in the incident, there’s no need to rush to notify your insurer. Instead, take time to assess the damage and get an estimate for repairs. If it’s less than your deductible, or not too much over for you to afford, it could be better to just pay out of pocket rather than risk being put into a higher risk category and have your rates raised for several years to come. Keep in mind that while broken glass claims are often covered on a first-dollar basis with no deductible, they can also contribute to increased rates.

If you do decide to file a claim, Bach advises simply reporting it as vandalism and not adding that a civil commotion was involved, even though it likely won’t lead to rejection. Additional details can be added later if it becomes necessary. Depending on the situation, it’s also possible that collision coverage will apply, particularly in the case of the damage occurring to a moving vehicle.

In any event, if you live or work in an area affected by disruption and have to park your vehicle in a public place, it's a good idea to review your policy to check what kind of coverage you have.

Dr. Fauci says George Floyd protests provide ‘perfect recipe’ for new coronavirus surges

https://www.foxnews.com/health/dr-fauci-says-george-floyd-protests-provide-perfect-recipe-for-new-coronavirus-surges

Recent protests across the U.S. over the death of George Floyd could lead to new surges in coronavirus cases, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Friday.

"It is the perfect set-up for the spread of the virus in the sense of creating some blips which might turn into some surges,” Fauci, a member of President Trump's Coronavirus Task Force, told radio station WTOP-FM in Washington, D.C.

"It is the perfect set-up for the spread of the virus in the sense of creating some blips which might turn into some surges.”
— Dr. Anthony Fauci

His comments came as the U.S. edged closer to 2 million confirmed infections and 110,000 virus-related deaths, and the globe neared 7 million infections and 400,000 deaths since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University.

After months of confinement due to governors' stay-at-home orders, thousands across the country have taken to the streets for more than a week to protest the police-custody death of Floyd – a black man who succumbed after a white officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25 in Minneapolis.

“As I sat in front of the TV and watched the screen go from Washington, D.C., to New York City, to Los Angeles, to Philadelphia, I got really concerned,” Fauci told the Sunday Times of London. “I was going, ‘Oh my goodness. I hope this doesn’t set us back a lot.’ [After] all of the work in trying to maintain the physical distance and doing all the things, I became very concerned that we might see a resurgence."

While some in the massive crowds have worn masks, others haven’t -- and no one is social distancing, he said.

The protests bring together people from different areas, many of them virus hotspots, Fauci said. The participants then return home and create a “perfect recipe” for a resurgence of the virus.

Chanting and yelling, as people typically do during protests, also increases the risk of spread, he said.

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“I get very concerned, as do my colleagues in public health, when they see these kinds of crowds,” Fauci said. “There certainly is a risk. I can say that with confidence.”

The only thing public health officials can do is constantly remind people to be careful and always wear a mask, Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told WTOP.

Officials in cities with protests have urged demonstrators to get tested for the virus. Cities such as Seattle and San Francisco have set up mobile testing centers for protesters.

"It's a difficult situation. We have the right to peacefully demonstrate and the demonstrators are exercising that right,” Fauci added. “It's a delicate balance because the reasons for demonstrating are valid and yet the demonstration itself puts oneself at an additional risk."

Newt Gingrich: Democrats want to steal November election – here’s how

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/voter-fraud-newt-gingrich

Make no mistake: Voter fraud is real. Democrats, the anti-Trump news media and the so-called public interest groups on the political left will tell you otherwise, but they are either lying or totally ignorant.

Voter fraud is a threat to the integrity of our elections, the heart of our democracy. Democrats want to make the problem worse with their new voting laws.

I believe this issue is incredibly important, now more than ever. So, as part of my ongoing Election 2020 podcast series, I decided to examine voter fraud in depth in this week’s episode of my podcast “Newt’s World.”

My guest is Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative. He is one of the preeminent experts on election law and election fraud and explains how Democrats are pushing proposals that will clearly make fraud more prevalent.

Anyone who denies the existence of voter fraud in the U.S. needs to go to Heritage’s online database, where they will find 1,285 proven instances of it – including 1,110 criminal convictions.

Some of the stories are quite striking.

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In 2016, for example, Elbert Melton, the former mayor of Gordon, Ala., illegally notarized two ballots, without witnesses present, while running for reelection. Melton won the race by only 16 votes. Many local and state races are decided by such small margins. He was convicted of absentee ballot fraud, removed from office, and sentenced to one year in prison.

The biggest way to expand voter fraud is to expand voting by mail. And Democrats want to impose universal vote-by-mail across the country.

Traditionally, voters have long been able to request that an absentee ballot be mailed to them if they have a valid excuse for not being able to go to their local polling place – the physically disabled or sick, and of course our troops stationed abroad and their families. This is still the case in most states, but some – such as Oregon – simply mail an absentee ballot to every single registered voter.

The problem with mailing ballots like this is that the lists of registered voters across the country are in terrible shape, and states do a poor job of cleaning their voter rolls. In fact, most states have given up on doing so. Every time they try, well-funded liberal groups accuse them of purging active, eligible voters from the rolls to suppress voting.

As a result, ballots get mailed out to people who no longer live at the same addresses because they have moved or died.

Therefore, a precious item, perhaps our society’s most valuable – the ballot – is just out there, for anyone to exploit. It isn’t that difficult to imagine how people could fill out fraudulent ballots, mail them in, and have them counted.

Voting by mail also leads to ballot harvesting – the practice of allowing third parties to collect voters’ ballots and turn them in together to polling stations.

Imagine a political operative or a campaign volunteer showing up at your front door to collect your ballot and deliver it for you. Your ballot would no longer be secret, but more importantly, the operative or volunteer could pressure or even intimidate you to vote a certain way – especially if you are sick, elderly, or speak poor English.

Another invitation for dishonest elections and inaccurate voting is same-day registration. Under this system, if you aren’t registered to vote, you can register on Election Day and immediately vote. Election officials have no time to verify your information or determine if you’re even an eligible voter who lives at the address that you provide.

Democrats are pushing all of these measures in earnest. They included each one and many more in HR 1, the very first bill that Democrats introduced after they retook control of the House in 2018. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., included the same measures in her $3 trillion monstrosity of a bill that is supposedly meant to stimulate the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Pelosi and the Democrats are using the coronavirus as an excuse to impose these voting laws and other far-left ideas on the country. As Hans von Spakovsky explains to me, Liberia had a successful election in 2014 despite the Ebola epidemic. Wisconsin also held an election without problems earlier this year, as did South Korea, amid the current pandemic.

Polling places just need to institute the necessary safety measures, which they can do. The fearmongering from the news media and the left about the consequences of holding the November election in person has no basis in reality.

But Democrats are still pushing these voting laws as a deliberate strategy to maximize their ability to win elections. I’ve spent a lifetime in politics and don’t remember anything this bad, where people are so blatantly and openly willing to push illegality – in this case in the form of voter fraud.

As von Spakovsky notes, Democrats have gotten to the point where they believe the ends justify the means. They believe that President Trump is so terrible and evil that anything they do to win, even cheating, is justified.

I hope you will listen to this week’s episode to learn how Democrats are trying to steal not only the November election but also future elections. And I hope you will listen to my next episode, set to air Wednesday, on the nationwide riots and protests following the killing of George Floyd.

California ambush leaves 1 deputy dead, 2 officers hurt

https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-ambush-leaves-1-deputy-dead-2-officers-hurt

A call about a suspicious van led to an ambush Saturday that resulted in the death of a Northern California sheriff’s deputy and injuries to two other law enforcement officers, according to reports.

Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was fatally shot during the confrontation in Ben Lomond, an unincorporated area, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said.

A second deputy was injured, and a third officer from the California Highway Patrol was shot in a hand, the sheriff said.

Gutzwiller was a married father of one child with a second child on the way, Hart told FOX 2 of the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Words cannot express the pain we feel for Damon and his family," Hart told the station. "Today, we lost a hero."

The suspect, identified as Steven Carrillo, 38, was shot during his capture and was being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff added.

The deputies responded to a 911 call around 1:30 p.m. after a caller said a suspicious van had guns and bomb-making devices inside, Hart said.

When deputies arrived, they saw the van drive off so the deputies followed. As the van went down a driveway at Carrillo's home the deputies were ambushed by gunfire and explosives after getting out of their vehicle.

Gutzwiller was hit by gunfire and later died at a hospital. Another deputy was wounded by gunfire or shrapnel and struck by a vehicle as the suspect fled.

Carrillo tried to carjack a vehicle and was wounded while being arrested.

Hart said Carrillo was taken to a hospital for treatment and would be charged with first-degree murder.

Ben Lomond is a town of about 6,000 residents in the Santa Cruz mountains.