Free Republic

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a grave prognosis to parliament on Tuesday, telling members that "60 to 70%" of the German population will contract the coronavirus at some point, according to Bild. The German tabloid reported that upon dropping the statistic in the parliamentary meeting, the room fell silent. Germany has seen more than 1,400 positive test results for COVID-19 so far, with two confirmed deaths. Merkel went on to tell lawmakers that additional cancellations of events and large gatherings could come depending on the severity of the outbreak. Postponing parliamentary proceedings is also a possibility, Merkel said.

Joe Biden was sworn into the U.S. Senate on Jan. 3, 1973. He remained in the Senate until Jan. 15, 2009 — a span of 36 years. If history is any guide, is a disqualifier in Biden's quest for the White House. What does 36 years in the Senate say about a politician? It says he is a senator — not a president. It's not for lack of trying. Bob Dole, who was sworn into the Senate on Jan. 3, 1969, ran for president 27 years later, in 1996. He quit the Senate during the campaign to show his determination...

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., told “Outnumbered Overtime” Tuesday that former Vice President Joe Biden had a “human moment” when he got into a heated argument with a worker at a Fiat-Chrysler auto plant in Detroit after the man accused the Democratic presidential candidate of trying to take away his Second Amendment rights.

They’re Covering the Coronavirus Like a Hurricane Mar 10, 2020 RUSH: You know, watching the coverage of this and the ongoing effort to create a panic — and let’s make no mistake here that that’s exactly what is happening here — I finally came up with what I think is a good analogy. The coronavirus is like a hurricane several days away from making landfall. Take your pick of any hurricane out there in recent memory — if you want to use Katrina, any hurricane — and then remember how the media covers it. “It’s going to devastate wherever it’s...

  March 6, 2020 DHS and DOJ Rule Forces Asylum-Seekers to Seek Refuge in Countries with High Levels of Violence and Ill-Equipped to Protect Them from Persecution WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today led a 19-state coalition challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine asylum protections. Under an interim final rule, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) are requiring asylum-seekers to undergo a “threshold screening” before determining if they can seek asylum in the United States. In a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the plaintiffs in U.T. v. Barr, the State Attorneys General argue that this...

Austin-based conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was booked into the Travis County Jail on a charge of driving while intoxicated just after midnight Tuesday, the Travis County sheriff’s office said. Jones, 46, was booked at 12:37 a.m., said Kristen Dark, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. The driving while intoxicated charge is a class B misdemeanor, she said. His bail was set at $3,000 but he was released on bond at 4:11 a.m., Dark said.

Seattle area public-health officials are “at the ready” to start ordering involuntary isolation and quarantines and are considering cancellation of major public events, with information coming soon, a top official said Monday. Patty Hayes, director of Public Health — Seattle & King County, outlined potential next steps in the area’s effort to slow the spread of the virus at a Seattle City Council meeting and said officials are talking about what to do. Hayes shared a Washington State Department of Health chart that listed five levels of actions that officials could take. Gov. Jay Inslee hinted at the ongoing discussions...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Up to 64,000 people could be infected with coronavirus in Washington state within two months if actions aren't taken now to stop its spread, Gov. Inslee said Tuesday. Although the number of confirmed cases is now 162, Inslee said experts believe the actual number could be 1,000 or more at the present time. "What the experts are telling us is ... the number of people who are infected will double in anywhere from 5 to 8 days ... unless we take some real action," the governor said at a morning news conference. "And if you do the...

First, it was former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris who flipped in her opposition to Joe Biden, despite her hinting at his racist past for opposing forced busing. Now, it's former candidate Senator Cory Booker who has seen the light and is endorsing Joe Biden for president, despite his past friendship with segregationists. Is it just a coincidence that both former candidates are now being mentioned prominently as potential vice presidential picks of Biden's? Perhaps, yes, although Biden's camp has apparently passed the word to Harris that she's in the running for attorney general in a Biden administration. Harris's...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is deploying the National Guard to enforce a mile-radius coronavirus “containment area” in a Westchester County community dubbed perhaps the “largest cluster” of cases in America. “New Rochelle, at this point, is probably the largest cluster of these cases in the United States,” Cuomo said in a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “And it’s a significant issue for us.”

With six states headed to the ballot box today,1 it’s once again time for FiveThirtyEight to freeze its forecast to see where things stand. Today’s contests are divided between those that former Vice President Joe Biden will almost certainly win (99 percent chance) and those where Sen. Bernie Sanders has a clearer chance. As the table below shows, Biden is a strong favorite to win four of the seven contests, including three of the four biggest delegate hauls: Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi, as well as North Dakota. But Biden is also a more modest favorite over Sanders in the other...

-SNIPHR 1, the For the People Act recently passed through the House of Representatives, is an attempt to address some of these structural issues. The bill’s original sponsor is Rep. John Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat ), whom I met several times before and during my campaign, and whose enthusiasm for campaign finance reform is contagious. Unfortunately, the bill is on the proverbial “express train to nowhere.”SNIP.HR 1 also includes some ill-advised policies, however, and omits other needed reforms. The bill’s biggest problem is a new campaign finance system that, rather than requiring absolute transparency for all donations, would funnel large...

South Korea had 7,513 Covid-19 cases as of Monday, with daily infections falling for a fourth consecutive day Officials attribute the decrease to mass testing, improved public communication and the use of advanced technology ===================================================================== South Korea has seen a steady decrease in new coronavirus cases for four consecutive days, despite being one of the worst-affected countries outside China , although global attention has shifted towards outbreaks in Italy and Iran . As of end-Monday, it had 7,513 cases and 54 deaths. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there was an increase of 131 cases from...

DUBAI/MOSCOW - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it would boost its oil supplies to a record high in April, raising the stakes in a standoff with Russia and effectively rebuffing Moscow’s suggestion for new talks. The clash of oil titans Saudi Arabia and Russia sparked a 25% slump in crude prices on Monday, triggering panic selling on Wall Street and other equity markets that have already been badly hit by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Oil prices LCOc1 recovered some ground on Tuesday, but were still 40% down on the start of the year. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a ruling that allows House Democrats to view secret grand jury information from Robert Mueller’s Russia probe that had been redacted from his report. The court’s 2-1 decision agreed with a lower court that the House Judiciary Committee can obtain the information for impeachment investigations of President Trump under an exception for “judicial proceedings,” per the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. ~snip~ The DOJ, opposing the House Democrats, argued that because Trump had already been impeached and acquitted by the time the court was to rule, there was no longer a...

WASHINGTON—A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Congress can have access to grand-jury materials from Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling, sided with the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee, which sought access to material that was redacted from the 448-page special counsel report. as well as some of the exhibits and transcripts referenced in the report. ... TO READ THE FULL STORY

Whether you’re just a little hungry or starving, McDonald’s will soon offer a Big Mac to match. The fast-food chain will release two new versions of the iconic burger Wednesday: the Little Mac and the Double Big Mac. The Little Mac has just one beef patty, while the Double Big Mac has four. They’ll both still be topped with cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions and Special Sauce. The Double Big Mac comes in at 720 calories; the Little Mac is 320 calories — the same as a medium fry. Though the burgers’ prices will vary regionally, McDonald’s is recommending a price...

77-year-old Joe Biden got confused again while speaking to a crowd in Michigan on Monday. “Together, I think we can win back the House,” Biden said before quickly correcting himself — “We’re gonna keep the House, increase it, and flip the Senate.” Nice catch, Joe. https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1237108571919265792

The big problem is that HR 1 appears to omit any reform that would adversely effect the Democrat Party.

Biden is emblematic of the Democrat party’s crack-up. They are self-destructing. Former Vice President Joe Biden got into a heated and profanity-laced argument with an autoworker Tuesday while touring a factory in Detroit, after the individual accused the Democratic presidential candidate of trying to take away his Second Amendment rights. “You’re full of sh– … I support the Second Amendment,” Biden shot back, stressing he’s not going to take guns away. Natasha Korecki ✔@natashakorecki The worker then told Biden, “You’re working for me, man,” and told Biden that he saw an online video supporting his claim that Biden is hostile...