The Los Angeles Times reports that gun stores are one aspect of the economy seeing a surge in business as Californians react to coronavirus news.

According to the LA Times, the line of customers at the Martin B. Retting Gun Shop in Culver City stretched out the front door and around the block on Saturday. Many of those in line waited five hours for their opportunity to buy a gun.

A doctor who wanted to buy a gun at the store said, “I want to buy a handgun, I think they call it a Glock, but I’m not sure. I have a house and a family, and they’ll need protection if things get worse. The fear is that civil services will break down.”

Another customer, 39-year-old John Grove, said, “Politicians and anti-gun people have been telling us for the longest time that we don’t need guns. But right now, a lot of people are truly scared, and they can make that decision themselves.”

California has universal background checks, gun registration requirements, and a 10-day waiting period for completion of all gun purchases. So those who were successful in their search for a self-defense handgun Saturday will have to wait over a week to take possession of the firearm.

The owner of  Laguna Guns & Accessories in Elk Grove, California, told the LA Times he has not seen guns sell at this pace since just after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Marijuana dispensary and liquor store sales are also surging.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

President Donald Trump urged shoppers on Sunday at the White House to stop over-purchasing groceries in reaction to the coronavirus, noting that the food supply chains remained strong.

“You don’t have to buy so much. Take it easy, just relax,” Trump said.

The president spoke to Americans at the White House press briefing after he had a phone conversation with top grocery store CEOs including Walmart, Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Aldi, Kroger, Meijer, Walmart, Dollar General, Albertson’s, and Wegmans.

“They’ve asked me to say, ‘Could you all buy a little bit less please,’” Trump said. “I thought I’d never hear that from a retailer.”

Americans have reacted to the news of the coronavirus crisis by flocking to grocery stores and buying out food, water, bread, and toilet paper.

Trump said that grocery retailers said that Americans were buying three to five times what they normally purchased, saying the level of purchases were bigger than the Christmas season.

“Relax, we’re doing great, it all will pass,” Trump said.

The president also warned Americans from hoarding goods.

“There’s no need for anybody in the country to hoard essential food supplies,” he said, adding, “There’s plenty. You don’t have to buy the quantities. Because its hard to fill the stores.”

He said the grocery stores promised to remain open during the crisis, stocking up their shelves, and serving the people.

“We will do whatever it takes and we’re doing, I think, really really well,” Trump said.

If you’re a younger reader, your first exposure to Joe Biden is probably his time as Barack Obama’s second-in-command. You may not have known that 20 years earlier, he could have been the guy sitting at the Oval Office desk rather than the one standing beside it.

Biden was one of the Democratic contenders for president in 1988 and, unlike now, he was seen as an antidote to the Democratic establishment.

“The Democrats had taken two shellackings at the hands of Reagan, and there was this thought, not really based on a lot of facts, that the Democrats were too soft, too feminine, too much into interest politics, and Biden was seen by his own people as an antidote to that — good looking and athletic — who would come across as stronger,” Time reporter Laurence I. Barrett, who covered the campaign 1988, told another Time reporter in a 2019 interview.

Unfortunately for Biden, that campaign died in its early months when it turned out he plagiarized a speech from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without giving him attribution. Media scrutiny revealed Biden had plagiarized other politicians on the stump, and thusly was his campaign was torpedoed before a single vote was cast.

While it’s difficult to guess what would have happened had Biden won the nomination — and he was certainly the favorite before the plagiarism scandal — he would have been a stronger candidate against George H.W. Bush than the Democrats’ nominee that year was — the wholly ineffectual Michael Dukakis.

TRENDING: Ex-Pro Fisherman Slaps Bernie with Lawsuit for Linking Him to ‘Criminal Activities’

Thirty-two years and one generational health crisis later, Joe Biden hasn’t really learned his lesson.

On Thursday, Biden slammed the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus. This was disheartening, if unsurprising. He then told the crowd his plan to fight coronavirus — which was almost exactly what the president had been proposing.

First, Biden’s condemnation of the administration’s COVID-19 efforts, which came during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware.

“The administration’s failure on testing is colossal,” Biden said, according to Yahoo News. “It’s a failure of planning, leadership and execution.

“We have to help the world to drive coordinated global strategy, not shut ourselves out from the world. Unfortunately, this virus laid bare the severe shortcoming of the current administration.”

He also criticized the administration’s European travel ban and claimed Trump’s reference to COVID-19 as a “foreign virus” — which is objectively true, since the outbreak started in a foreign country — was evidence of bigotry.

“Neither should we panic or fall back on xenophobia. … labeling [the coronavirus] a foreign virus does not displace accountability for misjudgments that have been taken thus far by the Trump admin,” Biden said. “Coronavirus does not have a political affiliation.”

He said this with a straight face during a speech where he was using coronavirus as a political bludgeon. Well, whatever. Nobody seemed to really notice, given that the speech was well-received by the usual voices:

It’s a very good speech–and a reminder of what the traditional presidency would emphasize at a moment like this. https://t.co/BaUTBDVq54

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) March 12, 2020

RELATED: In Coronavirus Panic, Alyssa Milano Thanks God for Biden’s Leadership, Unaware He’s in Charge of Nothing

Joe Biden delivered a call for swift and urgent action to combat the coronavirus outbreak, in a speech that rebuked the Trump administration’s isolationist response and sought to preview how he would steer the nation through a crisis as its presidenthttps://t.co/xFrYlohSgT

— POLITICO (@politico) March 12, 2020

WILMINGTON, Delaware—@joebiden‘s coronavirus speech was designed to look presidential. It worked.

My dispatch from inside the room: https://t.co/fPLipCDtCZ

— Hanna Trudo (@HCTrudo) March 12, 2020

The thing was, as Trump’s campaign pointed out, much of Biden’s “presidential” coronavirus plan was stolen from another president — namely, the current one.

“Joe Biden’s coronavirus remarks today sounded awfully familiar. Listening to him, we felt a sense of déjà vu,” the campaign declared on its website. “Here’s why: Biden blatantly ripped off President Trump, and bizarrely called on him to do things he has in fact already done.

“Joe Biden said ‘no efforts should be spared’ to get private labs and universities working to rapidly expand testing for coronavirus.

“President Trump already acted on this weeks ago, ordering the FDA to allow hundreds of private labs and academic hospitals to rapidly begin testing for coronavirus.

“Joe Biden said that small businesses will need relief from coronavirus’ economic impact.

“President Trump already moved decisively to provide $50 billion in liquidity to small business owners, and is asking Congress for even more.

“Joe Biden said it is critical for insurance companies to waive copays for coronavirus testing.

“President Trump already got it done, securing a commitment from the nation’s insurance providers to waive all copays on coronavirus testing and expand coverage of coronavirus treatment in all their benefit plans. “

Perhaps most critically, Biden said it was time to “accelerate” the search for a coronavirus vaccine — something the Trump administration had already done in January. According to CNBC, officials fast-tracked the vaccine with the hope of clinical trials in three months, although officials admitted this was an optimistic timeline. If there was a way to faster-track this, Biden didn’t make that clear.

Stealing ideas isn’t necessarily academic plagiarism, but stealing the ideas of a man you’re excoriating isn’t a good look.

The Thursday speech was apparently Biden’s presidential moment. If you wanted to look at it uncritically, it was. Democrats have always been able to project their idea of a perfect president on Biden, even if he isn’t presidential material.

Looking closer, 32 years hasn’t changed Biden much. He’s still stealing ideas, if not exact words. At least with Neil Kinnock, it was an ideological ally.

By the way, as the Trump campaign pointed out, Biden’s already been in a position where he could reassure the public in the face of a pandemic. He failed miserably.

“In the past, Joe Biden has shown terrible judgment and incompetence in the face of public health issues,” Tim Murtaugh, Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement.

“The Obama White House had to publicly apologize for and clean up after Biden when his irresponsible remarks caused panic during the swine flu outbreak in 2009. Just weeks ago, he was openly critical of President Trump’s early move to restrict travel from China to the United States in response to the coronavirus – a decision which medical experts agree helped impede the spread of the virus to this country.”

“President @realDonaldTrump acted early and decisively… His every move has been aimed at keeping Americans safe, while Joe Biden has sought to capitalize politically and stoke citizens’ fears.” – @TimMurtaugh @TeamTrump statement on Biden’s coronavirus speech ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/nZHKt89nn3

— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) March 12, 2020

Even Politifact, a fact-checking organization that generally leans left-ish, rated the administration’s criticisms of Biden’s comments on the H1N1 virus 11 years ago as “Mostly True.” While the Obama administration never issued an official apology for Biden’s remarks during the swine flu outbreak, his comments on it were both irresponsible and unscientific.

“When one person sneezes [the virus] goes all the way through the aircraft,” Biden said during an appearance on “Today.”

He also advised against taking the subway.

“If you’re out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes, that’s one thing; if you’re in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it’s a different thing.”

While there was an apology to those who were “unduly alarmed,” there was nothing in the way of an official apology. Aside from that, all of that is true.

Perhaps, then, we shouldn’t be so annoyed over his ideological plagiarism. By essentially copying the Trump plan, he’s co-signing it.

I’m not sure whether I should be comforted or alarmed by that, given Biden’s predilection for being totally wrong and his decision to politicize a national emergency, but at least he’s not talking about whole planes getting infected by coronavirus anymore. That’s something, right?

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Do you believe Gillum’s explanation?

In retrospect, Florida dodged a bullet.

Andrew Gillum, the corruption-tinged left-wing mayor of Tallahassee, who less than two years ago darn near got elected goveror of Florida, based on a glowing ‘making history’ press narrative, has been caught naked, in a hotel room with a gay “escort,” barfing over a toilet, and too inchoate to answer questions from cops, who were called in to hose out a $220 a night Miami hotel room of meth baggies. The self-described porn star in the room had a profile on “Rent Men” and being that he was with Gillum and another guy, naked, was in what cops reportedly suspected was a orgy.  Someone knew about this stuff long before this became news. But somehow, it never made the press.

Here’s the police report.

According to the Daily Mail:

According to the Miami Beach Police Department, officers were called out at 12:55am after reports of a guest suffering a cardiac arrest at the four-star Mondrian Hotel, where room costs upwards of $220 per night.

They arrived to find paramedics performing first aid on Dyson in the wake of ‘a suspected drug overdose’ and preparing to take him to the hospital.

Mejias – described in the report as ‘the complainant’ – told officers he had given his credit card details to Dyson on Thursday afternoon to rent a hotel room.

‘Mr Mejias arrived at the hotel at approximately 23:07 hours where he discovered Travis Dyson and Andrew Gillum inside the room under the influence of an unknown substance,’ the report states.

‘Per Mr Mejias, Mr Dyson opened the hotel room door and immediately walked over to the bed and collapsed in a prone position. Mr Mejias observed Mr Gillum inside of the bathroom vomiting.

‘Mr Mejias stated that he observed Mr Dyson having difficulty breathing, prompting him to wake him up. Mr Dyson then began vomiting on the bed and immediately collapsed again.

‘Mr Mejias began conducting chest compressions on Mr Dyson and proceeded to contact police and fire rescue.’

‘Officers then attempted to speak to Mr Gillum. Mr Gillum was unable to communicate with officers die to his inebriated state.’

This is beyond disgusting. Gillum says he was just back from a wedding after drinking a little too much and never took drugs.

The male escort who was rescued by the cops from the O.D in this throuple (yes, that word again), Travis Dyson, said he knew Gillum for “for a while” meaning, “last spring” signaling that this probably wasn’t the first time the pair had been together. Drugs. Naked. Vomit. Male prostitutes. Double life. Someone knew, and didn’t say anything.

The Miami Herald reports that cops cleared out three baggies full of what looked like meth, suggesting it was quite the party:

Although the contents of the bags in the hotel room have not yet been confirmed, crystal meth has made a resurgence in South Florida, particularly in Miami Beach, in recent years. The meth, police say, is high-grade product being made by Mexican cartels.

“It’s a very customer-rich environment, with all the different venues, events and parties for people to enjoy themselves,” a Miami Beach street-crimes captain told the Miami Herald in 2017. “Crystal meth will take the average party experience and magnify it tenfold.”

Which is too much information.

Not since Marion Barry got caught doing crack in a Washington D.C. hotel room, yelling ‘bitch set me up!’ or or one of Barney Frank’s ‘boyfriends’ got caught hosting a male brothel inside the basement of his Boston house, has such a disgusting scandal involving leftists come to light.

What’s happening here — throupling, paid gay sex, drugs, is well at odds with Gillum’s Mr. Churchgoer image presented earlier in the press, the narrative the press lapped up and promoted as they sought to call Gillum the new Barack Obama.

The kinky side life was probably been known in those circles and went unreported, covered up good as the press focused on praising Gillum for being “historic” as potentially Florida’s first black governor. The gamy double life never made the light of day.

Look at the gooey coverage he garnered back before he got exposed as some kind of pervert in 2018.

Here’s Vox:

Gillum, 39, is the mayor of Tallahassee. From the start of his candidacy, he ran on a progressive platform that includes Medicare-for-all and a $15 minimum wage, and was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and progressive billionaire Tom Steyer.

Gillum already defied steep political odds during the August primary, beating presumed frontrunner Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress and the daughter of a former governor and senator; former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine; and business executive Jeff Greene. He is now facing Trump-endorsed Republican Ron DeSantis in November’s general election, which forecasters have rated a toss-up.

It’s an exciting moment for progressive groups, but also for black Democrats in the South; next door, Stacey Abrams is the Democratic nominee in Georgia. If Abrams wins, she could be the nation’s first African-American woman governor.

 Here’s the New York Times back in 2018, opening its gag-inducing puff piece with: “City Hall never did seem big enough for Andrew Gillum”:

With his upset victory in the Democratic primary for governor in August, Mr. Gillum, 39, has continued on a glide path to the party’s upper reaches that began about a mile down the road, as a student government leader at Florida A&M University, before he was old enough to drink. He may be elected the first black governor of the nation’s largest swing state in November, as his race against former Representative Ron DeSantis, a Trump acolyte who just turned 40, emerges as a national proxy for the parties’ dueling futures.

Mr. Gillum’s admirers see in him a hybrid of Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama — an authentic progressive who supports higher corporate taxes and greater gun control, calls for the impeachment of President Trump and Medicare for all, and can inspire young and minority voters in a state that last elected a Democratic governor in 1994. 

There’s also this, from a Washington Post columnist:

Gillum is one of the Democrats running who is viewed as a successor to former president Barack Obama’s legacy, and Obama’s visit Friday to Miami to campaign for Gillum seems to confirm that. A Gillum win would be a coup for Democrats in a state that went for Trump

This guy yelled ‘racism’ when he didn’t win, and did what every disgraced Democrat does after a setback: Takes a commentary gig on CNN.

He remained a Democrat standard-bearer, though, taking up the cause of “voting rights” as if to suggest that his failure to win the office he wanted was all a matter of suppressing the black vote instead of his repellent socialist agenda and revolting personal life.

He was working on that last “narrative” last year and the media lapped it up.

According to the Miami Herald’s ‘Naked Politics’ blog, here’s what he said he was up to on March 8:

Gillum sent out an email to supporters saying he’ll be in South Florida March 20. He didn’t explain the reason for the occasion or the exact location, but alluded to statements he’s made since his gubernatorial loss about continuing to make use of the organization that brought him to the brink of the governor’s mansion.

“This fight is about the future of our state and our nation. I’m not going anywhere — and I know neither are you. We have to stand strong and speak out,” he said.

Quite a guy to be your party’s standard-bearer now that we know of his ‘other life.’ But with a pliant media that had to have known about the Gillum private life, one wonders why it was done. After all, he didn’t even need to do ‘double life’ in this day and age, given that nowadays on the left, anything goes. But at the same time, this kind of kink isn’t popular in the black community, and Gillum was explicitly touted in his puff pieces as the guy who could reel in the black vote.

With those kind of hopes coming from the Democrats, the media was always a pliant lapdog. Gillum kept doing what he was doing, then because it must have been pretty easy to think such acts would never be caught out. Now Gillum’s supporters are undoubtedly disappointed.

Proud of yourselves, media lapdogs?

Image credit: Twitter screen shot

In retrospect, Florida dodged a bullet.

Andrew Gillum, the corruption-tinged left-wing mayor of Tallahassee, who less than two years ago darn near got elected goveror of Florida, based on a glowing ‘making history’ press narrative, has been caught naked, in a hotel room with a gay “escort,” barfing over a toilet, and too inchoate to answer questions from cops, who were called in to hose out a $220 a night Miami hotel room of meth baggies. The self-described porn star in the room had a profile on “Rent Men” and being that he was with Gillum and another guy, naked, was in what cops reportedly suspected was a orgy.  Someone knew about this stuff long before this became news. But somehow, it never made the press.

Here’s the police report.

According to the Daily Mail:

According to the Miami Beach Police Department, officers were called out at 12:55am after reports of a guest suffering a cardiac arrest at the four-star Mondrian Hotel, where room costs upwards of $220 per night.

They arrived to find paramedics performing first aid on Dyson in the wake of ‘a suspected drug overdose’ and preparing to take him to the hospital.

Mejias – described in the report as ‘the complainant’ – told officers he had given his credit card details to Dyson on Thursday afternoon to rent a hotel room.

‘Mr Mejias arrived at the hotel at approximately 23:07 hours where he discovered Travis Dyson and Andrew Gillum inside the room under the influence of an unknown substance,’ the report states.

‘Per Mr Mejias, Mr Dyson opened the hotel room door and immediately walked over to the bed and collapsed in a prone position. Mr Mejias observed Mr Gillum inside of the bathroom vomiting.

‘Mr Mejias stated that he observed Mr Dyson having difficulty breathing, prompting him to wake him up. Mr Dyson then began vomiting on the bed and immediately collapsed again.

‘Mr Mejias began conducting chest compressions on Mr Dyson and proceeded to contact police and fire rescue.’

‘Officers then attempted to speak to Mr Gillum. Mr Gillum was unable to communicate with officers die to his inebriated state.’

This is beyond disgusting. Gillum says he was just back from a wedding after drinking a little too much and never took drugs.

The male escort who was rescued by the cops from the O.D in this throuple (yes, that word again), Travis Dyson, said he knew Gillum for “for a while” meaning, “last spring” signaling that this probably wasn’t the first time the pair had been together. Drugs. Naked. Vomit. Male prostitutes. Double life. Someone knew, and didn’t say anything.

The Miami Herald reports that cops cleared out three baggies full of what looked like meth, suggesting it was quite the party:

Although the contents of the bags in the hotel room have not yet been confirmed, crystal meth has made a resurgence in South Florida, particularly in Miami Beach, in recent years. The meth, police say, is high-grade product being made by Mexican cartels.

“It’s a very customer-rich environment, with all the different venues, events and parties for people to enjoy themselves,” a Miami Beach street-crimes captain told the Miami Herald in 2017. “Crystal meth will take the average party experience and magnify it tenfold.”

Which is too much information.

Not since Marion Barry got caught doing crack in a Washington D.C. hotel room, yelling ‘bitch set me up!’ or or one of Barney Frank’s ‘boyfriends’ got caught hosting a male brothel inside the basement of his Boston house, has such a disgusting scandal involving leftists come to light.

What’s happening here — throupling, paid gay sex, drugs, is well at odds with Gillum’s Mr. Churchgoer image presented earlier in the press, the narrative the press lapped up and promoted as they sought to call Gillum the new Barack Obama.

The kinky side life was probably been known in those circles and went unreported, covered up good as the press focused on praising Gillum for being “historic” as potentially Florida’s first black governor. The gamy double life never made the light of day.

Look at the gooey coverage he garnered back before he got exposed as some kind of pervert in 2018.

Here’s Vox:

Gillum, 39, is the mayor of Tallahassee. From the start of his candidacy, he ran on a progressive platform that includes Medicare-for-all and a $15 minimum wage, and was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and progressive billionaire Tom Steyer.

Gillum already defied steep political odds during the August primary, beating presumed frontrunner Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress and the daughter of a former governor and senator; former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine; and business executive Jeff Greene. He is now facing Trump-endorsed Republican Ron DeSantis in November’s general election, which forecasters have rated a toss-up.

It’s an exciting moment for progressive groups, but also for black Democrats in the South; next door, Stacey Abrams is the Democratic nominee in Georgia. If Abrams wins, she could be the nation’s first African-American woman governor.

 Here’s the New York Times back in 2018, opening its gag-inducing puff piece with: “City Hall never did seem big enough for Andrew Gillum”:

With his upset victory in the Democratic primary for governor in August, Mr. Gillum, 39, has continued on a glide path to the party’s upper reaches that began about a mile down the road, as a student government leader at Florida A&M University, before he was old enough to drink. He may be elected the first black governor of the nation’s largest swing state in November, as his race against former Representative Ron DeSantis, a Trump acolyte who just turned 40, emerges as a national proxy for the parties’ dueling futures.

Mr. Gillum’s admirers see in him a hybrid of Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama — an authentic progressive who supports higher corporate taxes and greater gun control, calls for the impeachment of President Trump and Medicare for all, and can inspire young and minority voters in a state that last elected a Democratic governor in 1994. 

There’s also this, from a Washington Post columnist:

Gillum is one of the Democrats running who is viewed as a successor to former president Barack Obama’s legacy, and Obama’s visit Friday to Miami to campaign for Gillum seems to confirm that. A Gillum win would be a coup for Democrats in a state that went for Trump

This guy yelled ‘racism’ when he didn’t win, and did what every disgraced Democrat does after a setback: Takes a commentary gig on CNN.

He remained a Democrat standard-bearer, though, taking up the cause of “voting rights” as if to suggest that his failure to win the office he wanted was all a matter of suppressing the black vote instead of his repellent socialist agenda and revolting personal life.

He was working on that last “narrative” last year and the media lapped it up.

According to the Miami Herald’s ‘Naked Politics’ blog, here’s what he said he was up to on March 8:

Gillum sent out an email to supporters saying he’ll be in South Florida March 20. He didn’t explain the reason for the occasion or the exact location, but alluded to statements he’s made since his gubernatorial loss about continuing to make use of the organization that brought him to the brink of the governor’s mansion.

“This fight is about the future of our state and our nation. I’m not going anywhere — and I know neither are you. We have to stand strong and speak out,” he said.

Quite a guy to be your party’s standard-bearer now that we know of his ‘other life.’ But with a pliant media that had to have known about the Gillum private life, one wonders why it was done. After all, he didn’t even need to do ‘double life’ in this day and age, given that nowadays on the left, anything goes. But at the same time, this kind of kink isn’t popular in the black community, and Gillum was explicitly touted in his puff pieces as the guy who could reel in the black vote.

With those kind of hopes coming from the Democrats, the media was always a pliant lapdog. Gillum kept doing what he was doing, then because it must have been pretty easy to think such acts would never be caught out. Now Gillum’s supporters are undoubtedly disappointed.

Proud of yourselves, media lapdogs?

Image credit: Twitter screen shot

An Obama-appointed federal judge blocked a Trump administration rule that would have tightened work requirements for food stamps, citing the coronavirus pandemic as the reason she made her decision.

D.C. District Court Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell granted a preliminary injunction blocking the recent Trump administration rule on food stamps, which the USDA estimates would have reduced federal spending by $7.9 billion over five years and gradually weaned 755,000 people off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the government program in charge of food stamps.

“Especially now, as a global pandemic poses widespread health risks, guaranteeing that government officials at both the federal and state levels have flexibility to address the nutritional needs of residents and ensure their well-being through programs like SNAP, is essential,” Howell wrote in her ruling, according to HuffPost.

A 14-state coalition, two major cities, and the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia have all sued the Trump administration over its rule to stop states from providing food stamps to long-term unemployed residents.

Under the “able-bodied” provision in the rule, Americans who are not caring for a dependent younger than six years old would only be eligible for food stamps if they are employed or enrolled in a workforce training program.

“The waivers that the Rule curtails are critical to ensuring access to food for low-income people who live in areas with limited employment opportunities,” read the complaint filed by the 14 states and New York City and Washington, DC. “If implemented, the Rule will have a drastic impact on Plaintiffs and their residents by depriving between 688,000 and 850,000 vulnerable Americans of much-needed nutritional assistance.”

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said last year that this rule laid “the groundwork for the expectation that able-bodied Americans re-enter the workforce where there are currently more job openings than people to fill them.”

However, while the Trump administration’s initial rule meant to cut the number of food stamp recipients, President Donald Trump struck a deal with House Democrats that included paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, free testing, and money for food stamps, the Washington Post reported. The bill is now set to go to the Senate.

Trump also declared a national emergency to free up additional resources for state and local governments fighting coronavirus.

HBO host Bill Maher criticized Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden during his program Friday night as “cuckoo” for the former vice president’s inclination toward threatening to fight people.

During a roundtable discussion, the liberal “Real Time” host discussed Biden’s lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Democratic primary and questioned whether Biden is mentally sound after his altercation with a Michigan auto worker earlier in the week.

“There’s going to be a debate on Sunday, they moved it to Washington, and there’s no live audience — barely two live candidates,” Maher said, referring to a decision to move Sunday’s Democratic debate from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., over fears about the spread of the coronavirus.

“What are they debating about at this point? Why are we having this exercise?” he asked. “Because I feel like it could only hurt Uncle Joe, which plainly, look, I know he can do the job, but he is a little cuckoo himself.”

The host the pointed out Biden’s highly publicized altercation this past week with an auto worker in Detroit, Michigan.

TRENDING: Ex-Pro Fisherman Slaps Bernie with Lawsuit for Linking Him to ‘Criminal Activities’

“He threatened a construction worker,” Maher said.

“His big go-to is, ‘You wanna fight?’” he said, before asking, “Who’s 78 and every time there’s an argument, is like, ‘You wanna take it outside?’”

Maher then disagreed with a “Real Time” panelist, Financial Times journalist Edward Luce, who argued that Biden’s argument with the auto worker showed how “passionate” the candidate is about the issues.

“Passionate is one thing, but challenging people to fights is like, roid rage. It’s wrong.” Maher said.

Biden, who is 77, was touring a Michigan auto plant Tuesday when a union worker asked him about his positions on gun control and confiscation.

WARNING: The following videos contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive. Viewer discretion is advised.

The exchange between the two men hit fever pitch when Biden asked the man if he wanted to take the discussion “outside.”

Lis Smith, a former senior adviser to Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, claimed on the “Real Time” panel that the exchange is “why people like Joe Biden.”

RELATED: Liberal Late Night Host Maher Rips Tlaib and Omar’s Pro-BDS Rhetoric: ‘It’s a Bulls*** Purity Test’

“Because he threatens fighting?” Maher asked.

Real Time With Bill Maher-Panel Discussion part 4 @Lis_Smith + @EdwardGLuce – Joe Biden’s mental health + is Bernie selfish? + Joe Biden expanded the electorate more then bernie did#billmaher #DemocraticPrimaries #JoeBiden #Bernie2020 #Bernie #Biden #BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/RUBePdc68p

— Brown Sugar Ray (@FrazierSugar) March 14, 2020

Maher contended that Biden often “sounds like a guy who” is “always coming to from being knocked out,” Fox News reported.

“New Rule: Joe Biden has to stop smiling in a way that makes it look like he’s already had a stroke,” he said.

“Look, just make it until November,” Biden added. “Then you can have all the strokes you want.”

Maher announced later during the broadcast that his show will go on hiatus beginning next week, citing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

“So, I have never seen events move faster than during this last week,” Maher told his viewers, Deadline Hollywood reported.

“We are off next week,” he announced. “We had a hiatus week scheduled in about two weeks, but we said let’s do it next week since everyone is freaking out and we want to see where this goes.”

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Grandpa Joe Biden wants to run the country and save us from coronavirus when he can’t even run a livestream and has no idea what year it is.

On Friday, Grandpa Joe held what his campaign billed as a “virtual town hall” in Illinois. In my colleague Kyle Olson’s must-read reporting on the event, you will discover the whole thing was a fiasco, like something out of a sitcom. Guests appeared and then disappeared. The sound was garbled. People were introduced, followed by an awkward pause when they didn’t appear. Babies cried…

“Biden seemed to be reading from a teleprompter, but the broadcast suffered from severe tech issues, as Biden’s words were caught in a feedback loop, muddying the whole presentation and making the candidate nearly indecipherable,” Olson reported.

After starting two hours late, the fiasco lasted about 45 minutes. For my money, this clip from The Honeymooners, where Ralph and Ed attempt to do a live television commercial, is the funniest thing ever captured on film. Sounds like Grandpa Joe just took that crown.

Technical difficulties, however, are technical difficulties. That doesn’t mean those technical difficulties are not newsworthy. After all, we are talking about a major presidential campaign, about the competency, or lack thereof, of the people hand-picked by Biden to run his campaign. So it is a bit disconcerting that Joe and his staffers were unable to put on the equivalent of a video podcast, something millions of everyday Americans are able to do every day in their basements without a hitch.

But what about Joe’s performance?

How did the 985-yead-old Democrat frontrunner do?

The media tell us that any criticism of Grandpa Joe’s mental acuity is a hoax, is fake news, is a desperate and desperately unfair personal attack…

And then this happens:

In a bizarre, meandering livestream put on by Joe Biden’s campaign today, he forgets what year it is and when, if he doesn’t lose, he would be in office.

At another point, he seemingly forgets he’s on a live stream and walks out of frame. The feed cuts away to a logo instead. pic.twitter.com/yM2zFoBfhv

— jordan (@JordanUhl) March 14, 2020

“Even I can’t do that for another two years — another year, between now and November … … … or actually, January … …. …. …. …. ….  But to be covered.”

For the Biden-challenged, allow me to lay this out as simply as possible. The date of the livestream was March 13, 2020. The presidential election will take place in November of  2020. The next president will be sworn in in January of 2021…

Did you get that?

Would you like me to type it again slower?

“Even I can’t do that for another two years.” No. There are only ten months between now and the next inauguration.

“…another year, between now and November.” No. There are only eight months between now and November.

“…or actually January.” Why don’t we warm you up some oatmeal and see who’s guest-starring on Matlock with that nice Andy Griffith today?

And then Joe shuffles off to watch Matlock while rambling on about estuaries and international species.

Are Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) really going to do this? Do they really think they can hide this guy for the next eight months? Do they really think they can scream hoax every time his feeble mind and body appear feeble for the next eight months?

Watch this… And this is not a video sent back to us from the future. This is not video sent to us from President Biden’s last day in office in January of 2029 when he’s 87-years-old. This video was taken Tuesday:

Just now: @JoeBiden was asked by @mikememoli if he has any regrets about his testy exchange with the voter this morning, noting that both the Sanders and Trump campaigns are targeting him about it.

“I’m surprised that Sanders is joining Trump. It’s surprising,” Biden replied. pic.twitter.com/mkJXNCApCH

— Sarah Mucha (@sarahmucha) March 10, 2020

Early on, he’s self consciously trying not to shuffle, he has that waxy look on his face, and then he almost falls over.

Are Democrats really going to do this?

And here’s video of Grandpa Joe screaming that someone’s “full of shit” about something called an “AR-14.”

Honestly, outside of a nursing home when the power goes out during Wheel of Fortune, I’ve never seen anything like this…

Today Joe Biden argued with a voter, called the AR-15 an “AR-14” and then threatened to slap the voter in the face. This is an old man losing control of his mind. At what point do Democrats realize what a giant mistake they’ve made backing senile Joe? pic.twitter.com/PBj3fuKEAu

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 10, 2020

But…

Don’t believe your lying eyes.

Do believe your elite betters…

I didn’t realize this was a whole coordinated thing but this piece lays it out: “The Disinformation Campaign Being Launched Against Biden” https://t.co/60fnUbDY2l

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) March 8, 2020

Don’t you understand? There’s a conspiracy afoot to get Joe to yell and shuffle and forget the year and meander and walk off camera…

Even though Democrat presidential candidates like Cory Booker, Julian Castro, and Tim Ryan were the first to express concerns about Biden’s mental acuity, it’s all a Trumpian plot! 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.