Atlas, special adviser to the president, responds to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden vowing to shut down the U.S. economy again if necessary to protect the country from the coronavirus.

The prolonged lockdown . . . is killing people. We don’t just talk even about the medical care that’s been missed. We’re not just talking about the unemployment-related suicides and other harms.

We have the latest data from the CDC that showed that there’s a massive increase in people with psychiatric illness and depressive and anxiety disorders.

There is no such thing as a free lockdown.

In the land of opportunity:

Melania was they final speaker (Fox News) on a night when redemption was a big theme. A former criminal pardoned, a former abortion leader tells her story, and five immigrants became citizens in front of all of their now fellow Americans. Then Melania, the final speaker, told of growing up in Slovenia, then a communist country, and immigrating to America and eventually becoming a citizen.

From Dan McLaughlin: We’ve heard a lot about America as the land of opportunity, about overcoming discrimination, and about opportunity-spreading policies such as school choice. Many of these speakers were compelling on their own terms. Melania’s speech, despite her accent and obvious discomfort as a public speaker in a second language, struck a lot of great themes. All of them are fully consistent with conservative principles and Republican traditions (National Review)

Onward and upward.

Black lies matter. As told by by profit-takers in the Race Grievance Industry.

Here we go again: Manufacture. Rinse. Repeat.

Everyone knows the cycle. Everyone knows it ends with false and incomplete narratives eventually being debunked by actual facts. Everyone knows that the racial mythmakers and political opportunists end up with fame, wealth and glory—but never any criminal punishments or moral accountability.

Everyone knows, yet on and on and on it goes.

Step 1: Spread out-of-context video clip of Black man subdued or shot by white cops across national media airwaves and social media platforms.

Step 2: Riot.

Step 3: Accuse law enforcement and America of “systemic racism,” decry police brutality and demand “justice” for fill-in-the-blank “victim.”

Step 4: Riot.

Step 5. Enter Al Sharpton, Benjamin Crump, Black Lives Matter chief propagandist Shaun King, and the rest of the racial hoax crime brigade.

Step 6: Persecute and prosecute involved police officers.

Step 7: Burn, loot and maraud nationwide.

Step 8: Demand more funding for “restorative justice,” “alternative” policing, sensitivity training and “anti-racism” programs.

Step 9: Bury all evidence of justified police action while screaming, “Racism!” ever louder.

Step 10: Lie in wait for the next opportunity to return to Step 1.

I’ve been covering this self-destructive ritual in American life since the very beginning of my journalism career in 1992, when the Rodney King beating video led to the acquittal of four Los Angeles police department officers, which led to the L.A. riots (60 killed, 2,000 injured, $1 billion in damages, $700 million in federal aid), which led to a federal civil rights settlement for King worth $4 million and prison sentences for two of the cops despite their previous acquittals.

When will it ever end?